Scollins17

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Oct 13, 2019
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Gilbert AZ
Hi I'm buying a used vivarium for my yearling tortoise.
Should I just wash it out with hot water and scrub it or is there any other disinfecting procedures I should do?
 

huaban

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Apr 20, 2021
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Cypress, TX
I would recommend you to use some disinfectant to deep clean. I don't buy used enclosures, because you never know what happened in that enclosure before.

BTW, zoo med has reptile disinfectant spray. You can try that one.
 

Jan A

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Hi I'm buying a used vivarium for my yearling tortoise.
Should I just wash it out with hot water and scrub it or is there any other disinfecting procedures I should do?
Yes, please do wash it out with disinfectant. Very, very important that your tort not encounter other species' pathogens.
 

Blackdog1714

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Now is the time to use the strong keep away from animal stuff! Then let it air out a long time in full sun after
 

Tom

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Hi I'm buying a used vivarium for my yearling tortoise.
Should I just wash it out with hot water and scrub it or is there any other disinfecting procedures I should do?
Scrub it out with dish soap and hot water. Out in full sun is best. Then make up a 10% ammonia solution and saturate the whole thing with it. Keep spraying and saturating for a good 20 minutes. Then rinse well and let it bake in the hot sun for a couple of days outside. There should be no ammonia smell when you move the tortoise into it eventually.

I recommend ammonia because some tortoise pathogens are not affected by bleach.
 
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