Re: Tank/toy cleaning questions

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Posted by pcfmeliss on July 30, 2002 at 18:50:43:

In Reply to: Tank/toy cleaning questions posted by sp00kachu on July 30, 2002 at 14:32:15:

:I recently got a Crocodile Gecko, and while I want to keep his tank as clean as possible, I've been told you can't use any sort of soap to clean reptile tanks or apparatus because it's poisonous to them, despite heavy rinsing.

Check out the Cleaning and Disinfecting article at my site, http://anapsid.org/cleaning.html. You can indeed use appropriate soaps and disinfectants, and should establish a regular cleaning/disinfecting routine.

: The water dish is aquiring a white ring (due to calcium dust when the crickets drink/fall in)

Get a couple of different water bowls for the lizard. When water is left in for a couple of days or longer, it gets real scummy and becomes increasingly difficult to thoroughly clean. Having a back up supply of clean and dried bowls ready to use every day makes helps prolong bowl life.

Some people add vitamins to the water: don't. Not only does make the water horribly icky (to use the scientific term for it ;). but there is no way to ensure what, if anything, your pet is getting. This doesn't stop people from making and selling vitamins for this use...but you don't have to buy those kinds. :)

As for the crickets, always put in a source of food and moisture for them, too. That way, they are less likely to be going for a accidental swim in your lizard's water bowl. Putting a boiled rock in the lizard's water bowl also gives the crickets a place to land and jump off from.

A jarlid of the fresh food you feed them in their own enclosure (see my Calcium Thread continued post) will be fine. I fed my crickets the same salad I feed my iguanas, blue-tongue skink, and bearded. A piece of damp sponge on a jar lid works placed in the predator's tank works well, too. As with the water bowl, have a few pieces of sponges you can rotate out to give them a good cleaning and let them completely air dry before reuse. You can buy a large sponge and cut it into smaller pieces, or use some sea sponges (you can find at craft, rubberstamp, and bath stores).

--
PCF Meliss
PetHobbyist Host for Kingsnake.com
www.anapsid.org

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Re: Tank/toy cleaning questions sp00kachu 07/30/02 (0)