Zoo MedAfrican Mopani Wood Jumbo

What you are looking at getting is a very beautiful piece of hard wood that comes out of Africa so it fits very well in a desert theme terrarium. Since there is not much water in a desert theme, you do not have to worry about leeching or over humidity in the tank. The piece is very big and is extremely heavy which can be a big plus for large reptiles like adult bearded dragons since they are strong and can get a bit active in their habitats. I will go over what I was looking for, the pros and cons, and buying this wood through Amazon. {PLEASE ALSO SEE MY VIDEO ON HERE OF WHAT I GOT}First I want to list the pros of the wood:1. The wood is very heavy, so once setup in the habitat it is very unlikely of falling over and makes for a great basking rest.2. The wood itself is quite beautiful when you look at the detail in the veins in the wood. It has amazing spirals of dark and slightly light brown that run through the whole piece with a lot of texture from top to bottom.3. It is a hard wood so you do not have to worry about the wood coming apart, or creating a lot of dust in the habitat.4. The price is quite nice for the size that you are getting and really cannot find anything this nice or big cheaper.5. Due to the texture of the wood it creates an ideal climbing structure for your reptile that they are unlikely to fall off of.Now for the cons; I am going to list the con of buying through Amazon in this as well to kill two birds with one stone:1. First and foremost in my mind is, it is not listed in the Amazon ad, but THE ITEM IS NOT REFUNDABLE, nor can you get a credit so you are stuck with something you possible cannot use. Keep this in mind. You may get a nice piece like some of the other people that have reviews on here but then again you may be one of the unlucky ones like me. I wanted to stay away from the straight type of resting wood and go for more of the curves that the picture portrays. I looked and looked through all what Amazon had and this is what I liked the most (based on the picture that they have on here)(the description is just not enough to go off of). What I got was shaped like a backwards L with no curves. Also due to the shape it can only be put in the tank one way which means that you may have to redesign you whole habitat. The bottom on mine was very thick, but the other side was so narrow that it served no purpose at all.2. The wood itself is very jagged, somewhat scary jagged in spots. This may not play much of a part to a reptile due to their ruff skin, but nonetheless it worried me.3. I mentioned that once setup it is unlikely to fall over; well this is true and false at the same time. My dragon happens to be very big; he is 2 feet long with tail and is very, very strong. I will not use it because it is extremely heavy and due to the shape that I got, it is very possible it could fall over and in all likelihood could kill my Bearded Dragon. I found it very dangerous and therefore it made me too nervous to even put in the tank. The shape of the one that I got is very ugly and just not practical for use in a habitat as the main climbing structure.4. The fact that you cannot see what you are buying is a big one in my book. The picture depicts a very curvy, with light brown and dark brown swirl that is very distinct. It does have the light/dark swirl but only up close. Once you move back it is too muddy and therefor looks like one color so you lose the luster. The item is very high in price for not being able to pick it, the picture is very misleading , and you cannot return it if you do not like it which means (like me) you may wind up with a 50$ piece of trash. To fix this all Amazon had to do is add more pictures to represent the different shapes so buyers would know not to just expect what they see in the ad.To sum up, I love Amazon, and do most of my shopping here so I cannot say anything bad about them; as a matter of fact I have spent better that 10K this year alone on here and have not had to return but one item. This was not Amazon's fault but yet the shipper's because it arrived broken. The Zoo Med African Mopani Wood is the only time that I went to return something that I just was not happy with, or could not use and found out that not only I could not return it, but I could not get a credit on my account either. If this is the case it should be listed in the ad without a doubt. I think it is very deceptive of Amazon to not list this very important point when buying this. Also they do not even state that the item possible may not resemble the picture in the ad, so therefore you expect one thing and get something completely different, which I have to say is just plain bad business. The thing that makes me the angriest about this was that it was an easy fix so that I knew what I was getting into to an extent and would not be writing this, in my opinion, bad review. Two simple sentences could have saved me the trouble and frustration of this purchase which I can only blame Amazon for.

