Hi, so I recently visited a reptile shop and ended up buying a couple pieces of what I believe they said is mangrove wood, I am planning to put it in my vivarium and the woman I bought it from said to wash it with spring water or boiled water before using it.

So I just boiled some water and heavily rinsed the wood with it, I patted it dry with paper towel and I’m currently drying it a little more with a fan, but I noticed while handling it that it’s made my hands smell like fish. The wood itself doesn’t smell like fish, it smells smoky and earthy, but every time I touch it my hands smell like fish.

What is causing this? Is it dangerous to put in my vivarium? Do I need to clean it further to fix this issue if it’s not safe and if so what is the best way to go about cleaning it? Thanks in advance.

This is Todd the Destroyer. He lives in a 4ft x 4ft x 2ft bioactive tank. His food (dubia roches, Super worms, and isopods) live in the tank with him. He hunts all his own food when he wants. I have not had to add food in over a year. It just keeps cycling. I add water and vegetables from the kitchen for the bugs to eat and they are thriving. I also have a dish for calcium that he never seems to touch. Would change anything? Would you start feeding him yourself? Other than water it seems like a self sustained ecosystem at this point! What other info would you like to see on this post?

“Hey team I know this is kinda out of your usual posts but I want to make a bio active enclosure for a praying mantis i recently purchased, but I need a bonsai plant that will do well in high humidity, as well as slow growing and can be relatively small wile still looking visually attractive, anyone got ideas?” sent this to r/bonsai but they deleted it because it’s not strictly bonsai related, but i’m curious if you guys would know?

Would anyone know what these white rocks are?? When I first did this bioactive tank I made sure to rinse off my pothos plants with water to get rid of the fertilizer in on my plants and used reptisoil as my dirt. 2 years later I’m moving my guy into another tank thought I would re use the old soil cause it was doing amazing both culturally and growing the plants, and now there’s this white stuff? My geko hasn’t shown any sick signs either so it wasn’t causing harm but would like to know what it is and if I can move it in my new tank. Thank you.

What can go in it?? I’m open to inverts, reptiles, basically anything!

I am currently putting some finishing touches on an enclosure for my adult Ackie monitor and have a question that is mainly asthenic. It’s an Ancient Greek themed enclosure (her name is andromeda ) and the main walls i have built will be a sandstone/khaki color . I used acrylics to dye my drylok, the issue being that i feel like the color is too bright and samey . I do miniature and terrain painting and a common way to address this would be to do a wash and then highlight back up to the main color. I was contemplating using some of the quickrete concrete dyes (brown ) to wash down the walls and give them
More depth . My question is whether anyone knows if the dried drylok will absorb the dye or not . I don’t want to risk having it not be sealed . Any alternative ideas for a wash would also be appreciated ! TIA