Cleaning Reptile Cage And Equipment?

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Vinegar does not disinfect or sterilise anything!!
It's the acid in vinegar white vinegar that is effective on household bacteria like salmonella, E. coli and other gram-negative bacteria. (Gram-negative bacteria can cause infections including pneumonia, bloodstream infections, wound or surgical site infections, and meningitis.)
I've heard of it being used in hospitals and aged care facilities.
The national collaborating centre for environmental health has a PDF study on using vinegar to disinfect I can't work out how to put up a link. But you could do a search and find it if you're interested. It's at the end of page 9,start of page 10.
But I'm sure there are many others :)


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Bleach doesn't [MENTION=30324]yellowbeard[/MENTION] :) but white vinegar does. bleach and vinegar used in conjunction with each other is effective and much cheaper

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It's the acid in vinegar white vinegar that is effective on household bacteria like salmonella, E. coli and other gram-negative bacteria. (Gram-negative bacteria can cause infections including pneumonia, bloodstream infections, wound or surgical site infections, and meningitis.)
I've heard of it being used in hospitals and aged care facilities.
The national collaborating centre for environmental health has a PDF study on using vinegar to disinfect I can't work out how to put up a link. But you could do a search and find it if you're interested. It's at the end of page 9,start of page 10.
But I'm sure there are many others :)

It's nice that you can use google to help you find a study done in Canada however, you may want to read a bit more. Here is the link...

ncceh.ca/sites/.../Alternative_Antimicrobial_Agents_Sept_2011.pdf

I can tell you from many years of experience in the health sector that vinegar is a poor antimicrobial agent. If it was a simple as using vinegar to disinfect and sterilise then I'm sure we would all be using it but this just isn't the case. If you do know of any hospitals or aged care facilities using vinegar for this purpose then please pm me the names of them as I would like to go and do a check. If they are in fact using solely vinegar or other 'natural' remedies then they are breaking the law!

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Bleach doesn't @yellowbeard :) but white vinegar does. bleach and vinegar used in conjunction with each other is effective and much cheaper

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Please, once again check your facts before giving people this type of advice. Anyone with a basic knowledge of chemistry knows that mixing the correct ratios of bleach and vinegar will in fact make chlorine gas. If you wish to do this then that's fine however, it could end badly for someone else or their reptiles.

Never mix any types of chemicals!!
 
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It's nice that you can use google to help you find a study done in Canada however, you may want to read a bit more. Here is the link...

ncceh.ca/sites/.../Alternative_Antimicrobial_Agents_Sept_2011.pdf

I can tell you from many years of experience in the health sector that vinegar is a poor antimicrobial agent. If it was a simple as using vinegar to disinfect and sterilise then I'm sure we would all be using it but this just isn't the case. If you do know of any hospitals or aged care facilities using vinegar for this purpose then please pm me the names of them as I would like to go and do a check. If they are in fact using solely vinegar or other 'natural' remedies then they are breaking the law!

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Please, once again check your facts before giving people this type of advice. Anyone with a basic knowledge of chemistry knows that mixing the correct ratios of bleach and vinegar will in fact make chlorine. If you wish to do this then that's fine however, it could end badly for someone else or their reptiles.

Never mix any types of chemicals!!

Sorry i ment in conjunction with bleach not mixed.
Bicarb soda is also effective on mould you could use that in conjunction with vinegar too.
Vinegar that kills salmonella, and bicarb which inhibits mould. And weak bleach and water mix for the rest.
I've used it for years, as have many others, in household cleaning and for pet bedding ect.
Never had any issues.
So you can stay on your high horse, ill stay on mine :)

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You still don't understand. Vinegar does not disinfect. It does not kill bacteria such as salmonella no matter what you may think. You posted a study, read it and tell me where it says it kills salmonella? It actually says the opposite. As I said I work for the health department and there have been many studies done to disprove old wives tales such as this. I'm not on my high horse as you put it but I am presenting facts from scientific data, not my own beliefs as you are.
 
Vinegar does kill some things but it is only 90% effective against bacteria and 80%-83% effective against viruses and mold/mildew

http://www.abc.net.au/health/talkinghealth/factbuster/stories/2012/02/02/3407024.htm
But there are plenty of other articles around, given it may not disinfect as well as others, but a good clean on top of using vinegar and bicarb, hot water and bleach, or whatever you use should leave any surface clean and as sanitized as any other product


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To those of you that use a bleach solution to soak your enclosure furniture in, what sort of ratio do you use? Surely it can't be very much at all? I just don't want to over do it
 
I use 1 part bleach to 50 parts water. For non porous things. I just throw it all in a bucket while I scrub the enclosure. Then rinse it under hot tap water till I can't smell bleach then leave it to dry in the sun.

