Is anyone out there as anal about Cleaniness as me!?

[rubym]

I work from home so I am in and out of the bedroom aka geckoroom several times a day. If I see poo, I clean it right away. We wipe out the tanks nightly- we have tile. My husband usually dumps and wipes out the water and food dishes nightly. Once a week - usually on sunday afternoon- we do a more thourough tank cleaning. When we got one of our rescue geckos, she came with her tank. We ended up having to throw that tank away because even after 2 bleechings, it still smelled. Our poor baby girl smelled aweful for over a month. It took 2 or 3 sheds before she didn't stink. I also soaked her every night for 5 or 10 minutes. I would never let a gecko live in that kind of filth. Sometimes being slightly OCD isn't such a bad thing, LOL>

 

[Snowy & Petra de Gecko]

Well

After reading a book on Parasites, I would have to consider that it is better to be OCD.:main_thumbsup::main_yes:

 

[Greyscale_Geckos]

Everyday:

Spot clean poop
Refill Water dish

Every 2-3 days:

Wash humid hide and put in new paper towels
Mist humid hide
Shake off paper towel substrate

Every week:

Deep clean cage with bleach
Put in new paper towels for substrate

 

[Gregg M]

Although cleaning cages is an important part of keeping reptiles, there is also such a thing as over sanitizing... There are healthy bacterias reptiles need to maintain a heathy digestive system and even the "bad" bacterias help to maintain a reptile immune system and keep it strong... So being O.C.D. does not mean your geckos will be healthier... Infact, it can be unhealthy to over sanitize your cages... Also over sanitizing will do nothing to stop a reptile from getting internal parasites... Infact, I highly doubt anyones reptile collection is 100% parasite free... The feeders you use will reliably carry a parasite load that will get into your reptile... When reptiles are healthy and "stress free", these parasites do not affect them in any way and the number of parasites are kept at bay by the reptiles immune system, so much so, that a fecal will come back neg...

Here is what I do... I NEVER use any type of bleach in the geckos bins at all... I change water every 2nd day or as needed... I spot clean whenever I see fecal matter, I change paper substrate every 3 to 4 days or as needed... I wash my bins with a mild soap every 2 weeks. If any are particularly dirty, they get cleaned right away... Dry hides, water, and food dishes are disposable so the get thrown out and replaced... I use coconut fiber in the humid hides so they are rarely touched...