Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This tip applies to hatchling and smaller racks but can be used for larger racks. Sometimes our snakes don’t really soil there cages too badly so only a minor cleaning is needed. Use a spray bottle and reptile safe disinfectant. Spray the tub and wipe it out. Or instead of a spray bottle, you can use a small bucket of soapy water. Keep a towel handy to dry the tub or let it air dry. Then add substrate and reptile and you’re back in business.

I hope you found this tip useful. Do you have any timesaving ideas? I’d love to hear.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

1) variation on a them from one of your earlier posts regarding water dishes. Here's what I use. Small "crock" style water bowls from wal-mart, attached to the side of the tubs with a bolt and nut (the bolt head is inside the bowl, the nut and end of the bolt are on the outside. Drop in a 12 oz stryofoam bowl, and you're good to go. When time to change, simply replace the styrofoam bolw with a new one. When the snake soil the area near the bowl, unscrew the nut, remove the whole assembly and clean.

2) Like you, I use a spray bottle for cleaning, but I just use hot water. spray and wipe well about twice, and done. No real need for regular disinfectant, IMO. I've done this for 12 years with not one case of belly rot, RI, or any other illness. I santize each tub with a bleach solution every few months or when needed.

My worst time consumer....thawing frozen rats. ANy gooood tips on thawing lots of rats quickly and getting them to "eatin" temp....I'm all ears.

Quote: "My worst time consumer....thawing frozen rats. Any gooood tips on thawing lots of rats quickly and getting them to "eatin" temp....I'm all ears."

1) Use a "quick thaw" plate; works GREAT- lay 'em out and they're ready in no time. Don't have one of those? Aluminum pie pans work just as well (almost)... due to heat-transfer.

2) Or you could do the "rat soup" method... nuke a bowl of water soak for 5 min, remove rat(s) reheat water, resoak until warm. It's messy but quick... note: heating too quickly is bad, you want to warm the prey up, not boil it.

I prefer method 1.
Hope this helps-
NorthernRegius

Night before feeding put the rats in the fridge to thaw.
Feeding day~
Do your laundry.
Put the cold thawed rats on top of the dryer (Have the rats in zip top bags~ and lock up the cat!).
~ One load for mice to warm up~
~ Two loads for small rats~
~ Three loads for medium/large rats~

Temp is always just about perfect~ they are usually warm all the way through due to the slow warming up~ so they don't cool down too fast as you pass them out. They are not wet. And you got your laundry done!
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Cheryl Marchek
AKA JM
Check out my website at:
The Red Dragons Den

LOL, that is a great plan. Unfortunately I have a stacked washer/dryer so it wouldn't work. I like it though, definately keeping that in mind for the future.
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons
ballpythonworld.com

Use the bath tub. I throw the rats into ziplock bags or if I'm just thawing a vacuum pack of 10 into a tub of hot water, now I just use a smaller wash tub but figure I'll upgrade to the bath tub when I have to start thawing more.
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons
ballpythonworld.com

Yep..........Hot water ......dish soap if needed .Bleach only when necessary......

time saving tip....they poop in the aspen...grab poop and dirty aspen and done.?......LOL

I think chemicals will kill snakes and rodents faster than the little bit of feces or urates that may be left behind.....

I know guys that clean their mouse and hamster buckets / tubs every week with bleach......they get cancer lumps alot ......hhmmmmm

......I don't move snakes from box to box.....they keep their box or I DO clean it.......

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frozen rats.......place in fridge drawer the night before.....then throw them in hot water to make them warm enough to eat>????......I thaw in stainless steel stem pans / trays.....maybe better than plastic?.......(I rarely use frozen.I use live.....)
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I usually just put on a latex glove for spot cleaning. If the cage gets real bad, I simply dump the bedding and clean it out with vinager windex. I try to keep an extra tub for each snake, so that if I don't have time to clean the tub immediately, I still have a tub I can use.

Chris
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1.1.0 Irian x Jungle Carpet Pythons
1.2.0 Black Rats- Robert, Cady, Kylie
1.2.0 Albino FL Kings-Nick, Jessica, Ashley
1.1.0 Crimson Corns-Kane, Ruby
0.1.0 Het-Crimson Corns-Lola
0.1.0 White-Sided/Pos Het Albino Black Rat-Lita
1.0.0 Albino White-sided Black Rat-Rey
0.1.0 Albino/Het White-sided Black Rat-Stacey
1.2.0 Creamsicle Corns-Vince, Trish, Torrie
0.1.0 Fl King-Bonnie
1.0.1 Green Tree Pythons Biak-Brandon, Aru-Orochimaru
1.0.0 Flame X Blood Bearded-Ruff
2.4.0 Ball Pythons-Kritsy, Gretchen, Alexis, 100% het for albino balls- Naruto, Hinata, 66% het VPI Axanthic-Sasuke
0.1.0 Red-tail Boa-Xena
0.0.1 Savannah Monitor-Izzy

i was told not to add ANY heat to mice/rats when thawing because it could cause rapid decomposition of the animals organs and then when its in the belly of your snake/lizard/frog etc, it continues to decompose, causing bacteria to build up inside the herp which can cause sickness and death. is this true or not. for this reason i always let mice sit in room temperature for like 9-12 hours without adding heat to them. i think i originally heard this in a ball python book i have, sorry cant remember the title of the top of my head.
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1.0.0 bearded dragon
1.1.0 green iguana
0.0.1 columbian tegu
0.1.0 knight anole(looking for male)
0.1.0 green anole
1.1.0 golden gecko
1.0.0 ball python
0.0.5 oriental firebellied toad
0.0.1 green treefrog
0.0.1 barking treefrog
0.0.1 cuban masked treefrog
0.0.1 gray treefrog
0.1.0 gulf hammock rat snake
0.1.0 eastern kingsnake
0.1.0 siberian husky

