If you have the felt-like reptile carpet, I'm sure bleach would take the color out. It is supposed to be hand washed in cold water then left to air dry, that's all.
You should, and you do. There are lots of disinfectants that won't ruin the color. Go to home depot and buy Simple Green-D Pro 3. Its an all in one cleaner and disinfectant, and it works wonders. Its a Quaternary Ammonium Compound based disinfectant, and is incredibly effective. When properly diluted it has a mild citrus cent that fades quickly, and is my cleaner of choice for enclosures. Alternatively you can find Chlorhexidine Gluconate online for about $20 a gallon for concentrate, and that is a nice safe disinfectant that won't ruin the color in the carpet.
I use my washer but I use baking soda and white vinegar in hot wash on Gentle cycle. It doesn't kill my carpet's color and effectively cleans the carpet. I have also put my carpets in the dryer and haven't had any shrink on me yet!