Disinfecting

[DDALDD]

Hey all,

I'm about to disinfect a new enclosure for my geckos. It's glass. I don't own any F10 and unfortunately have run out of bleach. Was curious to know if using household disinfectant would be fine as long as I make sure it's completely dry before adding the geckos to it. Like Pine-O-Cleen or something similar. Or would it be wiser to go but some bleach?

Thanks.

 

[pepper]

do you have domesto's or something like that . I don't think pine o cleen is agood idea. I'm not sure but I think it's bad for reptiles you might want to do a search on it.

 

[DDALDD]

Oh, I've found some bleach! I've read differing opinions on it, but the general consensus seems to be that as long as the enclosure is allowed to completely dry after the bleach is ok?

 

[pepper]

No I didn't mean the bleach. Sorry I meant the pine o cleen I don't think is good for reptiles. Bleach is ok as long as it's wash off properly.

 

[DDALDD]

No worries, thanks for that pepper.

 

[pythonmania]

Im not sure about any household disinfectants, though I don't think I would use them at all. A friend of mine uses Methylated spirits to clean her cage but I dont know the ratio of meth/water.

I was told by a reptile center to use straight metho to disinfect fake plants, wood, hides etc , just be sure to give them a really good rinse so there is no smell of metho left.

Hope this helps but yes the F10 is the best...

 

[DDALDD]

if my collection grows, F10 will be the way to go

 

[notechistiger]

I use 70/30 water/meth. It's strong enough that you can still smell it (the meth), but if you let it air for 20-30 minutes before you put the reptiles back in, then there won't be a problem.

 

[DDALDD]

I use 70/30 water/meth. It's strong enough that you can still smell it (the meth), but if you let it air for 20-30 minutes before you put the reptiles back in, then there won't be a problem.

That's a good idea. You've had no issues with doing that?

 

[notechistiger]

No, never. I used to use a commercial reptile cleaning agent (not the good stuff like F10- don't even remember what it was now), but I didn't like how my snake used to freak out everytime I put her back in after cleaning her enclosure. I changed to 70:30 water/meth, and after letting it air, the snake didn't react at all, so I assume it's better. I've been using it for a few years now.

 

[Troyster]

I use white vinager and hot water in a squirty bottle to clean my enclosure and it works really well as a disenfectant and is totally harmless.Following that i clean the glass with metho and water and by the time ive finshed all this the drift wood has usually spent 30-40 minutes in a 200 degree oven and its ready to be put back together.

 

[kensai]

Domestos works well, Pine based disinfectants are toxic to reptiles same as raw pine shavings or saw dust

 

[DDALDD]

Thanks guys.