Cleaning sanitzing cages and all

[craneman54]

I am just starting to set up to raise rabbits. For the last 3 weeks i have been reading on forums and watching you tubes like crazy.
I saw a you tube where a guy was talking about using Vanodine V.18 for cleaning and sanitizing he cages and pans. Has anyone used this? I have seen/read some people use bleach or other house hold cleaners to do this job. I also was watching one of the info type programs were they said the CDC uses Pinesol to clean the white climate controlled suits researchers use when dealing with the bad viruses and diseases like E-coli and such.

What is the best thing to use to do a total clean up of cages,pans and everything having to do with raising rabbits. I figure if Pinesol is good enough for the CDC, it should do a good job around rabbits. Unless it is something that would harm the herd.

Advice ?

Thanks for any and all help.

 

[akane]

Pine Sol phenols from which it probably gets part of its name are highly toxic to small animals. It is only suggested as more of an emergency or one time cleaner with a ton of rinsing. I also could not find its effect on galvanized wire. Some cleaners will dissolve the zinc and let the steel underneath rust. Bleach is usually plenty strong enough but there are cleaners like vanodin made specifically for use around animals.

 

[craneman54]

Thanks for the info.
I did another research on the vanodin . According to the site for vanodin it is no longer sold in the US. So bleach it will be.

 

[Sagebrush]

I tend to use a vinegar wash with a flame to clean and sanitize my cages in-between litters and after each major season change. I use an old 4" putty knife to scrape out the corners since my girls love to leave softies there.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Bleach needs to be rinsed because it leaves a salt residue which will rust the wire and vinegar also needs rinsing because it will erode the galvanization, but otherwise they are both safe to use. Vanodine is basically iodine and I don't know what else. I have used Betadine surgical scrub (also iodine based) on cages.

When I do a really thorough sanitizing I put straight vinegar into my steam cleaner and blast the cages with that.

 

[Miss M]

I use bleach at 1:10 or a little stronger. Then rinse, rinse, rinse.

Sometimes, I use a torch. Especially if there's a lot of fur from molting. But you have to be careful and keep it moving, because it can melt the galvanizing.

 

[Dood]

I was cleaning with vinegar and occasionally with bleach but switched to a 10% ammonia solution which is recommended for killing off coccidia since having a severe hepatic coccidia outbreak last year

 

[grumpy]

I was cleaning with vinegar and occasionally with bleach but switched to a 10% ammonia solution which is recommended for killing off coccidia since having a severe hepatic coccidia outbreak last year

What's your mixing ratio, Dood? Using a 2-gallon sprayer, how much
ammonia should be mixed into the water?

Is the 10% the mix to water ratio? Or is it the strength of the ammonia
solution itself?

grumpy.

 

[Dood]

There isn't a concentration on my jug of "household" ammonia :shrug:

There are 16 cups in a gallon so 32cups in 2 gallons.

That would mean roughly 3.2 (3 and 1/5) cups of ammonia then filled with water for a 2 gallon batch.

 

[grumpy]

There isn't a concentration on my jug of "household" ammonia :shrug:

There are 16 cups in a gallon so 32cups in 2 gallons.

That would mean roughly 3.2 (3 and 1/5) cups of ammonia then filled with water for a 2 gallon batch.

Thanks a bunch. :bananadance:

Grumpy

 

[ilovehome]

Vanodine, and steam here. Occasionally, vinegar. I recently bought vanodine from bunnyrabbit.com.

 

[jimmywalt]

I was cleaning with vinegar and occasionally with bleach but switched to a 10% ammonia solution which is recommended for killing off coccidia since having a severe hepatic coccidia outbreak last year

Just wanted to point out for anyone who might read this wrong... NEVER EVER EVER mix ammonia and bleach. It will create a gas that will send you to the hospital EVERY TIME and can KILL you!!!!!!!!!!

I know that's not what Dood was saying, but just wanted to clarify incase anyone reads this wrong.

 

[akane]

We have bleach 1:5 for hedgehog cages. It might be a little strong but hedgehog poop is worse than cat poop and they eat meat so there's the salmonella and other risks with their food. My rabbit cages don't usually require that much sanitizing. The only major illness we've had is that cocci outbreak in the colony that did not effect the cages. Sterilizing a colony is fun. At least one was on stall mats so those could be sprayed down and left to dry.