Best cage cleaning agent??

[sSNAKESs.com]

Hey guys.. i have been using anti bacterial dish soap to clean my cages after clean ups and i KNOW there is better stuff out there... can anyone give me some suggestions so i can go out and buy it tonight.. thanks guys :)

[sophia]

We use anti-bacterial soap with scalding hot water; followed up with a heavy dousing of vinegar...

Jon

[neil evans]

i use the T-REX bio clean, spray on leave 3 minutes wash off very little scrubing squeaky clean smells nice and citrousy too

[snakekeeper]

I use straight vinagar to clean all my cages and spray out inclosure with water after and had no problems yet:D

[Bryan Self]

Virosan is one of the best there is. There is also another company that makes it but I cannot remember the name they put it out under. It starts with an "n". This is used to clean the teats of cows. It is also used on birds. It is very safe to use. You spray on and let dry or wipe it off and you are done. No need to rince again.
Bryan
Quetzalcaotl Reptiles

[Big Mike]

I have a question...what's wrong with dish soap? You don't get much cheaper than that. I use it for regular cleaning of my cages and accesories.

[Linds]

I use anti-bacterial dishsoap for routine cleaning. But when something needs to be *disinfected* I use anti-bacterial dishsoap - rinse, followed by a spray down with hydrogen peroxide and a spray down over to of that with vinegar, let sit for 10 - 20 minutes then rinse thoroughly :D

[Bryan Self]

Here is an artice about differnet cleaning agents.cleaning (http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/animaldisease/g1410.htm)

[Linds]

Very interesting page, thank you Bryan! :)

[Syst3m]

Hey Jeff I got a few good articles about Cleaning and disinfecting.
Very good stuff.

http://www.anapsid.org/disinfectants.html
http://www.anapsid.org/cleaning.html
http://my.execpc.com/~mjstouff/articles/vinegar.html

I suggest reading all of them, its worth it!

[reverendsterlin]

yeah anti bacterial dishsoap to clean and vinegar for the glass

[J.J.]

A hose and some antibacterial hand/dish soap is all I need to clean my cages, and a bunch a paper towels if I want it dryed by that night! :)

[Katt]

We use industrial/hobbyiest cleaners, good ole bleach is the very best in cleaning solvents. Cheap and super effective, in all clinical tests I've seen, bleach beats out everything, even viricides, bacteriocides, etc. Also, we use Virkon, used extensively with birds, as well as A330 which is what a lot of animal shelters use. Hit a janitor supply place and stock up. I'm paranoid about disease vectors.

[Linds]

I stay away from Bleach. The chemicals in in there are just brutal. Plastic absorbs bleach, actually, many other materials do - glass excluded. I knew the vinegar/peroxide cleaning thing was effective, but until I read up that link Syst3m posted, I had no idea! It is even more effective than bleach and many other commercially available cleaners! Weeeeeeeeeeeee...all natural and super-potent! :D

[Katt]

I read those pages and couldn't find a reference saying vinegar/peroxide was better than bleach.

What I liked to know is if the vinegar spray then peroxoide spray is effective for tough cases like Psuedomonas.

[Syst3m]

Katt did you read my pages that I posted, they pretty much boasted how much better they were and how much safer there were since both of them could be used to disinfect wounds too.

[KaHane]

How long do you leave the hydrogen peroxide and the vinegar on before you rinse?

[Syst3m]

To disinfect surfaces, generously apply the solution to the surface with a saturated cloth, sponge or spray bottle, or let the object soak in a container of the solution. Let the solution sit for at least 10 minutes; 15-20 minutes is better. To sterilize, let the solution sit for at least one-half hour (be sure to check the manufacturer's directions to see if a stronger solution is necessary for sterilization). Rinse out thoroughly, especially when using bleach or ammonia. If there is any doubt about your ability to thoroughly rinse out an enclosure, or the enclosure is made of wood, you may wish to think twice about using bleach or ammonia. Any residual of these substances left in the tank can cause severe, if not fatal, problems for your animals. Both substances produce strong fumes which can cause internal and external irritations. (Simple Green's aroma is artificial sarsaparilla and is not toxic to reptiles; no information has been found in reference to its use in amphibian enclosures.)

[sparkon16]

Vinegar is a great cleaner for inside the enclosure, Quatsyl kills all the bad stuff in it but u have to rinse it out thouroughly. I like quatsyl though!

[Linds]

Katt,

Taken from http://my.execpc.com/~mjstouff/articles/vinegar.html
In tests run at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, pairing the two mists killed virtually all Salmonella, Shigella, or E. coli bacteria on heavily contaminated food and surfaces when used in this fashion, making this spray combination more effective at killing these potentially lethal bacteria than chlorine bleach

[Jeff_Favelle]

If I had Psuedomonas in my collection, I would burn all my cages and start from scratch!! I wouldn't mess around with that.

[Katt]

Thanks Linds, I hadn't caught that!

Perhaps we'll stock up on vinegar and peroxide, good thing, we've alraedy ran out of bleach.

[Jaylyn]

The Virkon is effective against the pseudomosas and other bacteria.... some fungus and 18 virus families. It's fairly cheap, too - $5 packet will make 10L of solution.