What does every clean their enclosures with?

RUBYsoho

RUBYsoho

Member
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93
Location
NYC
Hey, what does everyone use to clean their enclosures? I recently switched from sand/reptile carpet to ceramic tiles/reptile carpet & now the enclosure is beginning to smell. I have never had this issue with sand (I used to scoop the poop out with a small cup every day, & it never left an odor). My girl always poops in the same spot, which is not on the ceramic tile, & I've been cleaning it with warm water on a paper towel, but that def isn't taking care of the germ aspect. It's starting to smell a little like a zoo in there lol what can I use to clean the enclosure that will also be safe for my girl?

Thanks, everyone!
 
Neon Aurora

Neon Aurora

New Member
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1,376
Location
New Mexico
Personally, I like to use isopropyl alcohol. It's a great disinfectant and also very volatile. I normally take the gecko out of its enclosure, pick up the poop with a paper towel and wipe the area with water to get all of the soil away. Then I put a small amount of alcohol on a paper towel and wipe. The alcohol with evaporate away(you can tell by the smell. If you don't smell alcohol anymore, than its completely evaporated). Sometimes I do it twice if I can still smell the odor. I've used this method for a very long time and it's always worked great for me. Just remember the importance of removing the gecko so its not breathing vaporized alcohol. It literally only takes 30 seconds to a minute for the alcohol to evaporate. This works really well for spot cleaning. For entire enclosure cleaning, I usually take everything out and dilute some vinegar in super hot water and use that. Vinegar(and really hot water) is a really good disinfectant and completely harmless. It does leave a smell if you don't rinse it well enough, though.

I know a lot of people also use bleach diluted with water, but I don't like to. I learned in my microbiology class that bleach doesn't even work as well as vinegar or alcohol or very hot water.
 
indyana

indyana

Well-Known Member
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2,336
Location
Massachusetts, United States
I make sure to keep a tile in the poop corner, then I just remove it and wash with a mild dish soap and hot water when I need to.

Carpet is terrible for spot cleaning because it absorbs any liquid waste and starts to stink. Your only option after that is to switch out the carpet and do a full soak and clean.

For cleaning, it depends what level of cleaning I'm doing. Just a quick clean, I'll use chlorhexidine spray and then wipe with hot water to rinse. Dishes get done with soap and hot water. For a deeper clean, I'll scrub with soap and hot water, rinse, spray with chlorhexidine and let sit for 15-30 min, then rinse again.
 
RUBYsoho

RUBYsoho

Member
Messages
93
Location
NYC
Neon Aurora said:
Personally, I like to use isopropyl alcohol. It's a great disinfectant and also very volatile.

I am so relieved to hear you say that, because that's what I used to clean it the other day, but I was afraid she would be breathing in the alcohol smell. Luckily, I have a few ceramic tiles that I rotate, so when one is dirty & being cleaned, I can replace it with one that's already been clean for a few days. I figure by then all the chemicals would have evaporated. Thanks for the reassurance!
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RUBYsoho

RUBYsoho

Member
Messages
93
Location
NYC
indyana said:
I make sure to keep a tile in the poop corner, then I just remove it and wash with a mild dish soap and hot water when I need to.

Carpet is terrible for spot cleaning because it absorbs any liquid waste and starts to stink. Your only option after that is to switch out the carpet and do a full soak and clean.

For cleaning, it depends what level of cleaning I'm doing. Just a quick clean, I'll use chlorhexidine spray and then wipe with hot water to rinse. Dishes get done with soap and hot water. For a deeper clean, I'll scrub with soap and hot water, rinse, spray with chlorhexidine and let sit for 15-30 min, then rinse again.
Click to expand...

Yep - I keep the tile side on the pooping side lol and she's been very cooperative by continuing to poop in that same spot =) If she ever poops on the carpet, I'll prob just throw it out, especially since I have so many spares. I'm really digging this tile idea...I've only had it for a couple of weeks now, but it really is easy to maintain. She was slipping & sliding on it at first (which was kinda funny...and cute lol), but now she seems to love to rest on it. =)
 
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