cleaning

Let's hear some ideas on what to use to clean the inside of our BP's homes. I have read and heard a number of suggestions, including using Clorhexadyne to disinfect. I'm a little nervous about using a chemical made for humans. Does anyone out there use it or anything like it? If anyone uses vinegar or bleach, what sort of dilution ratios make those materials safe for the snakes? Thanks in advance for the help.

I use chlorhex. We used to use it at the animal shelter I worked at in vet. care. Chlorhex is used in vet care a lot and is safe for the animals, which is THE reason I use it.
I'm not a fan of the vinegar smell, so I have not used that.

I use a simple bio-friendly natural soap (Green Works) and water solution for the once a month complete enclosure cleaning. Once done washing, I rinse very thoroughly and dry with paper towels. I spot clean daily and wash out the water bowl every other day with this soap as well.

I have read that a highly diluted bleach mixture will do also (5% mixture I think). This is what I will probably clean my BRB's enclosure with to help prevent bacteria and mold growth because of the higher humidity levels required for this species.

***WARNING*** A lot of typical household soaps contain Ammonia, if this chemical or even the residue comes into contact with Bleach :O it will create a DEADLY POISONOUS GAS!!! Do not for any reason risk cross contamination of these two chemicals..........EVER!!! ***WARNING***

I use the same stuff that RDR uses.

Where do you get chlorhex? Is there a product name or something I should look for in particular. Thanks for responding.

I know there are some places online you can purchase it.
But you're from CO too, I buy mine from a place in Parker called VetLink.

Same thing I use for all of my animals, plain 'ol vinegar and water. :)

I use Poop Off for cleaning the tubs, and Pet Focus to disinfect. I try to stick to using the same stuff to clean all my critter cages so I don't end up with shelves full of different cleaners, and these two have worked pretty well for me.

i just bought a bottle wipe out 2 by zoo med.
http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/En...tzOjE6IjAiO30=

i believe orange based kitchen cleaners also work well.

I use a combination of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. Then rinse well to get the smell off.

Its what I was recomended as cheap disinfectant for my iguanss so I´ve used it for by ball also. Good for me so far.

I have tons and tons of bettas so I use the dishwasher in the jars and ten gallon tanks. I'll use the same for my bp's 10g. Once she grows into the 29, we'll do it the way we use for our bigger tanks.

drag the tank into the tub, get a dish scrubber where you can prefill soap into it and scrub like mad. then we use our hosed shower head set to scalding and rinse thorough. once dry, we check to make sure it's perfect and if not, scrub down again. We also have a shark steamer to use on funky containers to kill bacteria.

Thanks, Corvid. I'm only about 20 min. from Parker, so maybe I'll check it out. I have several animal hospitals as clients, so I was thinking of asking one of them. They may just give me some since they really like us. Since you're local, you understand our lack of humidity. I have recently put a humidifier in the room with my snakes to try to keep the enclosure humidity at around 50%. From what I can tell, that is the "suggested" level, approaching 60% during shed. Do you have any thoughts/suggestions.

I use that Clorox green cleaner. its all natural smells great and does a good job.

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Originally Posted by otiswest

Thanks, Corvid. I'm only about 20 min. from Parker, so maybe I'll check it out. I have several animal hospitals as clients, so I was thinking of asking one of them. They may just give me some since they really like us. Since you're local, you understand our lack of humidity. I have recently put a humidifier in the room with my snakes to try to keep the enclosure humidity at around 50%. From what I can tell, that is the "suggested" level, approaching 60% during shed. Do you have any thoughts/suggestions.

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You bet I understand the humidity woes here in Colorado!
What type of enclosures do you have? A humidifier could help, but it boils down to your enclosures. And substrate. I had been using CareFresh bedding which holds humidity in GREAT, but because I got more snakes and bigger areas I needed to switch to a substrate that was more cost effective, So I switched to Aspen and am struggling, but am slowly but surely getting it under control.

I use a mixture of a few different soaps and peroxide. It works very well. This concoction can also be used to treat mites on lizards. Just soak them on it and clean the enclosure with it and it will take care of the mites.

I am using standard glass terrarriums (20 gal. - long) and am using a fir bark chips substrate. I started out using a combination of fir bark/tropical soil, but the tropical soil was still moist almost a week after I first wet it, and was still very moist under water dish. So now I am just using the bark chips because that stale moisture is breeding ground for bacteria. What have you heard from other BP owners in CO about ideal humidity levels? The ambient humidity, without any assistance, at my house is around 45%. I can get it up to 55 - 60%, but if the humidifier runs out of water at night or while I'm at work, then it drops down to the mid-40's quickly. I am very concerned that the fluctuations in humidity levels might be bad for my snakes. They are eating and pooping healthy, so I guess I should feel good about that. Tell me about your experiences with humidity levels. P.S.- I'm going caveing for a couple of days so I'll check your response Sun. night. Thanks!

I use a Mr. Clean antibacterial spray then rinse thoroughly. Been using it for almost a year and everything is good.

I use the Clorox Green Works cleaner that someone else mentioned. I spray down the tub, wipe it out and stick it in the bathtub for a scalding hot rinse. :shrug: Works for me.

The humidity in your house is pretty good! I seem to be around 25-30% in my house... Personally, I try to keep the snake's humidity around 50-60% I have perfect sheds and stools that way. I've had fluctuations of humidity, and haven't seen many problems, however I'm sure it's not ideal to have the huge changes constantly.
One thing I forgot to mention, if you're getting chlorhex, you want the solution (I think it's 2%) and NOT the scrub. The scrub is soapy and will need to rinse.
One thing I did when I was using aquariums was set them on their sides and made plexi-glass doors for them. The humidity and the temperatures stayed PERFECT with misting about 1x/week. I can get you a picture if you would like.
I think it's a good idea that you got the tropical soil out, I line with newspaper and then lay my substrate on top. It make cleaning easy. Depending on how many snakes you have, you may want to look into carefresh, like I said it holds humidity very well. I have never used fir bark.

I use bleach on the tanks.

I do use Chlorhex, too... the vet has given it to me to soak the snakes in when I had one with scale rot. It didn't hurt her.

I use diluted bleach (like 10:1) from a spray bottle. I spray the tubs down, let them sit for a couple minutes, then take them outside and hose out.

For the two snakes in tanks (adult corn in a 30g breeder & 2 yr old Braz. Rainbow boa in a 55 gal) I remove everything, and either use the Natural Chemistry spray or bleach, or both depending on how I'm feeling that day. I also keep Clorox Anywhere Spray handy, and sometimes use that.

Great! Thanks. What sort of material is CareFresh made from? Is it a certain kind of tree bark or something? Do you get it at the place in Parker you mentioned? Thanks for your patience with all of my questions!!!

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Originally Posted by otiswest

Great! Thanks. What sort of material is CareFresh made from? Is it a certain kind of tree bark or something? Do you get it at the place in Parker you mentioned? Thanks for your patience with all of my questions!!!

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The place in Parker won't have carefresh, but any Petsmart/Petco will have it. It's in a green bag. It's more of a paper bedding, not a natural bark. It come is grey, white and then dyed colors.
I found the Grey smalls funny, don't like the dyes, so have alwats gotten the white. It's perfectly safe for the snakes, and the white beding is nice for seeing the beauty of the animals.
Good Luck!!