Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Currently I clean my cages with water and rubbing alcohol. I remove the feces and soiled substrate under it, and a lot of the substrate around it. Then I use water and remove the remaining gunk with a paper towel. Then I use rubbing alcohol to clean the surface of the cage, and then use water and paper towel again to remove the alcohol. Finally I bring in fresh substrate to fill in the gap. After reading a previous post on cleaning I am starting to rethink my procedure. Should I just switch to using a Chlorine bleach solution? What are the measurements for mixing the solution? Am I right to assume the solution should be used to spray the whole tub and leave it to soak then clean, and not to be used for spot cleaning! Thanks.

Alcohol is a good, effective disinfectant for many pathogens, as long as it's Ethyl Alchohol. Isopropyl Alcohol is not nearly as effective at eliminating pathogens and is not considered a disinfectant. It is used to clean injection sites, etc., but mostly just to clean away surface debris, although it does help to eliminate some microbes. The strength (proof) of the alcohol is important, too. The higher the proof number, the more effective. Some viruses and Cryptosporidium may not be killed by either form of Alcohol. Alcohol also needs a long "soak" time to be effective (as much as 30 minutes) and because of alcohol's evaporation rate that can be difficult. Also, alcohol can be somewhat dangerous to work with in that manner because of it's flammable properties. Some commercial disinfectants such as Virosan contain Ethyl Alcohol as one of the active ingredients.

Chlorine bleach is also an effective disinfectant and easier and safer to work with than Alcohol, but does not effectively kill Cryptosporidium. As stated in the thread below, ammonia is the only disinfecting agent proven to effectively eliminate Crypto.

My recommendation is to use a 2-pronged approach, using first a preparation such as Roccal-D or Virosan or Nolvasan, followed by a thorough rinse, then an application of a 10% Chlorine Bleach solution followed by another thorough rinse. Any of the preparations can be used for spot-cleaning as long as all residue is removed. For spot cleaning, I normally just use a paper towel dampened with the bleach solution, give it a minute or two, then wipe it out with a dry paper towel. For small spots, there isn't enough bleach left in the cage to cause problems. If a fair amount of the cage needs to be cleaned, I just swap the cage out and do a complete disinfecting on it.

Hi Old Herper,
Does Nolvasan effectively kill cryptosporidium? Can it be used with a detergent to clean the organic debris from cages, or is detergent not needed (it is quite soapy)? Thanks,
Josh

No, Nolvasan is not effective against Crypto. The only quaternary Ammonia preparation that I'm familiar with for veterinary disinfecting is Roccal-D.

The soap/water wash doesn't hurt anything, but probably isn't necessary.

I definately want to use the solutions that is known to get rid of everything. In your openion which is better, the Roccal-D or Virosan or Nolvasan? Gregg recommended Nolvasan. I've never had to take any of my snakes to the vet, so where can I go to buy such solutions? Can I use either of them for spot cleaniang, without worrying about fumes doing harm to the snake on the other side of the tub? Do these solutions have to be diluted with water? Do they have to be left on the spot for a certain amount of time before wiping it up and rinsing with water? Is thorough spot cleaning as effective as soaking the whole tub? I know some of the quesitons are stupid, but I just want to make sure I cover everything and get it right. Thanks again for the help. -Nima

I prefer using Roccal-D AND a Chlorine Bleach solution. The Roccal-D definitely needs to be diluted. A 128:1 ratio is the normal dilution, so that would be one ounce to a gallon of water.

There's nothing wrong with Virosan or Nolvasan, but neither of them are effective against the "Big C" (Cryptosporidium), which in my estimation is one of the three biggest threats to captive collections today.

Spot cleaning is never as effective as a whole cage disinfecting, but is much preferable to allowing feces to remain in the cage until cleaning time.

All disinfectants need "soak" time, at least 10 minutes.

Do you know where I can get that stuff from? I am going to buy some extra tubs and will rotate them when cleaning so I can soak the dirty ones. Thanks for the help.

You can get it from vetrinary supply houses or from your vet. Try doing an internet search on Roccal-D.

Roccal-D only works for Crypto in a LIMITED manner.

I'm anal. I use Roccal-D on a day-to-day basis, but when I clean a cage to put a new snake into it, I use sunlight (stored outside which really does a lot of good believe it or not), followed by pressure washing and manual scrubbing (dang pinworm eggs!), followed by a dilute bleach solution, followed by Roccal-D, and then wrapped up with ammonia (good fro Crypto, too, I believe). Paranoid? YES! If Rubbermaid wouldn't change their style weekly, it would be easier for me to destroy the cage and start over...lol.

KJ

I understand exactly how you feel, KJUN.