Hand Sanitizer

Is hand sanitizer good enough to use between handling quarantined herps? If not, what is?

I would prefer to wash my hands in really hot water w/antibacterial soap or even a mild bleach solution (making sure to rinse very, very, well) just to be on the safe side.

Not good enough for me .... Soap and hot water! (i actually also use betadyne, but it's hell on the skin) .... When working with my quarentined animals I use surgical grade gloves, but I'm very anal retentive about things like that.

It's actually a good idea to wash your hands when moving from animal to animal even with the non-quarentined herps in your collection (for a small collection at least). With my collection I was my hands when moving from rack to rack because doing it for each animal would be impractical.

-adam

Betadine is nasty.

Oh how I wish there was a sink up here.. Do you sit there with a watch and time yourself for the 30 seconds or whatever you're supposed to scrub your hands for to kill all germs? (I am being serious.. lol)

Where do you get surgical grade gloves? I assume they're not the same kind you see in the grocery store.

I use hot water and antibacterial soap then i rinse very well.

I also handle my "established" (or the snakes ive had longer) snakes first.

I can get extremely paranoid about germs when it comes to my animals. Ok I'm thinking, I've touched one of my quarantined animals, so I go downstairs to wash my hands, but I have to touch the dial on the faucet to turn it on, and after I've washed my hands I have to touch it again to turn it off, thereby potentially recontaminating my hands. What do you think? Am I also anal retentive? :?

Use a glove or a towel to turn the faucet off then.......lol

Oh but how do I know I didn't touch the towel before when my hands could have been dirty?

Ok fine fine I'll just use my elbow to turn the darn faucet off.

Hahah sounds like a plan ;)

You could also wash the faucet ???

it has been proven that there are more germs on the faucet in a public restroom than there are on the toilet seat. so, shelby, your concerns are not so far off. you can dry your hands with a paper towel, and then use the towel to turn off the faucet. that way your clean hands never touch the faucet, regardless of what might be on it.

I don't think the gloves I use are surgical grade (I acutally use the gloves to deal with my tarantula), but I picked them up at a Walgreens. You should be able to pick up some in any pharmacy section, although you may have to go to Walgreens or something like that to get a specific size (I have small hands, and the other places I tried had one size fits all..which would probably be too big for me.)

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Originally Posted by Brandon.O

You could also wash the faucet ???

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Ah, but every time I washed my hands, I'd have to do that again. (Not sure mom would appreciate the liberal use of soap to clean the faucet.) ;)

That's a good idea mlededee. I'll have to get a roll of paper towels just for that.

Hah, I have a plan!

(all my non reptile owning friends think I'm nuts)

Most of my non-reptile owning friends think I'm nuts just for the simple fact that I own reptiles! :wink:

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Originally Posted by sophie42204

Most of my non-reptile owning friends think I'm nuts just for the simple fact that I own reptiles! :wink:

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Ah.. yes. I'm just glad they don't look in the freezer and see all the bags of frozen rats in there.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Betadine is nasty.

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Sure is, but I actually like the smell and it kills those germs good!

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Oh how I wish there was a sink up here.. Do you sit there with a watch and time yourself for the 30 seconds or whatever you're supposed to scrub your hands for to kill all germs? (I am being serious.. lol)

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Actually I do, I count 30 mississippi's while i wash.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Where do you get surgical grade gloves? I assume they're not the same kind you see in the grocery store.

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Nope, not the same ... You can get them from one of the many online medical supply sites.

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Actually I do, I count 30 mississippi's while i wash.

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Ok then. 30 seconds under hot water it is. Crocodile skin, here I come.

You use the gloves for your quarantines only? And I expect you use a new pair for each animal? (Why do I even ask..)

Yes quarantines only ... I love actually feeling my ummm "snakes" :mrgreen: too much to use them for the healthy guys. And yes new pair of gloves for each one.

