Bleach, F10, Chlorahexadine

I tried posting my question onto an old post, but little response. So new post for an age old question.

Are any of the cleaners, bleach, F10, Chlorahexidine, any better than the other in general, or for specific purposes (eg spot clean vs complete cage cleaning) ?

Any advantages to any of them over the other (aside from bleach being cheap)? For example, maybe one you can use w/the animal in the container, or another maybe there is no need to rinse the container after area is sprayed, just air dry etc etc.

Thanks in advance!

I don't know anything about F10, but both bleach and chlorhex require 10 minutes of contact time on a surface free of organic debris in order to kill bacteria.

Chlorex is not harmful to reptiles.

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Originally Posted by shelpen

Chlorex is not harmful to reptiles.

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Sure, but you don't use it in the presence of your animal is my limited understanding, like bleach. So I'm not sure what you mean.

Bleach and regular f10 aren't cleaners (no detergent). Just disinfectants. I'm not familiar with chlorhexadene but from what I know I think it's the same. That means you need to clean it before using the disinfectant.

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Originally Posted by Willowy

Bleach and regular f10 aren't cleaners (no detergent). Just disinfectants. I'm not familiar with chlorhexadene but from what I know I think it's the same. That means you need to clean it before using the disinfectant.

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Oh good point, thank you. I imagine that may be why some people use F10SCXD, as it's both I believe.

I use F10SC and F10scxd. The advice I was given was to use F10SCXD for visible messes then follow with F10SC. F10SC to disinfect scales, hides, etc. No rinsing is required, just wipe off but I do rinse with the F10SCXD to help get the poo or whatever off then follow up with F10SC. For full cage clean I use dawn, rinse, F10SCXD, rinse, wipe, F10SC, wipe. The reason I went with F10 products is bc it doesn't have to be use in a month after being diluted like chlorhexadene and it makes about 50 1 liter bottles from a 100ml of F10. Plus it's really easy to use.

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Originally Posted by viper69

Sure, but you don't use it in the presence of your animal is my limited understanding, like bleach. So I'm not sure what you mean.

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Actually you can give your reptile a bath if it has any skin infections. Bearded dragon owners do that (along with betadine). Thus I think chlorex doesn't have to be rinse out and can be use in a very close proximity to reptiles.

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Originally Posted by chrid16371

The reason I went with F10 products is bc it doesn't have to be use in a month after being diluted like chlorhexadene and it makes about 50 1 liter bottles from a 100ml of F10. Plus it's really easy to use.

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The trick with the Chlorhex is to make it as you need it, because it does certainly precipitate out. Also, at a 1:40 concentration, it is safe for tissues/wounds.

Thanks a lot guys, I really appreciate all your info. I've always heard of Chlorahex. but never tried it, nor did I know it had a shelf life, or ppts. out either.

I may just go with both of Chrid's suggestions. Having a product with a shelf life of that nature defeats the purpose of buying it, when one can use bleach at that point IMO.

I really appreciate the input!

What are the safety concerns with regular bleach (5% solution)? Personally I hate bleach, the smell the toxicity etc, but never tried the dilute for my tank - is there a compelling reason to use the more expensive stuff?

I use chlorhexidine for routine tub maintenance and other surfaces, even use it on my animals when needed.

Bleach is used when animals transitioned to a new tub, each time a snake changes tub (upgrade or female getting a new tub after she lays) it goes in a tub that has been bleached.

I also bleach water bowls once a month, in between for regular maintenance I use chlorhexidine.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

I use chlorhexidine for routine tub maintenance and other surfaces, even use it on my animals when needed.

Bleach is used when animals transitioned to a new tub, each time a snake changes tub (upgrade or female getting a new tub after she lays) it goes in a tub that has been bleached.

I also bleach water bowls once a month, in between for regular maintenance I use chlorhexidine.

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Thank you for the thorough explanation. May I ask why you use the two products differently in the way that you do? If the beach is sufficient for tank changes, then why not for regular maintenance as well? Of course I suspect it's because the bleach is a harsher chemical, although I have never tried the 5% diluted form, but even at that level is there is safety risk for the animals that relegates it to be used only when a tank is being completely emptied?

Even when diluted, disinfectants like bleach and ammonia (which is the only disinfectant that will kill crypto BTW, bleach does not) require a lot of rinsing and airing out before I'd consider the enclosure safe for use again. F10 and chlorhexidine, diluted appropriately, won't hurt your critter even if not completely rinsed away so they're appropriate for daily use and spot cleaning.

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Originally Posted by dkatz4

Thank you for the thorough explanation. May I ask why you use the two products differently in the way that you do? If the beach is sufficient for tank changes, then why not for regular maintenance as well? Of course I suspect it's because the bleach is a harsher chemical, although I have never tried the 5% diluted form, but even at that level is there is safety risk for the animals that relegates it to be used only when a tank is being completely emptied?

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Because during routine clean up water dish and tubs are associated to the same snake at all time, any time a new/other tub is assigned to a new/other snake, I want to make sure everything has been bleached completely.

It is a harsher chemical so I would not use bleach on a regular basis however in the cases I mentioned above I always do.

The key with bleach is to rinse well and let whatever you bleach dry out properly.