I think I read somewhere that I am supposed to bake the branches from trees first. Is this true? What temperature and how long do I bake them for? I don't want my Angel to get sick from biting the branches.
Christine

Christine, You need to make sure that there hasn't been any insecticide spray used on them, if there has, don't use it. But are you just making a small play gym? Scrub the branches down really well with a bleach solutuion 6 oz of bleach to a gallon of water. Then rinse it really really well, if the branches are short enough to fit in the oven put them on the middle rack and have the oven on at 250 and heat them for at least an hour.

Do I need to bleach them then cook them? Do I need to do both? Can I just put them in the oven and that is all?

Thank you for replying!!!

I would do both.

I made a tree for Griffin. These are old pictures but check out this link.

http://www.quakerparrots.com/forum/index.p...&hl=griffin

I personally scrubbed the branches with a 1 part bleach 3 parts water mixture, then sprayed them with a hose. I repeated it 3 times making sure to wash the branches really well. I have never had any problem and Griffin loves to tear into his tree.

I don`t cook mine but scrub and clean them with the mixture of water and bleach and leave them bake in the sun to dry....

http://www.plannedparrothood.com/plants.html#TOP

I love Griffin's gym and he looks SO proud of himself. Now I'm inspired to go forth and do something like that for Clyde. My problem is that it wouldn't matter how I sterilized the wood from outdoors, Clyde won't go anywhere near it. He's kind of a city mouse and only likes store-bought perches. So ... has anyone tried offering their bird a fake tree? Did he/she seem to like it at all?

Aww I feel special! I would suggest pulling a small in the cage sized branch off of a tree you are sure is pesticide free and putting it in his cage. Honestly I think after he gets past the first shock he will love it. Real branches are, after all, what they would have naturally. I will try and get a new thread about Griffins Tree up soon. It has gotten ALOT bigger since that picture!

I did try a branch from one of our trees in his cage -- we never spray anything and it was dried out besides -- and he wouldn't touch it. Wouldn't go anywhere near it. He didn't act afraid of it. Just aloof. LOL I think he thinks those aren't good enough for his royal feet.