Old Tank

[jemjdragon]

I am moving into my first apartment for school in a few weeks and am taking Mifty with me.
I want to leave his current tank at my mom's house so when I visit from college for more than 2 days, I can bring Mifty with me.

I want to use my bearded dragon's old tank for Mifty at my apartment. My bearded dragon passed away a few weeks ago from parasites. I am not sure on how to disinfect the tank. I heard you can use bleach mixed with water but I do not know the ratio. Everything in the tank that I can boil, however, I will boil in water and then scrub with water and vinegar. If this is not a good way to disinfect bowls, hides, and tile, then please tell me.

 

[Crux]

Well you could go through all that, boiling and bleaching process. But bleach doesn't kill all the nasty things that could be in your tank. Take crypto for example, I had a buddy of mine that used to own 2 bearded dragons, he lost 1 and the second one is still in fairly bad condition. He didn't even notice any changes. Poor things. You could just spend hours cleaning and all that, but to be safe than sorry I'd just buy everything new. I mean would you rather be living in constant fear of not scrubbing hard enough, or coming home and seeing your favorite pet dead? It's always better to be safe than sorry my friend.

 

[Jordycakes]

Yeah ild buy a new tank, my 2ft tanks only cost me £40 and took about 20mins to put together, have a look on amazon

 

[jemjdragon]

I don't really have money for a new tank, especially now since I have transferred to a new school and am going to be living alone.
I really would rather get a good way to wash the tank.

 

[katie_]

What type of parasites? Some are resistant to bleach. What did the vet say?

 

[jemjdragon]

It was a large amount of pinworms.
On beautiful dragons it says I can use ammonia which will kill crypto if there was any crypto in the cage.
How do you wash off ammonia though?
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Disinfectants.html

 

[jemjdragon]

I really would like to get more information on this before the end of the week (end of the week is my move in date).

Other than that, if it has to soak for more than 30 minutes do I just fill the tank with the ammonia solution? The tank won't break from being filled with liquid if I do this right? I know terrariums usually have thinner glass than aquariums so I'm not sure what would happen. Would ammonia disolve the silicone? And if I soak the plantic and ceramic cage items, ammonia won't melt them of something? I don't mind is it alters the color a bit and anything porous I will throw out.
Also, how do i dump the used solution? Can I keep the tank to soak in my bathtub then dump the used ammonia solution in my bathtub? Or can I dump it in the grass? Or do I need to put the used solution into a container and take it to a chemical processing dump/place to be disposed of correctly?

I'm sorry if these questions sound silly, I've never used ammonia to clean things, except when I use windex on windows.

 

[Cesar_Da_KIng]

If its to house a leo you can get a new 10 gal. tank at walmart for $10

 

[jemjdragon]

It is to house a leo.
I want to use this tank because it is bigger than 10 gallons and I want him to have a bigger tank.
I also would prefer to use a tank that I already have since I have found it is possible to clean it and kill crypto if there is crypto in there. The bearded dragon that used to be in there was NOT diagnosed with crypto so most likely did not have it. She just had a very very large over load of pin worms.

 

[panthergecko]

Well the veingar water solution is 1 part vinegar 9 parts water for cleaning. You should use 3 parts vinegar and 7 parts water and scrub everything down then let that air out for a day.

I wouldn't recommend using your bearded dragons stuff.

Why not use the decor from your current terrarium?

 

[jemjdragon]

I actually have lots of extra decor so i can always save the bearded dragon decor for if i ever get another dragon. I still want to save/clean it.

Biggest thing is washing the tank. I don't currently have much money because of the move, new school, and all the bills from my last visit. Money that I do have, I am saving for any emergency vet visits, doctor visits, and groceries.

Thank you for the ratios for mixing with vinegar though =]