How often do you have to disinfect a snakes cage? Im new to snakes and ive had my corn snake for about 2 months and just recently bought Wipe Out 1 to disinfect the cage but im not too sure on if i spray it all over the tank or just on the bottom. Also there is Wipe Out 2 which is suppose to disinfect the things in the cage should I pick this up to disinfect the water dish because I've noticed when I goto change the water it is kind of slimey and I read that snakes saliva is slimey. Any suggestions?
disinfecting snake enclosure
- Thread starter catfish
- Start date
The slime in your water bowl is a combination of bacteria and residual minerals from your tap...definitely not snake saliva, lol...but nasty stuff nonetheless.
I use Nolvasan (chlorhexidine glucosonate) for disinfecting my snakes' enclosures.
If you are using a tank, use a mild bleach solution and rinse rinse rinse very very well. Doing that once a month should be sufficient for tank (assuming that you are spot-cleaning also to remove solid feces and urates).
I use Nolvasan (chlorhexidine glucosonate) for disinfecting my snakes' enclosures.
If you are using a tank, use a mild bleach solution and rinse rinse rinse very very well. Doing that once a month should be sufficient for tank (assuming that you are spot-cleaning also to remove solid feces and urates).
I've never disinfected a snake cage. Spot-cleaned, changed substrate, wiped up poo messes, and washed water bowls with dish soap, but never actually disinfected the whole cage. I've never had a sick snake. Nobody disinfects nature, yet somehow snakes have survived for millions of years. I'm pretty sure my snake cages are significantly cleaner than nature.
Plus when you disinfect things, you run the risk of helping to propagate strains of pathogens that are more resistant to disinfectants/antibiotics than normal strains are. Nobody wants that.
Plus when you disinfect things, you run the risk of helping to propagate strains of pathogens that are more resistant to disinfectants/antibiotics than normal strains are. Nobody wants that.
Think i disinfect probably once every yearish, mainly just a wash down with warm water when needed. If use newspaper, the newspaper is just changed every time its soiled, or with other substrates spot cleaning and i change it every couple of months or so. Every week i'll wash the water bowl thoroughly(or whenever theres crap in it, apparently for most animals, it's a toilet too!) i tend to boil water bowls as well, just makes me feel better.
Nolvasan is the best thing you can get on the retail market. You can usually find them under the horse section. Just take an once of nolvasan to a gallon of water and dip your decors in there; let it dry for an hour or two. If nolvasan is a no-no, then there is also peroxide.
Bleach (1:10 diluation ratio) is acceptable in the reptile community, but I am not a fan of it. If you are using it with porous objects, the fumes can be trapped for years, so I don't choose to use it.
I do it every month. Nature is not perfect, nor is mankind. However we can give them the cleanest environment possible, so why not do it?
I got a gallon of nolvasan. I have used it for almost 7 years with various of herps and I still haven't used half of it yet.
Bleach (1:10 diluation ratio) is acceptable in the reptile community, but I am not a fan of it. If you are using it with porous objects, the fumes can be trapped for years, so I don't choose to use it.
I do it every month. Nature is not perfect, nor is mankind. However we can give them the cleanest environment possible, so why not do it?
I got a gallon of nolvasan. I have used it for almost 7 years with various of herps and I still haven't used half of it yet.
I think people tend to get overexcited when it comes to cleanliness, sterilization, etc. If you're puncturing the skin, of course it's good to have alcohol wipes to make sure nothing nasty gets in. And I'm not saying that disinfecting your reptile cages is the wrong thing to do, although I'm leery of doing things to create antibiotic-resistant pathogens, but it'll still only be "clean" for a short time before bacteria start to repopulate the cage surfaces.
So I guess I personally feel disinfecting a cage tends toward overkill when I can do all the other cleaning procedures and have the same end result (a bunch of healthy snakes).
To each his own though.
So I guess I personally feel disinfecting a cage tends toward overkill when I can do all the other cleaning procedures and have the same end result (a bunch of healthy snakes).
To each his own though.
lovespunaround;894365; said:
Ew. No offense though... I have seen people that never disinfect their enclosure and the bacteria level in the house is off the roof.
The only reason why I am disinfect the enclosures is to remove the bateria from the feces that were dropped and the bacteria that thrive from the wet urine. In nature, usually some critter would take care of that for them.