disinfecting for amphibians?

[LISA127]

I have an old small tank here that has been sitting in the basement. I've kept reptiles nearly 20 years but am not much of an amphibian person. If I wanted to get some type of amphibian, how do I go about disinfecting this used tank? I understand you have to be careful with amphibians. For reptiles I use chlorhexidine but that cannot be used in this case. So what?

[pet_snake_78]

I found a link for you Caudata Culture Articles - Quarantine and Disinfection (http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/quarantine.shtml) and for cleaning axolotl tanks I found this from the former Indiana Axolotl Colony page

"We always change the water in the axolotls' bowls before feeding. To change the water of axolotl larvae, carefully pour the axolotls from their bowl into a net. Clean the bowl with scrub mixture (baking soda and salt mixed together in a 2:1 ratio). Put one liter of clean water in the bowl, then invert the net and release the larvae into the clean water. "

[LISA127]

wow. if you can disinfect amphibian tanks with bleach why not chlorhexidine? I feel bleach to be toxic enough that I won't even keep it in my house!!

I'm really surprised at the suggestions in that link for amphibian tanks. I think I'll go with the peroxide/vinegar or the alcohol.

Thanks for the link!

[pet_snake_78]

I think the reason you can use bleach is because it dries cleanly. Not sure about the scented kind though. You might want to confirm by posting on one of the amphibian forums too and just ask what people have done in practice to make sure there's no surprises. I did use the scrub suggestion to remove slime from plastic boxes a couple of times but it won't disinfect per say.