Tank cleaning--how often?

How often should tanks be cleaned? I have a 20-gallon long with lizard liner. In the six weeks I've had my snake, it's pooped once and produces urate about once a week. So far, I've just swapped out liners as soon as it produces waste (and you can tell as soon as you walk into the room). It gets checked at least twice a day, morning and evening.

My question is, it seems like such a clean animal--the room I keep it in never smells unless it has produced waste that day. Do I really need to do a full tank wash on a regular basis? If so, how often should I clean and sterilize the tank?

I disinfect the cages once a month, thats means everything out of the cage and then soaked in a weak bleach solution. Once a week or when the animal poops or pees I clean with chorhexidine..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by justcage

I disinfect the cages once a month, thats means everything out of the cage and then soaked in a weak bleach solution. Once a week or when the animal poops or pees I clean with chorhexidine..

---

Do you use bleach because it's cheaper, or for some other reason? I use chlorhexidine all the time, but then again, I have only a single cage... I'm guessing that's OK?

This may (also) sound like a dumb question, but when you say "when the animal poops or pees I clean with chorhexidine"... WHAT exactly do you clean? I thought I had to clean the smell of the disinfectant thoroughly before allowing the snake in the cage? I'm a newbie, so please forgive any obvious questions... Thanks!

Chlorhexidine is a non-abrasive, non-caustic, overall friendly substance that is so gentle you can bathe you animal in it. It also has superior anti-microbial properties and is used widely in the reptile husbandry world.

If you had a rack setup, when an animal defactes, most people will remove the substrate, waterbowl, and hides, and spray it with chlorhexidine, wipe it dry, and reset the cage, and you're good to go!

elevatethis- where do you get the chlorhexidine? any regular store with cleaning supplies?

-billy

this is the cheapest i've seen this product for



http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.h...2-00b0d0204ae5



vaughn

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by fersal

Do you use bleach because it's cheaper, or for some other reason? I use chlorhexidine all the time, but then again, I have only a single cage... I'm guessing that's OK?

This may (also) sound like a dumb question, but when you say "when the animal poops or pees I clean with chorhexidine"... WHAT exactly do you clean? I thought I had to clean the smell of the disinfectant thoroughly before allowing the snake in the cage? I'm a newbie, so please forgive any obvious questions... Thanks!

---

Yes I use the bleach because it is cheaper and I dont liek to waste chlorhexidine for soaking. I use disposable cage liners for 99% of my cages so I just pull it out and clean the bottom of the tub or cage. Brad is right on about the chlorhexidine, super easy on the animal but mean on bacteria. You can just spray and wipe with the chorlhexidine but your right you need to get the bleach smell out, I know it burns my lungs(feels that way anyway) when I am soaking:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aza

elevatethis- where do you get the chlorhexidine? any regular store with cleaning supplies?

-billy

---

I actually found a 16 oz concentrate bottle of Nolvasan, which is one of the name brands of chlorhexidine, in the Equestrian section at Southern States. I think they also use it to clean horses' mouths or something. Who knows. Either way, it was about $16.99, which lasted me about a year. I probably got anywhere from 8-10 20oz spray bottles of diluted solution for cleaning.

I personally don't ever use bleach and never would, weak or not. Its Chlorhexidine for me. Valley vet has it very cheap and that gallon bottle will last a long time for most. I clean completely once per week. I remove all urates/feces and then spray down and wipe with chlorhexidine. I then spray again and let stand for a couple minutes before wiping. Fresh liner and fresh water and they are good to go!