Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My WD had mites recently and I have him in a huge viv with about 8in of soil substrate and live plants, If I was to remove him from the viv and bleach the whole lot inc. substrate how long would the bleach take to dissisipate before I could put him back or is there some other way I could do it

I'd wait at least 48 hours. We bleached our iguana enclosure, still reeked like bleach 2 days later. Depends how much you use and if you dilute it with water. WEAR A MASK! Too much inhaled bleach can cause future blackouts and lung damage. The stuff is deadly, so be a little bit careful for your reptile's when using it. I suggest bleaching with a 70/30 water/bleach ratio.
-----
Chris Vanderwees
REPTILE SALES AND INFORMATION
E-mail Me
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
3.4.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
1.2.0 California Kingsnakes
1.3.0 South Florida Kingsnakes
1.1.0 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snakes
1.4.0 Leopard Geckos
0.1.0 Green Iguanas

Thanks for the advice , I was thinking of using a 1:20 ratio but I'll still be exra careful, I've got extractor fans in there also so they should help get rid of the smell

You could always use something like "Formula H" or "Hibiscrub". Bleach is not recommended with any animal, as what we feel as harmless can have bad long term effects on the animals feet or belly. Most of these products are relatively inexpensive.

You should probably just throw out the old substrate, whatever it is, and just clean the cage furniture and walls. Most keepers use a 1 to 10 beach mixture. Are the mites plant mites, or actually reptile mites? Plant mites are harmless and don't bother your lizard, and as soon as you get more plants you will probably get more mites.
-----

I'm not really sure but I reckon they were reptile mites as they were mainly around his head/eyes. little white spider looking things