Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just bought a 4x2x2 wooden cage for my Guyana Redtail. I cleaned it out with hot water and a little bit of bleach. My problem is it still smells like bleach bad and I don't know if I should put my snake back in the tank. It's been outside for a whole day.

If anyone could give me some advice.

Also does anybody know what happend to Alex Smith????

A cage with a wooden floor will absorb fecal matter and urates. As you now know it'll also absorb Bleach. The best move for a wooden floor is to cover it with lanolium, or sheet plastic, and silicone the edges and corners. Allow a few days or more for the silicone to off-gas. If you don't correct this soon, your cage will either start smelling bad of snake crap residue, and bacteria will spread - or you will make it toxic to the snake by bleach fumes. I wouldn't be putting it back in the cage until the bleach odor is gone. Hardware stores sell cheap lanolium in apropriate sizes, if you can't find plastic sheeting. Also check on the "caging forum" on this site for many helpful ideas.
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I'm just the snake room janitor

Take that thing outside, get the garden hose and flush the bleach back out with lots of water, flush it s bunch of times. When the bleach smell is gone, let it dry. This will take a while. While it's drying get something to cover the wood like Min Wax Poly-crylic, and put a lot of coats on the inside after it's dry, making a barrier between snake poop, urates, etc. and the wood. If you use enough coats it will be like glass with this prduct. Seal where wood meets wood with silicone sealant. Let the sealant and finish outgass for a few days too. Now you can scrub anything out of the cage. The bacteria and that won't be getting into the wood anymore.
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Caden Chapman
slithering.serpents@gmail.com
http://slithering.serpents.com