Best way to disinfect wood?

[MartinsPerson]

As a result of Baloo's nasty respiratory condition, I feel that its necessary to disinfect all of the stuff in his tank. I just put a large sandblasted grapevine in there that I would love to not have to throw away. Any suggestions on how to adequately clean this? I was thinking about putting it in a bucket with a diluted bleach solution for a week or so, then putting it in another bucket of fresh water for a couple days, dumping the water, refill and soak again. Then let it dry. I'm worried about residue though. How would you guys go about it?

[bluetonguemad]

i had the same problem woth my turtles, i know they arnt blueys but come on we all want our herps safe from stuff

diluted bleach solution for 2 days, then depending on weather leave them in teh sun for 2, if you want them quickly put the oven on a low heat for about 45 minutes then soak in water, just tap water should be fine then dry the same way again, thats what i did for my rocks and logs in my tank, i havnt had any moss growth in the last 2 months or anything which is great, and no algal bloom now thats annoying, anyways yeah you got the right idea, just makes sure all bleach is gone once your done

[Tattoo]

I would think a good dose of virosan would do the trick.

[bluetonguemad]

or flaming the wood? i tried that with the blow torch at work, a little to much flame though and not enough heat :/

[MartinsPerson]

I would think a good dose of virosan would do the trick.

What is virosan? Is it similar to Nolvasan that is a chlorihexidine base? I figured that that would have more residual chemicals than bleach?

[bluetonguemad]

i would stick with diluted bleach and the drying power of the SUN... or a really good convection oven

[Fatal_S]

For a respiratory, I would use bleach. We used it in the shelter all the time, every cage was cleaned daily with diluted bleach.

To prevent the spread of an RI between cats, we used a chemical called Peroxiguard. It's a potent chemical that kills everything. Don't know if you can get it, and I wouldn't really bother, but if you do use it wear gloves and a mask and use in a well ventilated room.

When we were disinfecting after a bad virus, like parvo or giardia (crypto would also likely fall in here) everything was sprayed and cleaned with peroxiguard, then for a week after the room was cleaned 2x daily with bleach solution. Parvo was especially bad, extremely contagious.

[bluetonguemad]

we have some very good cleaning chemicals that would kill anything and be washed away easily so as not to hurt animals

[MartinsPerson]

I'm thinking that the bleach is the way to go. I just need to find a bucket big enough. What dilution should I use? Or use straight bleach? I was thinking a 1:4 mixture bleach:water.

[Fatal_S]

1:10 is usually recommended I believe. However I'm not sure. At the shelter we used a very diluted solution for everyday cleaning. Just think, use the bleach solution to whiten your whites too!

[MartinsPerson]

1:10 sounds good. I've heard that before for when the animals will be in direct contact with the object within 24 hours.

[bluetonguemad]

if you go with straight bleach you need to rinse for longer and leave int eh sun longer

[MartinsPerson]

I think dilution is probably the way to go. Thanks for all the input folks!

[Tattoo]

I would think a good dose of virosan would do the trick.

What is virosan? Is it similar to Nolvasan that is a chlorihexidine base? I figured that that would have more residual chemicals than bleach?

Yup ... same thing. I guess since it is designed to disinfect critters messes (and smells better than bleach) I prefer it.

[Leigh]

Yeh, use the diluted bleach and a nail brush to get into all the cracks and crevises, use rubber gloves and maybe eye protection too, do it outdoors as splashes can cause major damage to clothes/carpet you know the score. Then repeat with plain tap water, towel off and leave to dry somewhere.