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Yes quarantines only ... I love actually feeling my ummm "snakes" :mrgreen:

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*sigh* I get comments similar to that nearly every day from guys when I'm at work. Sometimes I wish I could sic the snake on them.. heheh.

As a side note, how long do you quarantine? Sorry if you already told me that before..

LOL ... Hey, I was good ... I almost always refer to my snakes as "balls" ... thought I'd skip it for that post!

I do a minimum 90 day quarantine on all of my new arrivals. Sometimes it will go longer because I like to bring them all out at the same time and they often come in at different times. So I'll wait until the last one in is done and bring them all over to my shop together.

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

LOL ... Hey, I was good ... I almost always refer to my snakes as "balls" ... thought I'd skip it for that post!

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lol I see. Nice try. (being good that is)

90 days quarantine sounds good. 6 months seemed a bit long, and one month not long enough. Makes sense to bring them all over at the same time.

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Ah.. yes. I'm just glad they don't look in the freezer and see all the bags of frozen rats in there.

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My kids actually posted a warning on our freezer door about that, afraid that one of their friends would open it and be shocked. ;) FWIW, I carry antibacterial gel stuff any time I go to a herp show, in case we handle any animals as some level of protection against carrying things from one to another.

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Originally Posted by Marla

FWIW, I carry antibacterial gel stuff any time I go to a herp show, in case we handle any animals as some level of protection against carrying things from one to another.

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Oh, an excellent idea. I was hoping there was still a use for the stuff. Now I just have to find a herp show in the northern Illinios area... what fun it'd be to go to one.

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Originally Posted by Shelby

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Originally Posted by Marla

FWIW, I carry antibacterial gel stuff any time I go to a herp show, in case we handle any animals as some level of protection against carrying things from one to another.

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Oh, an excellent idea. I was hoping there was still a use for the stuff. Now I just have to find a herp show in the northern Illinios area... what fun it'd be to go to one.

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The Chicago show in October is a must! Beg, borrow, steal, do what you have to ... just go! .... Probably the second best if not the best show in the country!

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

The Chicago show in October is a must! Beg, borrow, steal, do what you have to ... just go! .... Probably the second best if not the best show in the country!

-adam

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Ooh.. must go. Do they have a website? Where is it usually held? McCormick Place? I think I'll start a fund right now for it so I can go next year and get something.

That's Tinley, isn't it? I hear that's a must-attend if at all possible.

http://www.narbc.com/ .... It's a really good time!

It's usually held IN Tinley Park. It's a blast. I didn't stick around for the after show auction (which I heard was a lot of fun), and I couldn't come back on sunday, but it was great.

Besides, you should go see Bubba, the alligator if he's going to be there :)

On the original topic :P I'm a hand washing freak! Mainly that comes from working in education for many years doing IT support. The combination of being exposed to thousands of students and touching objects (keyboards and mice for example) is a great way to pick up germs. On the animal side of me I wash between animals no mater what it is. Coming from experience working on a fire rescue dept and the schools I have had the "liberty" to learn alot about protecting yourself in this matter. While "sanitizers" claim to work wonders they simply cannot compare to simply rubbing your hands under some water...warm OR cold it is known that the actual friction of your own two hands in water is the best way to clean your hands...of course soap is recommended but in certain situations you do what yo have to.

Oh,I just remembered,when I went to the show here,all the breeders used hand sanitizer and said it was okay......

I've been wondering the same thing till i remembered the show!

Ok that's it, I'm going next year. Looks like a lot of really good breeders are going there. I wonder what I should save up to get.. hmmmm.

I will also second the betadine Adam mentioned we keep a supply at home and it is used in varios applications.

I always use hand sanitizer immediately after handling, more for my own protection than anything if I'm going to do anything else in the herp room other than handle the other herps, before heading over to the bathroom and using antibacterial soap and water. I will wash my hands between handling different animals; I wouldn't want my snakes to have sanitizer on them as it stings my own hands a bit when I use it.