Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For those of you who don't know me, I work for a chemical company.

I'm trying to help come up with some new products ideas. Are there any chemicals that you guys spend a lot of time making up, that would be much easier to just buy ready made? Or are there any chemicals that you have a hard time finding, or finding the right quality?

Any help would be appreciated. If we won't make it, I may be able to point you in the right direction.

Thanks!

Please email me with any suggestions at Travis.Rose@avantormaterials.com.
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Travis Rose
1.3 Rough Scale Sand Boas
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X.X Nervous Rats
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0.2 Cats
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2.0 Future Snake Lovers

Something that kills Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and Geomyces destructans that can be easily applied in a lab or field setting.

-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

I mean applied to clothing, equipment, etc....

-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

If working in areas where exposure to these fungi is expected, and transmission is a concern, your best bet would be to wear Tyvek suits over your clothes with neoprene gloves. These could be wiped down with a 10% bleach solution which would kill those species virtually on contact. Other disinfectants that are also considered effective for wipe down are quat solutions and ethanol.

Kelly

Kelly-

I have read (and been told) that the active ingredient in bleach that kills Bd denatures within a couple days of opening the bottle (rendering the bleach ineffective). I did a little digging and there seems to be some support for this accusation.

Also- It is probably not practical to wear tyvek suits while working in wetlands when you are in and out of multiple water bodies.

-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

Also- There was a paper in Herp Rev (2009 I think) that showed bare-hands (with washing) are better than gloves.

-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

The active ingredient in bleach is chlorine and it will not denature with time. It will however dissipate and gas off over time if the bottle is left open. When capped off properly, a 10% chlorine mix will remain at strength in solution for weeks. If you are concerned about the wet environment, you could always wear rubber hip waders over the tyvek and these could be wiped down with the solution as well. The gloves were just a thought, and if skin is just as easily disinfected, then that is the way I would go. I do not believe that you will ever find a product that will adequately disinfect clothing from these fungal species as they are extremely difficult to kill and it will require that you wear tight, non-porous materials that do not absorb moisture and are resistant to powerful disinfectants.

Kelly

Here is a link to one of the resources regarding the use of bleach-

www.ccadc.us/docs/DeconForProfessionals.pdf

-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

every bleach bottle sold in the country would be worthless. In a sealed container chlorine will stay in solution for a considerable period. I worked in an environmental monitoring and analysis laboratory for 20 years and we did hundreds of chlorine analysis down into the ppm range. Chlorine is much more stable in solution than many people believe. However, I would agree that the pelleted chlorine product sold for swimming pool use would be more convenient to transport, and would take up less space.

My biggest concern with CCADC is the disposal procedure for their used chlorine solution. In many States, this would be a violation of environmental codes to dump non-dechlorinated water at this concentration, whether it was away from the water body or not. The easy and environmentally conscience decision would be to dechlorinate before dumping with sodium thiosulfate. It is cheap and can be purchased at the same places that sell the chlorine pellets. Other than that, they have a pretty good procedure.

Kelly

NP
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

does off-gass if the container is open to the air.

A tightly resealed bleach solution can easily last many weeks if not longer.

Potentially a spray bottle can offgass faster than a closed container. So pour a limited amount of bleach solution into the spray bottle and use that for a few days or weeks, then replenish.
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Mark