Ok I need some advice please

I had a snake that i got from a pet store but the stupid pet store gave me a snake that was already sick so it died within a week. And I am going to be getting a snake soon and I want to reuse the cage and the branches and artificial leaves again. What is the best way to go about cleaning everything to make sure my new snake is not in ANY harm of catching ANYTHING. I was thinking of microwaving each item that can be microwaved for about 10 seconds or should i not do that or should i do it longer than 10 seconds? And then after that scrub then soak them for a half hour in dawn and warm water then rince them clean and air dry it? Please tell me if this will take care of everything or is there other stuff I should do?

I plan on using a diluted clorine solution to clean my tank.
I have heard that whatever it is make sure it is a non-phenol disinfectant. I am new to this myself so as I said I am using a bleach solution.What ever you use rinse the tank thouroughly.

Bluemoon

re use tank

This same thing happen to me about a year ago. I had a ball python that died in about two weeks. I then washed the tank with watered down chlorine let it soak for a while then did a good washing with just water until you could no longer smell the chlorine. I have a take in that cage for about six months and is fine.
Brian

what about all of the objects that go in the cage? And what is a non-phenol disinfectant? Can i just you some clorox bleach?

Yes clorox is what I use just water it down a bit. The items in the cage like branches and water bowl is fine just let it soak for a bit then wash it out good. I do this with all my snakes once a month. Give them a good disinfectant cleaning.
Brian

Regular clorox bleach in a 10% dilution is good... If you have any wood things, like climbing branches or log hides, you can stick them in the oven for 30 minutes at 300 F, and that should kill anything. You can do a bleach and bake to really kill off anything. Anything else, just bleach solution will do. Just make sure to rinse everything off well.

With the wood is it ok to put it back in the cage if it is dry but still has a little smell of clorox?

And what is a non-phenol disinfectant?

I dont bake my wood I soak it in clorox and wash it off and let it dry and it is fine never had a problem yet. You really dont want to have that much of a smell of bleach. Let it air out for a bit then try washing it again with just water.
Brian

See I am just so worried because I dont want it to get sick and die!

I currently have 8 snakes 4 corns 1 burmese 1 red tail and 1 ball python. And I clean them all the same way. Fresh water every day or two. Spot check for poop and change bedding every two weeks. Then every month they get a massive cleaning with clorox to disinfect that means everything in the cage. As long as you make sure all the bleach is washed out and there is pretty much no smell the snake should be fine. Just let it air out a bit. Dont worry. But if it is still a big deal to you I know zoo med makes a disinfectant I think it is called wipe out 1 or 2 not sure witch one. I know wipe out 3 is a hand cleaner. I personally never used wipe out so I dont know how it works.
Brian

Merlin0511 said:

With the wood is it ok to put it back in the cage if it is dry but still has a little smell of clorox?

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No, you should keep rinsing in clean water til there is virtually no smell of bleach left. It takes a while but it's very inportant otherwise you could kill your new snake with chlorine fumes.

As for non-phenol bleach, as far as I can remember from first year chemistry non-phenol simply refers to the molecular make up of the bleach. Phenol being an aromatic (with phenol rings). Not entirely sure but it's something like that.

What should the humidity be in a cage for a corn snake? And then if its to high or two low dont you just get a smaller or bigger water dish? I have a 40 gallon glass tank with a slide off cage top is it going to be hard to maintain the humidity in there?

I try to keep my humidity between 50 to 60%. Place a water dish on each side of the viv (cool and warm side). My humidity drops when I have my heat lamp on. So, I place a rag or paper towel on top of the viv to keep the water vapor in. Another good way to increase the humidity is to mist the cage once a day. If the humidity gets too high I will remove the rag from the top of the cage. I woulldn't think that it would be much different, in controlling the humidity, than if you had a 10 gln cage. Just be sure you have 2 water dishes big enough for your snake to curl up in.

a non-phenol disinfectant...

Non-phenol disinfectants

Nolvasan disinfectant
"Nolvasan is an Unscented 2% Chlorehexadine Solution that was created and tested at the Fort Dodge Animal research laboratories in Ft Dodge, IA. "

Nolvasan (chlorhexidine diacetate), the only EPA-registered chlorhexidine disinfectant, works against at least 60 different bacteria, fungi, yeasts,and viruses.
Nolvasan is non-corrosive, has minimal to no skin irritation, and retains antimicrobial activity in the presence of organic matter.
Nolvasan's unique binding to skin proteins provides residual activity for as long as two days.
http://petsupplies4less.com/pages/Bird_Products.html

you should keep rinsing in clean water til there is virtually no smell of bleach left. It takes a while but it's very important otherwise you could kill your new snake with chlorine fumes.

