Habitat - Indoor :: Substrate sterilization ?

[TalesfromtheRESKeeper]

Hey,
Ive hardly ever posted (more of a lurker) BUT ive got a question.

when i first got my turtles i bought them a few bags of 'river rocks' for substrate, but theyre starting to outgrow them and with the ammount of scavengeing they do im beginging to worry they might end up swallowing some. SO, i went to the beach and collected a bunch of beach rocks. My question is, how (or should) i sterilize them ? Any help would be great.

[steve]

Some people boil or bake them... maybe lightly disinfect them with diluted bleach if you feel it necessary.

[TalesfromtheRESKeeper]

Thanks Steve !
To be honnest, had they been from a river i would just wash the crud off em and call it a day, but coincidering the salt water, a dab of bleach sounds good, however otherwise i couldent see it causing a problem. There is a RES that was released into the wild after a life indoors, DURING THE WINTER near where i live and its still kicking today ! Im just saying... they are indeed resilient creatures. Had i known this jerk was going to leave there RES to die, it would be living with me.

[marisa]

I rinse them off and use a brush to get into any crevices. Then I boil them for about 20 minutes.

Too bad you can't "capture" that RES...