I've been trying to get a negative sample for a couple weeks on Omni and have been bleaching out her viv each day and sticking w/ paper disposable furniture, but the coccidia counts have not gone down. Should I go against the advice of the vet and try something other than the bleach to kill anything in the enclosure? It seems to me that ammonia is even more difficult to wash away than bleach, are there any tried-and-true methods that have personally been found to kill these parasites or should I just wait it out and keep doing what I'm doing??
Yes- coccidia and pinworms also... what type of steam cleaner??? a portable or.... the viv weighs a ton and is on the 2nd floor, can't get it outside by my lonesome....
Yep, mine is just a hand held steamer. I have to refill it a few times to get everything steamed (I steam everything twice LOL)
But it is still quick and much easier than bleaching- I can steam clean viv and all furniture and hve in all set back up within 30-45 mins
I use a steam cleaner ever second day. I just couldnt stand the smell of the ammonia and the wait afterwards.
Make sure if you get one not to use the fine high pressure nozzle as the steam cools rapidly and is probably below the effective temperature by the time it makes contact with surfaces. The more general low velocity nozzle gets higher temps. Your looking for 165F+.
My new weapon of choice is a blowtorch! If i need to spot clean i take him out the viv and spray area with F10 disinfectant then wipe up. I then lightly run over area with tip of flame. 3000F, coccidia oocyst dont stand a chance.
The blowtorch method would only be usefull if your substrate was ceramic tile or similar. If not its still handy for giving basking rocks etc a once over daily.
Just came across this disinfectant which kills coccidia oocysts. Requires contact of 2hrs but would be handy for viv furniture to soak in or places ammonia isint practical.
May be UK only but here's the link. http://interkokask.com/Interkokask-infosheet.pdf