I always thaw in hot water have been for the last 3 yrs, haven't had any problems with illness. The only problem is that I have to watch the mice really close, they tend to get to hot and then they will burst if you let them get to hot. Messy and I don't feed those to the snakes once that happens so it is a waste.
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons
ballpythonworld.com

When they burst isn't it the most God aweful smell on Earth?

I freakin' gag and throw everything the stuff touches in the garbage and take it all outside. Even if it's like 1 in the morning!

YUK!!!!

Tho the whole decoposition part is all true (even letting them sit out at room temperature) but you have to remember that these snakes eat carion in wild so they must somehow be designed to be able to handle the bacteria - not that it is recommended to feed carion to your snake - after all it is not in the wild and its your responsibility to feed it properly. For this reason it is recommended that you defrost in the frigde and then do a quick heat up right before feeding if necessary. Kinda like they tell you not to defrost your meat on the counter but in the fridge it helps keep the added bacteria to a minimum.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

It's been argued that some internal parasites are good for many animals. However, this is what I do for my chondros:

1) Take out of the freezer the night before and thaw in the refer.
2) Put in snake room at about 4PM to get them to room temperature.
3) Around 7ish, heat just the head of the prey. They don't need to sense tons of heat. The head is normally enough and it won't fall apart.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

Jay I do pretty much the same thing. If it isn't bad I just remove the paper towel spray down with vinegar and wipe dry then spray down with clean water and again wipe dry. Clean paper towel and fresh water and we are ready to go again. I only do major cleaning once a month unless some one really makes a mess. With 28 snakes, I know not a whole lot, I spend maybe 3 hrs a week on cleaning, feeding changing water etc. Not including thawing time of course, but it isn't like you have to sit and watch them thaw.
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Nita Hamilton
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Ball Pythons
ballpythonworld.com

the problem of the snakes crawling through their feces, (kinda gross I know), before you get to them?

This has alwys bothered me because not only am I concerned about the snakes health, but my kids handle them all the time and, although they wash their hands afterwards, it freaks me out.

When I notice the feces seems like it has been crawled through,
I use a tub of warm water with like a teaspoon of peroxide. I soak the snakes for a couple minutes, keeping their heads out of the water when possible.I them wipe them down with a clean cloth. I read peroxide is good for scale infections so I figured it was reasonably safe in diluted amounts.

Any suggestions anyone?

Thanks Alot!

Alan

What would you use as a cleaner that is safe for reptiles and that you can use in a spray bottle? Where can you get it economically?
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Isn't it cooler that serpent's don't walk anymore?
(Genesis 3:14)

Beats me?

I wish I knew. I am always balancing trying to keep things clean and sanitary with trying not to kill anything.

I am a germ freak and I admit it!

Alan

I use diluted Nolvasan or Virosan. I bought a gallon jug from ProExotics, and I know you can buy it elsewhere too. The gallon jug of concentrate will probably last me about two years. This stuff is antibacterial and antiviral. You can even use the stuff to treat nose rub and I'm told mouth rot. I use to use bleach water and always worried about leaving too many fumes or not rinsing enough. I don't worry so much with this stuff and haven't had a single problem in the two years I've been using it.
Oh yeah, it's also great for cleaning water bowls.
Matt

I also use diluted Nolvasan, the stuff works great and a little goes a long way. It also seems to be real safe for everything but germs and viruses. Expensive but worth it.
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1.0 Pastel
1.1 Jungle
0.2 Normal
2.3 assorted corns
0.0.1 babycurus jacksoni

We have been using Oxiclean mixed with water. Seems to do a good job and I'm told leaves very little residue after rinsing and is not toxic.
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Bob

one of my Pastels recently rolled in, out and around in it like a damm pig. He had it from tip to tail, even coating his eyes.

He got a trip to the tub where it cleaned off nicely.
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Jay A. Martin
Jay Martin Reptiles

It happens - I use Dawn dish soap to wash them off - same thing for females that have laid eggs. Seems to work fine, is not too harsh and it's antibacterial too.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

The problem with using a disinfectant (I use Nolvasan) is that the label states that you have to wait 10 minutes before rinsing otherwise it isn't doing you any good. Soapy water I've found is better in this situation. I save the disinfectant for when I do a full cleaning.

>>This tip applies to hatchling and smaller racks but can be used for larger racks. Sometimes our snakes don’t really soil there cages too badly so only a minor cleaning is needed. Use a spray bottle and reptile safe disinfectant. Spray the tub and wipe it out. Or instead of a spray bottle, you can use a small bucket of soapy water. Keep a towel handy to dry the tub or let it air dry. Then add substrate and reptile and you’re back in business.
>>
>>I hope you found this tip useful. Do you have any timesaving ideas? I’d love to hear.
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>>Jay A. Martin
>>Jay Martin Reptiles