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Termites and perches

birdofpara

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Steph
I'm looking at filling my aviary with tree branches for my macaw and caiques, but all I seem to find is termite eaten branches, the trees in our local area appear to be termite habitat.

I know the termites won't hurt the birds but having them so close to the house is a concern. I also don't know if any of the trees have been pre treated with chemicals.

So what's the best way to prep a branch/perch ensuring all termites are destroyed, but no chemicals remain on the branch?

I'm located in Western Australia,
 

Shezbug

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If they’re small maybe an oven run would kill them off. Or a soak in bleach or even just a soak for long enough. I’m not sure how long termites would take to drown or if they’d be affected inside the wood.
 

Xoetix

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I don’t know that I’d use termite-eaten branches at all, just based on what they do to the wood. Depending on how eaten up the branches are, they could easily crumble to dust at the slightest provocation.
 
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Shezbug

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Shez
I don’t know that I’d use termite-eaten branches at all, just based on what they do to the wood. Depending on how eaten up the branches are, they could easily crumble to dust at the slightest provocation.
Takes a while to get to that point and you’d have ample warning with a piece of wood like a perch. If it was damaged enough that it was about to crumble to dust you’d not be able to get a hanger bolt in it
 
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