What Do You Use To Clean Your Snake Cages?

[alexOATH]

Hello everyone, I just had a quick question about cleaning your snake cages. I myself happen to have a 20 gallon glass aquarium, and I was wondering what you all use for your own personal cages to clean them up?

For right now I have just used some water and paper towels as there is no major need to clean it right now.

But what should I use for those major cleanings I'll need to do (3 or 4 times a year) and the weekend cleanings if need be?

Thanks.

[kellysballs]

We normally spot pick our cages unless there has been a messy shed (pieces) or a spilled water dish or a poo that has stuck to the sides. When there is a messy shed or a spilled water dish we empty the tub spray with clorahexi wipe clean and replace the sani chips. If it is a really messy tub like stuck poo or some thing nasty like that we empty the tub wash it with hot water and blue dawn, dip it in the sanitizer solution (bleach and water or this industrial yellow sanitizer from sams) let it drip dry (mostly) rinse and replace thechips.

Weekly when we do water bowls we use a 3 sink system like in restaraunts (except we use bus tubs as sinks). We have a wash tub (blue dawn) a rinse tub and a sanitize tub. I rinse again in the sink before we refil the bowls

When I am being lazy I will stick the water bowls in the dish washer!

[Jsh]

I use chlorhexidine every time I clean cages.

[Friday2214]

I do spot cleaning until the poo comes, then we take everything out and clean with dawn.

[panthercz]

Well, I don't keep my ball pythons in glass tanks but do keep some other reps in them.
For cleaning I use hot water and original Dawn soap. Then once a year or if I'm transferring animals around I'll use Chlorhexidine or bleach.

Keep in mind there is no reason or need to "sterilize" your tanks or tubs every time you wash them unless you are dealing with a sick animal or a quarantined animal. If you try to sterilize every time you wash, you are doing more harm than good.

[icygirl]

I use chlorhexidine for spot cleaning/weekly cleaning. If the tub/tank really reeks or they spread the poo around, etc. then I will soak everything in ~5% bleach solution for an hour, then in water for another hour, then dry everything out. This method has worked well for me.

[alexOATH]

Thanks for the suggestions / advice.

[CoolioTiffany]

I spot clean on a daily basis for all of my reptiles to make sure the enclosure and the snake is clean. Salmonella is in reptile feces so it's always important to spot clean right away when you see a defecated area inside the enclosure so the reptile does not slither or walk in it and pass it onto your hands. That's why you always wash your hands after handling.

To clean the cages, I take the smaller enclosures (10-20 gallon) I dump all of the substrate in a garbage back then take the cages outside and hose them down. I take the tanks inside and dry them off with a paper towel. After that I take them back to the area where they were in. During the tank cleaning, I soak the cage items in hot water. With the larger enclosures (40 gallon) I cannot move it since it's very heavy, so what I do is take a garbage bag and scoop up the substrate and put it in the bag. After all substrate is out, I spray a towel with JurassiClean and wipe down the entire enclosure. After it has dried, I add the substrate and cage items back into the enclosure. That is how I clean my enclosures.

[lillyorchid]

I spot clean everyday when I check on them. They get their tubs scrubbed out once every 2 weeks (unless someone had an explosion). I use liquid A33 as my preference of a cage cleaner and over all house cleaner also.

[SatanicIntention]

I use OdoBan or chlorhexidine. Generally though if the tub is clean, I just take the paper out and replace. Snakes need to get an immune system somewhere.