Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have searched almost every forum to see what people use for disinfectant. I see a few use nolvasan but it is 60.00 a gallon. Are they diluting it? I also saw a new brand coming in april that is being sold in Canada right now but I forget the name..Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I just came back to the hobby and bought 10 snakes. I watched almost all of Ralph Davis's vids and see he sprays everything. Anybody know what he uses?

>>I have searched almost every forum to see what people use for disinfectant. I see a few use nolvasan but it is 60.00 a gallon. Are they diluting it? I also saw a new brand coming in april that is being sold in Canada right now but I forget the name..Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I just came back to the hobby and bought 10 snakes. I watched almost all of Ralph Davis's vids and see he sprays everything. Anybody know what he uses?

Nolvasan dilutes an ounce per gallon.
I use Bleach (couple three bucks per gallon) and dilute it. Touch of dish soap as a surfactant. If I want to spot clean something lightly....rubbing alcohol. Alcohol is also nice to have on hand if you have nippy snakes.
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Sonya

I'm not mean. You're just a sissy.
Happy Bunny

I use a quatanary ammonium product. Quastyl-D is a common brand. I also use chlorhexadine acetate. Once out of quarantine, I don't use anything other than hot water and perhaps a mild dish soap.
I limit my use of disinfectants, because like antibiotics, their can be a resistance built to them by many pathogens. Once a collection is established, you don't really have any unwanted pathogens of concern. At this point in time, manual removal of waste by scrubbing is all that is necessary IMO. The "big gun" disinfectants that I do use, are because I do not want anything to enter my established collection.

Ian

Thank you for the reply.

I agree w/ Ian, we will once in a while clean out a cage w/ a little dish soap then leave it out in the sun, chemical free way to bake out some "germs" that is mostly done if a cage is going from one animal to another, or when someone donates cages to us
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hanging out under heat lights burns up my brain cells!!

Thanks for the reply. When you spray things like tubs do you let it sit the recommended two minutes or do maost people just spray and rinse? What ratio?

I think Ian hit on a good point with this topic. I also do not believe that heavy disinfection is necessary in established reptile collections. I typically only use a mild laboratory glassware cleaning solution to clean cage interiors and then maybe every 3rd or 4th cleaning will I disinfect with a weak chlorine solution. Water bowls are never cleaned with anything other than hot water and a weak chlorine solution with a final hot water rinse. I have always had a fair size collection and can count the number of health issues in it over the last 35 years on one hand, so it appears to be working. I would also agree that more aggressive materials and methods should be used with compromised or quarantined animals. If you have healthy animals and keep things clean, you won’t need to use aggressive disinfectants or procedures. There could also be a down side to keeping things overly clean with powerful disinfectants. Lack of exposure to ubiquitous microorganisms and possible chemical exposure can both affect an animals resiliency in captivity.

Kelly

Thanks again to all for the info. I gather from the comments that if I have an established collection there is no need for using hand cleaner or anything when going from snake to snake?

When working with your own long term, established collection, I do not believe that it is necessary. However, any new arrivals in quarantine should obviously always be worked with after your established collection maintenance, and you really should use cheap latex or equivalent gloves for each cage as opposed to hand washing when working between quarantine cages. All equipment used should also be disinfected after use and never allowed around your primary collection maintenance equipment. The best gloves I've found for the money are nitrile/latex at $6.00 a box of 100. They are stronger and easier to put on than cheaper straight latex ones, and aren't as slippery when wet.

Kelly