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slash/...Residue... :~)

How to safely (hopefully) disinfect wooden objects using bleach...
Too much bleach will tend to leave a residue with pourous
objects if not rinsed very well.
Fill a tub with water and add 1/2 liquid ounce per 5 gallons for an initial pre-soak.
This dilute solution of Normal strength (3%) sodium hypochloite (chlorine bleach) is considered suitable for a commercial restaurants hand dish washing sinks as a disinfectecting soak.

Solution contact times of several minutes are important with most disinfectants.

After ten minutes or so once the woods pores have absorbed the dilute disinfectant, you could add another 4 ounces or so (this is the overkill step), give that ten minutes contact time, and rinse, rinse, rinse and rinse again.
An hour or two at 250 degrees Fahrenheit will dry out and accelerate any bleach off gassing that the wood may want to do.

You may want to rinse again after its dried out somewhat, one may want to rinse yet again to wash away any bleach "crystals" that has leached out of the woods pores.

Microwaves are essentially useless for absolute disinfection,
ten seconds in a microwave will just make bacteria angry, it won’t kill 'em.

Bleach is not "idiot proof" as it will leave toxic residues if rinsed insufficiently.
Relatively close to idiot proof, but not quite.
Details, details the devils in the details.

Do not use "Dawn" or other ammonia containing dish washing detergents in conjunction with bleach as it will produce a dangerous chemical reaction and produce a "off-gas" that is dangerous for you and ones Corn Snake. A safe widely available dish soap in the U.S. is "Joy", it has no ammonia in its formulation.

A safe non-toxic option would be 30-60 drops of Grapefruit seed extract (G.S.E.) per gallon of water for a very effective natural approach to disinfecting.
Rinse it off, if your in the mood.

A 50/ 50 blend of white vinegar and standard strength Hydrogen peroxide is a good choice for another non-toxic disinfectant. University studies support the the fact that it is an excellent disinfectant.
Again its all about contact times.
Add ten or twenty drops of G.S.E. if one would like to add a kicker/ fortifier to the recipe to make commercial strength voodoo juice.
A keyword search here will explain more. :~)

Straight 3% hydrogen peroxide
( H2O2) or even a 50/50 with water
(H2O) in a spray bottle can be effective to.

Hydrogen peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water when it decomposes, thus is very safe residue wise (there is none) compared to other disinfectant choices.

you can stick them in the oven for 30 minutes at 300 F, and that should kill anything.

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45 minutes an hour even better. imho

:~)A keyword search here may help one find answers as the questions occurs to one.:~)

I have read alot and I do know pretty much EVERYTHING I just forgot and I wanted to ask someone here instaid of going searching for somewhere it said. And also I wanted some tips on keeping moisture in which I got. Its not really that big of a deal I just like asking people one on one because you usally get a better answer then just reading some guied.

Phenol is a chemical that is put in some cleaning agents for disinfecting.Play it safe and use diluted bleach.

bluemonn

Phenol products,
like Lysol and Pine-sol,
are toxic to Corn Snakes in particular and reptiles in general.
Do not use them!


A little Pop Quiz;

Why don't we use ceder or pine shavings as a substrate?

tick tock, tick tock...
Times up.
Lets say it all together now class...

"because of the phenol content".

"PHENOL" is todays Official
"KEYWORD" Du jour

Wow, I did actually remember something from chemistry class!! For any of you interested its chem formula is C6H5OH. It forms a ring shape and has a sweet smell (hence it being termed and aromatic). Its used widely in air freshner industry,
is also a powerful disinfectant and bacteria killer. This is ideal for not only an air freshener but also other products like medicinal ointments and lotions.

DANGERS: However the chemical is highly corrosive and moderately toxic. It effects humans by burning the skin and other tissue that it comes into contact with. This gives severe skin burning and if inhaled serious internal corrosion. The skin burning is not initially felt because the phenol has a local anaesthetic effect. It can affect the central nervous system, which will at first lead to sweating, weakness, dizziness and twitching but with prolonged exposure leads to nausea, vomiting and coma. If ingested even a small dose can lead to be fatal in humans and therefore care must be taken at all times using phenol-containing products.

I guess the last para explains why you shouldn't use it when cleaning out you snakes tank!!

Wow, I did actually remember something from chemistry class!!

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I took Chemistry once in college...It was an interesting week

It helped solve my "Jethro Bodine" like dilemma whether to be a brain surgeon or a fry cook...