Written by The Pet Directory, with information supplied by Dr. Brendan Carmel of Warranwood Veterinary Clinic.
Enclosure hygiene is one of the cornerstones of preventative health care and essential to the ongoing health of your reptiles. Many infections of captive reptiles are due to organisms already present in the enclosure - excreted or carried by the reptile - which can rapidly build up to toxic levels.
Snake with eye infection
There is therefore a great deal of interest about the best way to clean and disinfect reptile enclosures. Much of the debate is centred on what disinfectant agent should be used. It is important to realise that the selection of an adequate disinfectant is only one part of the cleaning process - ignoring the other steps of an established sanitation program will result in failure, even if the most expensive or effective disinfectant is used.
Using these notes as a starting point, develop a cleaning system that you will follow! Do not spend your time and money on systems that are too costly or too time consuming for you to perform. Form a sensible and realistic cleaning program and you will be well on your way to keeping your reptiles healthy year round.
Some steps to consider as part of a cleaning program:
• Quarantine & reptile room considerations
• Personal hygiene
• Enclosure, substrate & enclosure furniture selection
• Enclosure cleaning
• Physical removal of unwanted matter
• Chemical disinfection
• Final rinse and airingA hygiene program will be compromised unless you quarantine new arrivals.
Always leave the cleaning of quarantined or sick reptiles to last in order to reduce the chance of transferring disease to your healthy reptiles. Have a separate room for sick or quarantined reptiles as infection may spread via air contamination or, more commonly, between enclosures. Separate cleaning implements should be purchased for quarantined/ sick reptiles (ideally have separate implements for each enclosure) to minimise contamination. Plastic spatulas and the like make excellent cleaning tools and are cheap, easy to disinfect and long lasting. The minimum quarantine period for a reptile is 1 month. I will detail the correct approach to quarantine in a future article.
Attending to personal hygiene helps minimise the risk of zoonotic disease - the spread of a disease from your reptile to you or a member of your family. Wash your hands thoroughly in an appropriate disinfectant before, between, and after handling reptiles from different enclosures. Often all that is needed is a good scrub with a hand soap. This will greatly reduce the risk of the spread of disease in your collection. Consider the use of disposable gloves when cleaning enclosures.
The ideal enclosure to clean would be comprised of a non-porous material with rounded corners to avoid the collection of debris and lined with a substrate that is cheap and easily and quickly removed for cleaning. Likewise, enclosure furniture should be easy to clean and non-porous. Unfortunately this ideal enclosure would have a somewhat sterile appearance and might not provide a stimulating enough environment for the reptile. Fortunately there are an increasing number of products that are designed to be easy to clean yet visually appealing. These products, such as non-porous plastic logs, are readily available from large pet stores. Always consider ease of cleaning when purchasing an enclosure or its components.
Remove waster as soon as possible
I prefer to view the cleaning of a reptile enclosure as being composed of three separate parts:
1. Removal of the waste products (faeces, urine and urates)
2. Chemical disinfection
3. Final scrub & rinse
Separating the cleaning of an enclosure into these tasks helps to avoid concentrating only on just one aspect. Even the selection and use of a good chemical disinfectant will lead to a poor result if the other tasks are performed inadequately. Remove reptile waste products as soon as possible after deposition. Inspect your enclosures at least twice daily. Scoop up urate and faecal matter together with any surrounding substrate that has been soiled. Waste products in the enclosure are a perfect medium for the growth of many bacteria so be vigilant! This physical removal of waste products is probably the most important part of the cleaning process - if done correctly there will be a minimal need for chemical disinfection. Newspaper is my preferred substrate for most reptile enclosures: It is easily changed (daily!), cheap, & hygienic.
There are many types of chemical disinfectants available. Factors that need to be considered in the selection of a chemical disinfectant include toxicity, speed of action, the capacity to kill micro-organisms and quenching effect (whether organic matter inactivates the chemical). There is no one disinfectant that is better than all others. I will outline some of the commonly used chemicals and their properties to help you make a decision.
Which disinfectant should you use?
This will depend on many factors such as your budget, chemical sensitivities and personal choice. Diluted household bleach (sodium hypochlorite) is often used. A 3% solution is adequate in most cases. In our clinic we currently recommend Avisafe®. The active ingredients are a class of disinfectants called halogenated tertiary amines. All you need to know is that it is extremely effective in eliminating bacteria, fungi & viruses, non-toxic (used as directed) & very economical. Avisafe® is available from your local veterinarian. Regardless of which chemical disinfectant you select ensure you follow the instructions carefully. Do not be tempted to make up a ‘stronger’ solution than recommended - you might in fact make the solution less effective by making an incorrect dilution. Remove your reptile from the enclosure before disinfection. Thoroughly scrub out the enclosure with the disinfectant-scrubbing will aid in the physical removal of debris whilst assisting the chemical to penetrate into all areas of the enclosure. Once the chemical disinfectant has been used scrub out the enclosure or affected area several times with hot water until no chemical smell or vapour is detectable. If possible allow the enclosure to air for several hours before replacing the reptile. The final rinse, scrub and airing are important to preventing toxicity.
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