Mopani wood with sap coming out

CrabbyMom33 · Post by **CrabbyMom33** » Sat Jan 01, 2011 3:57 pm

I bought a piece of mopani wood at Petsmart in the reptile section. To treat it before putting it in the tank I soaked it for an hour in marine salt, then soaked it another hour in a diluted vinegar solution, then I'm baking it at 300. After about 20 or 25 minutes I started to notice something shiny looking on the wood and after checking it looks like sap and is sticky. What should I do? Can I use it in my crabitat? Is there a way to get rid of the sap?

CrabbyMom33 · Post by **CrabbyMom33** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 12:51 pm

Any thoughts on this? I'm setting up my tank today and wanted to know if I can put it in or not.

Post by **wodesorel** » Sun Jan 02, 2011 2:07 pm

I've only ever boiled my mopani wood, and the water does turn a very dark brown. I know the wood has a ton of reserved tannins - they're beneficial to fish tanks, so I would doubt that it would harm the crabs. I know my crabs eat the mopani like crazy, so there's something yummy still in it.

I'm wondering if the sap you saw leaking out was tannin-rich water that had been absorbed when you soaked it and then boiled off till it was thicker in the oven. It is still possible that it is sap. You could try soaking the mopani in water for a week and changing the water a few times a day. That would help to leach out anything extra, but expect that even after that week for the water to be dark brown. (Normal prep work for using in an aquarium.) The remaining color is completely normal, and the reason why I took the wood out of the fish tank and put it in the crab tank.

Nat_addicted to HC's · Post by **Nat_addicted to HC's** » Sun Jan 09, 2011 7:13 pm

My mopani does this as well, I put it in the sun for a few days after soaking in marine salt water instead of the oven now, its summer here and the conditions are extremely dry so it gets naturally baked.
UV light is also very good at killing germs too.