Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[SiUK]

this has come up on another forum and its made me wonder because I have never disinfected my tanks, I spot clean and change the water and substrate regularly but never soak the bowls and hides in disinfectant or clean the tank with disinfectant.

What about you guys and gals?

[boaboytony5]

I boil hides, bowls etc, never used disinfectant

I'd be too worried that the solution would be too strong and hurt the reptile

For the Viv's, I scrub with boiling water and scrubbing brush, then dry with kitchen roll
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[spud murphy]

Hi, Have you tried Milton solution used for sterilizing babies bottles, or very mild solution of bleach water followed by a wipe through with a water soaked rag i've used both and never had any problems.

My snake now has 6 legs but apart from that she seems fine! LOL
Spud
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Spud

[lovesnakes]

I spot clean daily (when needed!?), water changes daily, every once in a while I do the big clean out where i do use a commercially available reptile cleaning disinfectant (cascade) on the viv and furniture but never the bowls, just hot soapy water them.
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best of luck in the new season

[SCI]

I used 5% thin bleach solution(just bleach not a cleaner) every week on
every piece in the tank but make sure you rinse and dry really
well.
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http://www.freewebs.com/scissnakes/

[medusa]

there is a cleaning agent safe for reptile enclosures, its called vetaclean, it come in concentrated form which you add to water so one bottle lasts ages.
We spot clean our tanks whenever its needed and do a complete clean out every few weeks.

we keep a lot of reptiles and our house is small, I think hygiene is vital otherwise if you have any encounters with nasties such as mites, or diseases, you dont stand a chance if your vivs are close together.
And does anyone else use latex gloves for cleaning out? we have started doing that now. We dont have a separate room to quarantine new animals - they go in separate vivs away from the others as far as we can. it only takes one infected animal to bring disease into the collection and you could then have a huge problem.
I also think snake sexing probes should be properly sterilised inbetween snakes. I've seen some breeders wiping them with a sterile wipe of some sort, but how do you know its really safe? I'm thinking of something like IBD which could spread before you even know you've got it.
I'm a nursery nurse by profession, which does make me very aware of hygiene and preventing cross-infection, so its possible I'm over cautious but to be honest we have a lot of money invested in our reptiles, we cannot afford to take chances an put them at risk.
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.."since using your new shampoo, my hair has come alive.... signed, Medusa.."