# Need advice on cleaning wood in reptile enclosure!



## GartenSpinnen (Apr 5, 2009)

Found one of the wood decorations with some mold on it tonight, so i pulled it out and the moss substrate i was using and switched to a barebones paper towel setup for sanitary reasons and ease of cleaning. Now i want to add the wooden decoration back in, and i was wondering, is there a way to successfully get rid of the  mold on it so that i can put it back in?

I was thinking of using bleach, but didn't know if that would be very safe even if it was dilluted, but that is the only thing off the top of my head i can think of that kills mold and mildew effectively? Baking it is not an option, because it has silk plants that are glued pretty deeply into the wood, and i don't want to ruin it trying to take them out. 

So, any ideas?

-Nate


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## Fluke (Apr 6, 2009)

Diluted bleach, yes. Scrub brush, yes. Rinse A LOT, and let sun-dry if you cant back. Remember to rotate. Also, if you dont have good sunlight/heat, just put it in front of the heater. 

There is also a spray that helps fight mold, look into it. I believe certain types of them are safe for herps


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## hardlucktattoo (Apr 6, 2009)

If you want to experiment you could try athletes foot spray and see how that works


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## arachnocat (Apr 6, 2009)

Yep, diluted bleach and scrub brush will do the trick. Just make sure to dry it and air it out good before you put your snake back in. Wood cages can be hard to clean. I just picked up one for really cheap and it was FILTHY. Looked like they were keeping birds in it or something. It's clean now but scrubbing that thing clean was quite a work out!
Also, there's this stuff called chlorhexadine (or Nolvasan Solution) that most vets use and it's safe for snakes. You can find it in most farm supply stores, although it seems to be much cheaper online.


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## GartenSpinnen (Apr 6, 2009)

This is for crested geckos  I tried boiling water last night, then letting it air dry, but now that i know dilluted bleach is ok i will go ahead and do that and then scrub it real good and let it air dry again. Thanks for the information guys .

And that would be a NO GO on the athletes foot spray lmao....

-Nate


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