The UPS man struggled in the steady rain to bring the large, disintegrating cardboard box containing Zoo Med's Jumbo African Mopani Wood to my door today. Looks like the heavyweight piece was trying to punch its way out.I wasn't sure what I'd receive, since I had bought a 'Warehouse Deal' leftover from Amazon. But for just fourteen bucks and FREE shipping, this was a smokin' good bargain. They charge $6 per pound for this same brand of wood at my local pet shop!It arrived wrapped in protective brown Kraft paper, closely matched the description at 32" long x 12" wide x 11" tall, and weighed in at a whopping 49 pounds. JUMBO !And what a piece of lumber! Mine resembles the ancient remnant of a 12" tall, 6" diameter tree trunk, with a generous portion of gnarly, weathered rootball. Like others' descriptions of their pieces of Mopani wood, this one is also a beautiful two-toned tan/reddish-brown. It could potentially be installed in an aquarium/terrarium or reptile tank in several different positions, and would look equally fantastic.After considering how I might possibly maneuver it into my as yet empty 65 gallon Discus tank, I now understand why somebody may have returned this to Amazon after purchasing it. It's pretty damn BIG and HEAVY. I'd be afraid of losing my grip on the cumbersome log, and bashing the glass while trying to ease it around the center brace that reinforces the top of my tank. I'll definitely be cutting this up into two or three beautiful, interesting chunks.Before putting them in the fish tank I'm gonna boil the heck out of each piece on the back patio in a seven gallon canning pot on a propane burner. That way I can sanitize them, and be sure that they won't develop any white slime after setting up the tank. (This may also help to more quickly release tannins now, and reduce the length of time that the wood will darken the water later, although I already plan to use 'Purigen' packets in my canister filter to absorb excess tannins...) Seachem Purigen 100ml I am extremely satisfied with this Amazon purchase, and will post some pictures of it as soon as I can.12/4/12 Update:After sawing the rock-hard stump into two pieces (dulling a couple of Sawzall blades in the process), I ended up with two large pieces, and decided to use a 30 pound chunk of rootball as the focal point of my aquarium. I boiled it a half dozen times for nearly an hour each time, followed by a thorough scrub and rinse with a garden hose between boiling sessions. Still, it leached much tannins into my fish tank, turning the water yellow/orange. My concerns about the weight of this very heavy hardwood resting on my aquarium bottom disappeared as I filled the tank with water, which rendered the log nearly buoyant, but firmly fixed in the gravel. After a month of weekly water changes and continuous filtration with Purigen, my aquarium water is finally clear. I've crammed tropical aquatic plants into the many nooks and crannies of the Mopani wood, making it look like it's been underwater much longer than just one month. The fish love swimming in, under, around, and through it.

This is the second piece of Mopani wood I've purchased and I love the odd shape and light and dark swirls of the Mopani wood. I enjoy a tank with clear water and the first piece I ever purchased was small enough to boil to remove the tannins. What is cool is that the red pigments from the dark brown portions of the wood are released first and stain the lighter brown portions a nice natural red color. The jumbo sized piece that I purchased here is truly huge. Its about 24" long, about 4" or 5" inches wide at the base and has a branch that shoots out around 10" inches. All Mopani seems to be a bit gnarled and knotted so it has interesting texture, but since you can't dictate the exact shape of the specimen you'll just have to order a piece and work your aquascape around what you get. Right now I'm soaking this jumbo piece in a plastic storage tote until it stops coloring the water. Currently on week four and with regular water changes it should be ready for the aquarium in another four to six weeks. Its also probably good to point out that the first time the wood is placed in the aquarium it will likely develop a white fungus growth. I let it grow for a week to consume all of the nutrients off the surface of the wood and then brushed it off with an old tooth brush. I haven't seen it since. Of course I have some snails and fish that like to eat the fungus so they may be doing my gardening for me.