As Chris pointed out, Lysol and related products (those containing Phenols or Pine products) are very toxic to reptiles and should never be used to clean cages.



A Chlorine Bleach solution (at least 10%) is a safe and effective cleaning solution. It is also cheap and easily available. One drawback it has, however, is that it is NOT effective against Cryptosporidium. The only thing proven to kill Crypto is Quaternary Ammonia preparations, such as Roccal-D. However, Roccal-D is not effective against things, such as Mycobacterium but Bleach is. I use Roccal-D for every day cleaning and most spot-cleaning, then once a month all cages and all cage furnishings are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected with first a 20% Chlorine Bleach solution, followed by a thorough rinse, then with Roccal-D, and another rinse then thoroughly dried. There is no one disinfectant that will kill every common reptile pathogen, but by using 2 different ones, such as Roccal and Bleach, you can pretty well cover all bases.

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