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bleaching the viv

P

palmiro

New member
i have to clean up my snake's viv, i usually go with a little soap and hot water, but.. it smells still. i don't want any mites and odour so im planning to bleach it (1/4 + 3/4 water of course) but my question is:

how many time before putting the snakey back in without any harm? a friend of mine is a biologist and she said bleach evaporates super quickly.
 
What I use is "Simple Green". It's a biodegradable cleaner you can get at Wal-Mart or Lowes. I do a 1:10 dilution of Simple Green to water, then I spray the tub, let it set for 15 minutes, then you wash it out with water. Then I scrub it with Anti-bacterial soap, let it set for a few minutes, and then I spray it down and let it dry. Works great!
 
Vinegar and baking soda deodorize well. Make a paste of baking soda and water. Scrub the viv with it. Rinse it out. Spray the viv with a mixture of half vinegar, half water. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Wipe dry.

For bleach, I would let the viv sit out in the sun for a couple of hours before putting the snake back in. Make sure you rinsed well. Bleach is very toxic to reptiles.
 
palmiro said:
...i have to clean up my snake's viv, i usually go with a little soap and hot water, but.. it smells still.
Click to expand...

Of what is your viv made? The residual smell makes me think plastic. If that's the case, it's possible that the scent has actually been absorbed by the plastic and may be very hard to eradicate. If it's a glass tank with some type of sealant in the jointures, it's possible that either the sealant absorbed odor (unlikely) or that there's a bit of material that's getting under the edges of the sealant which is difficult to remove.

Naagas said:
Vinegar and baking soda deodorize well. Make a paste of baking soda and water. Scrub the viv with it. Rinse it out. Spray the viv with a mixture of half vinegar, half water. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Wipe dry.

For bleach, I would let the viv sit out in the sun for a couple of hours before putting the snake back in. Make sure you rinsed well. Bleach is very toxic to reptiles.
Click to expand...
Great idea! Vinegar and baking soda are both effective, safe cleansers. Bleach is fine, so long as one rinses well. Sunlight is actually a good germicidal agent, and I like to let cleaned vivs sit out in full sunlight for a couple of hours. The natural UV kills a lot of pathogens.

Don't use Lysol, as it's toxic to herps. That's also the case with Pine-Sol and other pine-based cleaners. Those fresh, piney scents come from natural aromatic compounds that are harmful to reptiles.
 
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