Smelly BP

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Originally Posted by DrDooLittle

I wipe mine down with F10 everytime they mess it. I only smell anything when someone poops.

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Do you use the F10 straight or dilute it?
How long do you let it dry before the snake goes back in?

My standard for cleaning and gently disinfecting anything around here is a warm water/vinegar mix in a spray bottle. Nobody seems to stink unless they've pooped or I've slacked off with my daily routine of changing any poopy or dirty paper towels.

I don't use any really strong disinfectants unless one of the animals is ill.

I have a few things to add...

As far as the paper towels go, all of my snakes smell a little more when using paper towels because its not as absorbent as you would think and leaves a lot of the smell floating around. I switched to aspen and will never look back. It holds the smell much better and makes cleaning much easier and faster. I pull out the area where it went to the bathroom and replace it when fresh aspen.

As far as not thoroughly cleaning the tub itself because of the heat pad, you can take care of this with some aluminum tape. Just pull the pad off of the bottom and give it a good cleaning/scrubbing with some hot water and antibacterial dish soap. I always use chlorohexidine as a second measure and it rinse it again but I guess its optional. Once the tub is fully dry, use a little aluminum tape on the edges of the heat pad and tape it back to the bottom of the tub. Aluminum tape can stand the heat and sticks very well.

After all of this is the snake really smells that bad, there may be a health issue to look at. I have 10 snakes in my room and the only time you smell anything is when one lays a MONSTER crap :taz::P

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Originally Posted by Billy305

I have a few things to add...

As far as the paper towels go, all of my snakes smell a little more when using paper towels because its not as absorbent as you would think and leaves a lot of the smell floating around. I switched to aspen and will never look back. It holds the smell much better and makes cleaning much easier and faster. I pull out the area where it went to the bathroom and replace it when fresh aspen.

As far as not thoroughly cleaning the tub itself because of the heat pad, you can take care of this with some aluminum tape. Just pull the pad off of the bottom and give it a good cleaning/scrubbing with some hot water and antibacterial dish soap. I always use chlorohexidine as a second measure and it rinse it again but I guess its optional. Once the tub is fully dry, use a little aluminum tape on the edges of the heat pad and tape it back to the bottom of the tub. Aluminum tape can stand the heat and sticks very well.

After all of this is the snake really smells that bad, there may be a health issue to look at. I have 10 snakes in my room and the only time you smell anything is when one lays a MONSTER crap :taz::P

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Thanks! I'm definitely going to be picking up some Aspen in the next couple of days when I go to the store to get him some feeders. I think it'll look much nicer as well. :)

As for the heat pad thing won't pulling it off of the bottom when it's stuck on there wreck it? I don't want to have to buy another UTH because I wrecked the one I have on there from pulling it off. :|

Although I am thinking of switching him to a tub soon (he's currently in a glass tank) because I'm having some issues keeping his humidity up. (durr 8) )

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Originally Posted by KTyne

Thanks! I'm definitely going to be picking up some Aspen in the next couple of days when I go to the store to get him some feeders. I think it'll look much nicer as well. :)

As for the heat pad thing won't pulling it off of the bottom when it's stuck on there wreck it? I don't want to have to buy another UTH because I wrecked the one I have on there from pulling it off. :|

Although I am thinking of switching him to a tub soon (he's currently in a glass tank) because I'm having some issues keeping his humidity up. (durr 8) )

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Are you using like a zoomed rectangle/square type heat pad? If so, then no pulling it off gently won't hurt it. The problem is that the glue that stuck it to the glass originally wont be as strong as it was before so it may slowly fall off of the bottom due to gravity. The foil aluminum tape it meant to repair AC and heating ducts so it stands up well to the heat. You can pick up a roll at home depot ect that will last long enough to tape it back 100 times for about 6 bucks. It is what a lot of people as well as myself use to tape down heat tape in their racks.

As far as the humidity you can try folding a towel and putting it over 75% of the screen cage to hold in moisture. Some people have had luck doing the same thing with tin foil.

Glass cages look nice but a tub is the way to go for practical care. Tubs are WAY easier to clean, much lighters, and hold humidity much better. The only downfall is if you live somewhere its really cold, its hard to keep ambient temps higher unless the room is warm because you cant use a heat light ect.

What I have found works great though with a tub if you only have 1 snake it to find a surface (either a cut peice of wood the size of the tub) or a dresser or something you want to put the tub on and put the heat mat there sticky side down. When you need to clean the tub you can just lift it off the dresser and put it right back when you are done. This way you are unsticking and re taping the pad all the time. Start with very few holes and watch the humidity. Slowly add more if you need but remember its hard to un-drill them if the humidity gets too low. :P

F10 is what i use also :)

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Originally Posted by Billy305

Are you using like a zoomed rectangle/square type heat pad? If so, then no pulling it off gently won't hurt it. The problem is that the glue that stuck it to the glass originally wont be as strong as it was before so it may slowly fall off of the bottom due to gravity. The foil aluminum tape it meant to repair AC and heating ducts so it stands up well to the heat. You can pick up a roll at home depot ect that will last long enough to tape it back 100 times for about 6 bucks. It is what a lot of people as well as myself use to tape down heat tape in their racks.

As far as the humidity you can try folding a towel and putting it over 75% of the screen cage to hold in moisture. Some people have had luck doing the same thing with tin foil.

Glass cages look nice but a tub is the way to go for practical care. Tubs are WAY easier to clean, much lighters, and hold humidity much better. The only downfall is if you live somewhere its really cold, its hard to keep ambient temps higher unless the room is warm because you cant use a heat light ect.

What I have found works great though with a tub if you only have 1 snake it to find a surface (either a cut peice of wood the size of the tub) or a dresser or something you want to put the tub on and put the heat mat there sticky side down. When you need to clean the tub you can just lift it off the dresser and put it right back when you are done. This way you are unsticking and re taping the pad all the time. Start with very few holes and watch the humidity. Slowly add more if you need but remember its hard to un-drill them if the humidity gets too low. :P

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I THINK my UTH is Zoo Med but I can't remember exactly. I'll have to take a look. :) If it is I might just take it off and start taping it back on as that'll be much easier cleaning-wise.

As for the humidity thing, I have been covering most of the lid of his tank with a damp towel this past week when I saw he was going into shed and it helped perfectly. :)

I'll have to look into getting him into a tub, it'll be much easier!

The brand isn't really important bit if its the black mat kind its fine. Just don't pull on the cord. Good luck.

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