Bleach bucket

[ReptiZone]

hey ppl,

I just wanted to share a cleaning trick of mine thaught you might like it.

well the definiton of bleach bucket.

It is a place where you let all herp related stuff soak over night to be cleand thuroly.

go to Wall-Mart get 2 brand new Rubermaid garbege can and place 1/2 a cup of bleach in one and then fill the can up with water the first time you try this and you still smell the bleach 30 min later dump and place 1/4 cup so cans are smaler then others.
the secound can is just fresh water.

Now what I do is take all my water dishes dump the water in the sink and place my dishes in the bucket and place fresh ones in to replace the ones that were there. the falowing day I remove all the soking dishes and wash them with water a non toxic dish liquide (palmolive) workes for me.

now when I am cleaning the whole cage everything goes in the bleach bucket rocks wood hid boxes water dishes some times If the cage is for a new animal I will actualt rinse the light bulb in the bucket ane let it dry (OVERNIGHT) B4 puting it back in.

Now when you put wood or rocks wou will want the extra bucket with just fresh water to let them soak and clear out there pores for a nother night then rinsed under runing water and let dry. I do that also with plastic plants. Becare full with fake plants that have like a material leaf on them you will bleach the colour out you can still soak them but for 10-30 min only.

You can also use this method on small aquarium rocks in a apropriat size Rubermaid. Note: Extensive amout of rinsing is needed just when you think you rinsed it enught rince it 10 more times better to be safe then sorry.

for this method to be sucsesfull you will ned double or tripel your stuff Ex: you will need 2-3 water dishes for every cage a bunch of sticks and rocks, extra plastic plants and so on.

this way you are cleaning every thing in the cage to a 100% but your animal alwas has a fresh water dish it will not be waith for you to clean and rinse his/her actual water bowl. this method also removes the effect of secound guessing your self and woundering is it clean enugh and who water bowl is this again. cause the are all 100% clean and can be placed in any cage cause it was like you just baught it and placed it in for the first time.

also when I do a full cleaning job and all the mulch is out I spray a 10% bleach and water solution in the cage and whip it all down and the wash with palmolive and then I dry it up and put new mulch then I go in my reserve stock and refurnish the cage and place a clean water bowl all while the infected stuff is soaking.

for ppl that dedicat a whole room for there herps it is easy you have your cages where ever they may be you pic a spot to place the bleach bucket and the is where you dirty pile is then you find a nice place with some shelves to put the plastic plants small rocks and you lay the larger rocks on the flore and place the sticks and branches against the wall and that is your clean pile you can also have a few childrens toy boxe for your larg rocks and sticks. and place all your extra water dishes an the shelves.

any way just a few ideas that may make you life a bit easier.

Marc Doiron

[snakemann87]

WOW what a process......so complicated....cant...read...anymore.
LOl great way to clean marc and it seems like everything should be nice and CLEEAN(the point right?) lol

[V.hb]

I do something pretty similar, its worked for a long time. I only do it with glass or ceramic, I dont trust soaking plastic in bleach because plastic can hold so much in the grooves, or little cracks etc. Ceramic doesnt harbor nearly as much as a plastic bowl would. Good ideas

[Linds]

Originally posted by V.hb
I dont trust soaking plastic in bleach because plastic can hold so much in the grooves, or little cracks etc.

Yup. Soaking plastic in any bleach solution is not a great idea. Plastic actually absorbs the bleach. I personally avoid using bleach on anything, whether or not it is porous and use vinegar/peroxide, dissoap, etc. But I would strongly discourage anyone that does use bleach in their regular cleaning routine to avoid using it on anything porous.

[ReptiZone]

I use peroxide on my animal directly if they have a cut but not to clean a cage it is just not strong enugh. and think about it some ppl eat vinager on there frys tell me how can that posibly kill any thing sure it smells strong but in reality it is nothign but a food toping would you clean a cage with mustard just cause it smells strong.

I understand bleach is a strong product but that is why you dilute it to still have the potency to clean but not enugh to hurt anything and plus I let it soak in a frehs water bucket afterwords to clear out the pors of any left over bleach.

this method used safely and properly is verry effective.