enclosure cleaning

[Scorpios]

I tried searching for some threads on this with no luck, so hopefully I am not making a totally redundant post.

Anyway, I was looking for some advice on cleaning enclosures. In my case, I recently bought some Tarantulas from someone who had to downsize his collection and with the few I got is a G. Rosea in an enclosure to small for her.

I have a perfect size enclosure for her that was stored in my basement and really dirty inside and out. It was pretty much essential to clean it thoroughly with some bleach water solution and glass cleaner, which I am sure is nothing I want the Tarantulas to be in contact with, so I plan on letting that air out over night and rinsing it thoroughly with water tomorrow before transferring her into it.

I am just wondering if anyone knows of some non-toxic ways for cleaning enclosures and removing smudges from the glass.

Thanks.

 

[curiousme]

I would let it sit until there is no detectable fumes at all, which may take longer than overnight. As far as the smudges, distilled water and paper towels perhaps. If not a little bit of mild dish soap mixed with it might help as well.

 

[crawltech]

A good scrubbin wit dish soap and water will do the trick for sure!

 

[Scorpios]

Thanks, yeah I will definitely wait as long as needed for the chemical smells to go away.

Is there any toxic risk in dish soap to tarantulas?

 

[Arachnos]

Almost all dish soaps come with antibacterial properties these days. Soap and water with a good rinse after should be enough to clean even the most dirty enclosure. Bleach and windex is overkill. I would rinse it very well before I used it.

Just a little distilled water and a paper towel is enough to do spot cleaning on the glass once the T's are in the enclosure.

 

[webbedone]

Dish washing detergent and bleach water will do the trick, rinse a few times and let it dry/air out over a day or so. Tada you should be good!

 

[curiousme]

Thanks, yeah I will definitely wait as long as needed for the chemical smells to go away.

Is there any toxic risk in dish soap to tarantulas?

I wouldn't say it was toxic, but it is a bad idea. If you are unsure if you can rinse it well to ensure it is gone, stick to distilled with paper towels.

 

[shanebp]

In my opinion people are way too anal about this kind of thing. I got a free ten gallon tank and it was filthy. I took some glass cleaner to it, wiped it all off, and put my pets in it the next day. I never had any problems. Although i'm NOT telling you to do this. Its just my opinion that people take this sort of thing overboard and worry way too much about it.