Cage Cleaning

[cloudgodd]

I looked through the first page of posts, and didn't see anything and I was surprised that there wasn't a sticky on this? maybe I looked in the wrong place...

well my question is, Does anyone have a step by step on how to clean a Leo's cage?

Thank you

 

[gothra]

What are you using as substrate? I use cage carpet, and I change out the carpet once every 2 months and wash them in washing machine. With the glass tank, I just spray it with chlorhexidine, wait a few minutes, then wipe it dry with paper towels.

I have paper squares on their toilet spot, and they get replaced as soon as its used.

 

[monkeytechahoo]

I have a 20% nolvasan solution that I'll spray onto a paper towel to spot clean an then just a monthly tear down spray out of the aquarium w/tile.

 

[UnicornSpirit]

I use paper towels as my substrate which have most of the poop stuck to them. So, I just strip out the paper towels and throw them away. I then pick out any bits of remaining dead crickets, poop, bits of moss, etc until all debris is gone. Now for the disinfectant. For weekly cleaning I use a diluted Nolvasan solution (chlorhexidine) and spray ALL surfaces of the inside of my tank- floors and walls. I let that sit for about 15 minutes then just wipe it all away with more paper towels.

I also use the Nolvasan solution on my water dishes, hides, food bowls. Except for the cork bark. It all goes through the same process- 15 minutes then wipe away. I also rinse out my water dish as an extra precaution.

I then might do some spot cleaning with Windex (glass cleaner) on the outside of my tanks to make it look perfect. Place your dishes and hides back in over fresh paper towels and you're done.

It's a cinch compared to mucking out horse stalls- and smell better too!

Twice a year (more if there is a sickly gecko) I will use bleach instead of Nolvasan to REALLY hardcore disinfect (yes, bleach stinks but it still disinfects better than Nolvasan). I'll spray out my cages, let it sit for about 30 minutes. If you have the time and want to clean a REALLY GRIMY cage I'll fill it with bleach water and soak it over night. I'll soak any food bowls and hides in diluted bleach water and let that sit for about 45 minutes. Don't soak any metal (such as syringes or tweezers) in the bleach as it will corrode them! Double rinse everything, dry it out and air it out a bit afterwards- bleach fumes are nasty.

Believe it or not, I used to just use a bleach water solution for cleaning my tanks regularly until I discovered Nolvasan. It's so much more pleasant and any small left behind residue won't hurt your animals.