Sanitizing wood and vines plastic

[springbreaker]

I had a question with cleaning and parasites germs eww type stuff. I have a few items basking branches grapevine and some others I don't know what they are.
I don't have a currently working oven to bake them that I think is best. But a few things fake made out of plastic. Need a successful way to get this done. My reptiles are getting bored without them.
I heard bleach and soaking for 24 hours destroys the parasites in the wood. I have a lot of wood with poop and urates on them. What would be best to do without a oven. For reptiles like beardies and iguana yes I also have a iguana.
Wood is adsorbs water probably parasites reason am making this topic. I wish I had a working oven always got the job done in the past. But am a female and fixing a new type oven. I don't even think my father knows how to.

 

[ScaleGripper]

I have two points I do that may help now or in the future.
I bought a professional vapor steamer! Everything gets brushed or wiped clean to remove the obvious mess but then 310 degree steam vapor is applied to every square inch of anything my reptiles touch! Nothing microbial lives past a good steady dose of 212 degrees!! 310 degrees is certain death! I never use any cleaning chemicals! Yesterday I emptied and steamed 3 Exo Terra 40 breeders! It comfortably takes me one hour or less each,...inside and out! Steam cleaners come in all price points and quality levels. A great investment if the steam at the tip of the nozzle is rated to exceed 212 degrees!
Secondly, my dragons deficate so often in their scheduled warm baths each week that seldom is there a mess within the terrariums. Cage messes do occur periodically but not regularly or often! It is rare if they do not deficate in their baths!
Bless,
Bill

 

[springbreaker]

Thank you this is very helpful ill just need to look into this. I use a lot of bleach when I do the smell of bleach. Doesn't get removed even after a rinse. Usually the oven takes care of the bleach smell.
I was using a Clorox spray with bleach and a cleaner. Never worked as well as I hoped. I always found my reptiles getting treatment from coccidia. Once pinworms and that was a pain to treat.
I recently started baths because I never knew of it. Til I came here I always thought of beardies like hamsters don't bath them they will die.
With Luke warm water quality of the water isn't great but safe to drink. So I heard from the water company village lol. But if so what the heck is floating in it???
Anyway haven't had a fecal yet during there bath. Just the usual jumping and inflating.
Thanks
Again
Jo

 

[springbreaker]

Would a dish washer work for steam cleaning?

 

[ScaleGripper]

In my opinion,....A dishwasher has three issues for not using it,...off the top of my head!
1. Typical household Dishwashers temperatures are between 130-170 degrees,.....most around 160! I wouldn't trust those temps with my reptiles??? Sterilization traditionally requires boiling for a length of time. Boiling water is 212 degrees! That steady temp for awhile will kill the micro critters! I use 310 degrees! I steam large wood that would not fit in a household oven or dishwasher!
2. I do not use bleach or any strong cleaning chemicals, ( other than a very diluted Dawn dish soap in a large tub to scrub off the heavy mess,) near my dragons or their equipment. Dishwashers often use a number different chemicals that could leave trace residue on anything washed within?? ....especially rough bark or course tile or bowls or hides, etc???
3. I would not put reptile fecal matter near my dishwasher or my dishes!
I like very hot steam vapor! Steam vapor leaves glass clean without a drop of chemicals!! I have 12 terrariums/aquariums to keep clean!! It is easier with steam and leaves no trace chemical residues??
My two cents??
Bless,
Bill

 

[springbreaker]

I have 8 tanks + cages iguanaium and tokay reptibreeze cages. Cleaning cages is tough without a light brush and cleaning wood is tough. I'll look for a steam cleaner not online but at Walmart. For at least 212 degree heat steam. Everything I cleaned yesterday still smells like bleach today. It's alarming

 

[ScaleGripper]

Many clean with chemicals and do fine. It is my opinion and preference to use pressurized, high temp, steam vapor! My DAIMER professional steam cleaner was an investment,... http://www.daimer.com/steam-cleaners/
But a great investment! Pressurized steam vapor at 310 degrees clears grout scum, barbecue grill buildup, burned in stove messes, refrigerator cleaning and sanitizing,.....etc, endless,.....but no chemicals!! Truthfully, reptile decor and glass is the easiest job my DAIMER steamer has! I steam my wood and tile floors,....I have three dogs!
I do use the gentle surfactant quality of a diluted Dawn dish soap to get the heavy off my reptile items but that brushing has little soap, the items stand in a 5 gallon bucket of clean water for hours afterwards and is safe enough for my family to trust to our own kitchen dishware in stronger, sudsy concentrations! I wash my truck and motorcycles with Dawn! Dawn and my steamer clean 98% of my homes messes,.....and sanitizes without a drop of chemicals to sanitize.
The DAIMER vapor steamer I use is the unit pros use commercially for their businesses to clean tile, kill bed bugs, detail violent crime scenes and much more!
My SharK professional floor cleaning steamer mop works well for my daughter to clean any of our hard floors much more safely! She is not allowed to handle the pressurized vapor steaming 310 degrees our DAIMER provides.
I also am able to steam large, long, hand selected, weathered, debarked hard wood branches I select on my daily morning walks in the woods with my dogs! I use a thermal foil wrap around sections of the branch, add a thermometer sensor and pump in the steam vapor! After, I steam and scrub every square inch with a nylon brush tip! That sits for a week indoors and I steam and brush it again, let it dry and sand the branches before my reptiles ever set a scale near them!
I met my first DAIMER while serving as a municipal fire department firefighter/paramedic. My ambulance often was taken out of service after nasty calls so we could clean and sanitize all the various bodily fluids and chunks before going back into service.
Good luck to you. This is what I like to do and use. It is only my opinion that works for my family, animals and cleanliness!! It may be an option for others??
Bless,
Bill