I was wondering when using chlorhexadine to spray/wipe on cage surfaces, is it necessary to rinse out with water after as you would with bleach or other chemicals? or can I just spray, wipe with a towel, and put the snake back?
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nolvasan disinfectant...
bergmantis
Sep 09, 2008 04:38 PM
Replies (3)
Liann
Sep 09, 2008 04:50 PM
>>I was wondering when using chlorhexadine to spray/wipe on cage surfaces, is it necessary to rinse out with water after as you would with bleach or other chemicals? or can I just spray, wipe with a towel, and put the snake back?
I've always been told that it is perfectly safe to do just that. I'm sure others will chime in too, but that is how I have always done it. 
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Liann
ajfreptiles
Sep 09, 2008 06:37 PM
As long as the proper dilution is used for the purpose intended, you can just spray and wipe. It is very safe.
I would reccomend that every month or every 3 months you still use a 10% bleach solution to clean all cages and supplies. Chlorhexidine is not as effective against as many viruses as people would like to believe...and it is not very effective at all against gram positive strains....such as Pseudomonas....although the name brand type Nolvasan can be used somewhat effectively.
Bleach on the other hand is very cheap but very dangeous to use. It is the most effective when it comes to killing germs, and viruses. Bleach reacts with many different chemicals and ammonia is just one of the many dangerous ones....so read up on it before you use it...do not mix with dish soap or detergents.
I think that if you are a snake keeper you cannot aford to go without using Bleach...so just practice good safety for you and your animals and you will be fine.
Hope this helps.
Andy Federico
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jhsulliv
Sep 09, 2008 07:36 PM
As the others said, no need to rinse. Part of the popularity of chlorhexidine is it's long residual activity so by rinsing you would be removing that wonderful characteristic.
Taken from McCurnin & Bassert, 6th edition:
Chlorhexidine gluconate solution - Use 1:40 dilution. Effective against bacteria, viruses, fungi, and yeast. Residual activity of 2 days and remains bactericidal. Not cytotoxic at above dilution.
