Cleaning and Disinfecting

It's really confusing on how to disinfect and thoroughly clean out my cages (both my mice tubs and snake tubs/tanks) there are so many conflicting views out there. I have 3 options, which do you guys think I should use?

First, 10% Bleach or soap solution. Would any clothes washing bleach do? Would a disinfectant (like those for mopping floors) work as well or are they more harmful? I've heard about not using anything that foams up the water when added, but everything seems to do this. So which is good to use? If I do this, I'd most likely make a couple of gallons of this solution and splash it around pour it over the tubs and get it all over every surface, then hose everything down well, wipe dry, leave to airdry completely.

Second, using 50/50 vinegar and water. Sounds good, but this really runs through loads of vinegar very quickly. And the smells funky. I'd probably make a small amount, get a cloth and wipe down every surface. Then whatever I have left at the end try to splash it around to ensure every surface is covered as well. Hose down, wipe and airdry.

Third, just hot water. I'm not too comfortable with this, because I dont think hot water would do much good unless its boiling hot, and even so it should be in boiling hot water for a few minutes at least (so pouring over wont work). and I dont feel safe using boiling hot water on plastic tubs and glass panels.. not to mention I have no idea how to get an entire tub soaking in boiling water.

Of course my last option would be to get those reptile-safe commercial products but they are pricey and I'd have to ship them in. But i'm sure there are better, simpler ways that all of you use.

I prefer to use diluted Chlorhexidine, but I will occasionally use bleach (Clorox). I suppose the vinegar will work as well. What I suggest, that will save you alot of solution, is to get a spray bottle to apply the solution. You can usually find them at Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot or Lowes, and most will have an adjustable nozzle that will spray from a mist to a full stream.

The reason that I like Chlorhexidine is because I can just spray it on and wipe it off, and it leaves little to no smell. The biggest drawback is that it is considerably more expensive than bleach and vinegar.

I wouldn't advise using any of the home cleaning products, as they usually have some pretty strong and toxic stuff in them. Maybe they would be ok to use in diluted forms, but that would be a risk that only you can decide is worth trying.

Thanks for the quick reply. Think i'd use the spray bottle with 50/50 vinegar solution, and use the clorox solution every few months or more to give it a good ensured disinfection. and of course in the mean time if I happen to find any way to get my hands on chlorohexidine easily then i would.

i absolutely HATE bleach and although i own some it ONLY gets used to clean our kitchen trash can and the big one that the trash truck empties every week.
i've tried vinegar/water when cleaning my snake's cage - didnt do well enough so...
i now use a little bit of liquid hand soap and a sponge.
i scrub the dirty surface with the soap & sponge and then wipe it out until i can no longer see suds then dry it with a paper towel and so far so good cuz my snake has not come up with any irritation or anything. i used to use purell hand sanitizer to disinfect the surface after cleaning but i ran out and havent had the chance to buy more. i made sure it was completely dry before putting everything back.
so, thats what i do and it works.

Ok lets separate things here a bit,
cleaning is one step, soap is best I like a small brush myself but sponge ect. will work too.

Disinfecting is a second step a last get the bacterial ect. left behind most (all) methods of disinfecting will not work at all if the item is not CLEAN no chunks of anything.

Bleach at 10% works reasonably well It does take 20 min to work so it is an apply and wait (most are) and wash off. The problem with bleach is it is toxic for you animals and you. It must be completely washed off. I don't like it for the chance that I'd not get it completely washed off. I also react quite strongly (skin and breathing) so I avoid it with everything.

Vinegar is also a fair cleaner it will kill many things however I believe if you are mixing it for disinfecting at 1:1 you need to start with pickling vinegar as it is stronger generally 6% is needed. So off the shelf straight no dilution. It is not as effective as bleach but does kill Botulism. Again 20 min is required as with most things.

There are a grab bag of chemical disinfectants used Chlorahexidine is one it is a concentrate and is diluted before use and is not toxic to reptiles in the recommended concentrations. There are peroxide compounds solutions that can be used too and a family of 'quats' as well. Most of these also need 20 min to be effective.

Hot water it won't work boiling water will however but the same 20 min is required so multiple washes is required. A alternative is steam, there are lots of steam cleaners out there and you can run steam over the surface multiple times.

Personally I use multiple avenues, Chlorohexidine (CHD) wait the required 20 min and then a steam finish after that. It is easy and reasonably quick the CHD will do most of the job but the steam will get into deep corners and high sides where it is difficult to leave the CHD on long enough to work properly.