Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is it ok to use lysol spray to disinfact rat tubs? i would use lysol on the tub that needs cleaning but i wouldnt place the rats in that tub until the following week. i have spare tubs.thanks in advance!

In the presence of snakes, negative.
In the presence of rats, negative.
Phenol oils are the active ingredients in lysol, they kill bacti, they also kill snakes and they aren't good for rats, either.
I wouldn't even spray lysol in the same building as snakes.
Use something else.

thats enough warning for me! thanks.

How about hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle?

I'm sure H2O2 is safe, but I can't comment on it's effectiveness, as I haven't used it.
The easiest thing I have used is the regular 'scrubbing bubbles' in a can, it's based on 'quat' chemistry, and is a very effective surface cleaning agent as well.
Remember, to be effective, the surface must be cleaned with hot water before, and rinsed with hot water after, and the bubbles have to have sufficient contact time to do their job, 2 minutes, minimuum. One nice thing about it is that you can see if you missed any surface soils, and it's simple to see what parts you've done, and any spots you may have missed, as they show up dark against a white background.

It is a little expensive compared to a bit of bleach, but it gets the job done. 200ppm hypochlorite (Bleach) is a standard in the food industry, and it's cheap and effective, but rendered inactive in the presence of organic matter. In other words, the surface must already be clean for the bleach to do it's job.