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Regardless of what some might think most dishwashers heat the water to a temp very close to an autoclave and will kill "all" bacteria and viruses even Salmanella, the only thing i would be a bit hesitant about putting in the dishwasher would be your snakes, it might clear up a mite problem but, err, umm not real good for the snake. :).......................Ron
 
I use a steamer, it is awesome. I used to use vinegar prior to my awesome steamer.... It is one of my favorite toys(the steamer NOT the vinegar lol)

I'm looking into getting a handheld steamer to try and get away from using chemicals. Do you use it on melamine? And if so does the hot steam affect it? Does anyone else use steamers? What are everyone's thoughts?
 
I have an older Melamine enclosure(slightly water damaged/dont ask lol), I dont use it in that one.... But I use it on the plastic tubs and the Glass enclosures all the time and love it....
 
Sweet cheers for that. I can't see that it would affect the sealed melamine surface. This is definitely an attractive option for me.
 
Vinegar does kill some things but it is only 90% effective against bacteria and 80%-83% effective against viruses and mold/mildew

Does vinegar really kill household germs? - Health & Wellbeing
But there are plenty of other articles around, given it may not disinfect as well as others, but a good clean on top of using vinegar and bicarb, hot water and bleach, or whatever you use should leave any surface clean and as sanitized as any other product

I have found no viable reference for vinegar as a universal antiviral agent.

From the abc article:

"Overall, vinegar did slightly better than bicarbonate of soda, but neither killed as well as commercial products."

From the PDF:
"For example, if chlorine-based disinfectants (e.g., bleach) are used simultaneously with vinegar and/or lemon juice to sanitize hard surfaces, there is potential for an increased risk of accidental mixing, which may result in the formation of chlorine gas."

Chlorine gas is deadly in a confined space so I will be sticking with F10.
 
It's not a "universal" antiviral [MENTION=30324]yellowbeard[/MENTION], I never said it was, not even industrial strength disinfectants cleaners claim 100% effectiveness.
But it DOES kill enough germs, bacteria and moulds that anything left over should be taken care of by a good scrubbing with soap and water.
I soak cage furniture in a weak dilution of bleach and water while.I'm scrubbing out the enclosure.then rinse it of a couple of times then dry it in the sun. By the time the furniture is back in the enclosure any trace of vinegar is long gone.
I would assume that any product used for an enclosed space would still need to be scrubbed of its residue?
I am assuming because I've never used f10.
But I have used vinegar, bicarb and bleach if you don't like the idea of bleach there's this stuff called miltons you can get from any supermarket in the baby section, which is an excellent steraliser, all throughout my house and for all my animals for years, and never even copped a bout of gasto.
I'm not going on some anti chemical rant. Im just saying I think its a more than reasonable alternative to forking out for overly expensive chemicals.
And you can't avoid physically scrubbing out enclosures no matter what you use.
And in view of mixing chemicals, I would think it'd be common sense that you wouldn't put your reptile back in its enclosed space if you could smell any residual chemical anyway.
It's just an alternative method that, when all is said and done is probably just as effective as anything else. :)


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As already stated f10 is not expensive. It costs about $30ish for 200ml, at its strongest mix of 4ml/L it makes 50L which lasts me over 8 months with 30+ snakes using it once a month.
Gurni for my tubs in the back yard to remove the solids then a quick once over with dishwash liquid and a fresh paper towel for each tub, followed with a quick rinse then f10 sprayed and left to dry in the sun.
Dishwasher for all water bowls and heat resistant small tubs followed by a rinse cycle with a generous pour of bleach or f10 to cleanse both the bowls and the dishwasher then clean water rinse to flush the bleach or F10. While the dishwasher is doing its magic I can be cleaning tubs or enclosures. It would take me an extra hour at least just to clean all the bowls by hand.
Soapy dishwash detergent and a (snake cleaning only) scrubbing brush for enclosures, wiped out with dry (snake cleaning only) towel, wiped with damp paper towel followed by dry paper towel to remove traces of soap before an F10 spray down or diluted bleach wipe down (alternate between the two).
 
I use Virkon-S, extremely effective and cheap. I clean everything with it, including soaking cage furniture, water bowls etc
 
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