Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I clean my Neodesha cages every 2 weeks. I break down the cages, throw away the newspaper substrate, wash cage with soap and water and then air dry them. I am needing larger cages and was wanting to know how others clean because I am dreading lugging around 6 and 8 foot cages

Thanks,
Dan

I inspect and spot-clean all of may cages daily with Roccal-D (quaternary ammonia). Every week, I disinfect with a 20% Chlorine Bleach solution, rinse and dry. Once a month, I do a two stage disinfecting, first with Roccal-D, rinse, then Chlorine Bleach, rinse and then dry. If you have a lot of cages (as I do), you have to rotate them, which means you need a spare set of cages because it just takes too long to do all of that one cage at a time.

Hi Dan -

Aside from hatchling racks, I use primarily Vision cages (24”, 36”, 48”, 54” and 72”) along with a couple of Neodesha’s and aquaria. I never clean on a set schedule. For those cages with newsprint substrate, my routine maintenance procedure is to clean the cage when I notice that it is soiled. I keep a spray bottle of dishwashing liquid and water and a spray bottle of Novalsan diluted with water. I roll up the soiled paper and toss it. If there is any adhered organic matter in the cage, I use a metal scraper followed by a scrub sponge. I spray the soap solution on the cage floor and part way up the sides, then wipe it up with a paper towel. I usually follow up by wetting down the same surfaces with the Novalsan solution. Then I lay clean paper back in.

Next I check out the water bowl. I never “top off” a water bowl, but I don’t wash and disinfect with every refill. If one looks clean, I empty out the water, rinse thoroughly in hot water, then refill with cold. If the water has been sitting for more than a couple of days, I scrub the bowl in dishwashing liquid and hot water, rinse in hot, and refill with cold. If there is any trace of feces or urates, I wash, then disinfect with bleach (or occasionally Nolvasan) for at least 10 minutes before rinsing and refilling.

With hatchlings on paper towels in plastic containers in racks, the boxes are usually so clean when the paper toweling is removed that I only spray and wipe with either the soap or the Nolvasan. And I use disposable deli cups for water bowls.

This is not exactly the most rigorous protocol, but it is what works for me right now. And it definitely beats the “scoop the poop” routine I fall into when using granular substrates. Over the years I’ve discovered that the more complicated the husbandry procedures I set for myself are, the less likely I am to do ANYTHING in a timely manner. When step one in cleaning any large cage was: go fill a bucket with hot, sudsy water (much less lug a glass aquarium to a bathtub) – well, let’s just say I tended to procrastinate. Although ecologically speaking, I feel slightly guilty at the quantity of paper towels I go through, the two spray bottle method is really convenient. If an animal dies in the cage, or if I plan to rotate one animal out and a new animal in, then I use a more rigorous method of cleaning.

I believe the most important aspects of a cleaning procedure are to find something that works for you and follow it faithfully; try to clean up as soon as you spot a soiled cage; and leave your disinfectant solution (or cleaning solution if that’s all you use) in contact with the cage surfaces for as long as possible. That’s one reason why I much prefer Nolvasan over bleach. You don’t have to rinse before refurnishing the cage.

-Joan