Copyright 2021 Evolution Reptiles
All rights reserved.
Copyright 2024 Evolution Reptiles
All rights reserved.
All rights reserved.
This may seem like an odd topic. But as with so many aspects of pet reptile keeping it sometimes helps to have a little guidance on how to do things properly! In all the excitement of bringing your new pet home it’s easy to forget to ask about routine maintenance and how to go about it. So we thought this article might be of some use to you.
Cleaning a vivarium isn’t a difficult task, but it’s a vitally important one. Just like us, our pets need a clean and safe home to live in and it’s up to us to provide that for them. One of the advantages of reptile keeping is that their maintenance is less demanding than it is for many mammalian pets, but it’s still important that it is done correctly. Using the wrong products or not realising why certain tasks need to be done can be very damaging, so we put together this guide to help you with your choices.
Hopefully, some of the tips and tricks we have learned over many years of reptile keeping will help to make your journey a little less difficult!
On this page, we will look at:
First, it’s worth assembling some pieces of kit in order to make the whole process a little easier. Your cleaning kit should include:
If you have a particularly dirty reptile – or one that likes to make a mess in the warm end, where deposits bake hard in minutes – it’s worth having something like a paint scraper in your kit. An old towel can also be useful to spread in front of your pet’s vivarium to catch any spilled substrate – but do make very sure that it’s only used for your reptiles.
Obviously, you can customise your kit to your particular needs, but this basic list will give you everything you need to get started.
Here’s a video on how to clean a vivarium.
It’s worth having a plan to work through as well. If you keep to the same order each time then it’s easier to make sure that everything is done, and nothing gets forgotten or left out. The following is a guide, you might find it easier to do things in a different order:
Have a safe temporary enclosure ready, and have somewhere to put it out of the way of family members and other pets. It doesn’t have to be too large, and as long as your home is not particularly cold or hot (average home temperature in the UK is considered to be 20ºC, which is fine for all but the most delicate reptiles and amphibians) then they will be fine for a short period without any supplemental heating. DO NOT place your reptile in direct sunlight or on top of a heat source such as a radiator to keep them warm – they can overheat to fatal levels very quickly.
Take each piece out individually and brush or scrape off any faeces or dirt that may be crusted on. Get a dry brush and work it into the crevices in order to remove all loose debris, and then place each item either in to soak or to one side to scrub down later.
Use your dustpan and brush to remove all the substrate, making sure to get right into the corners of the vivarium in order to remove all loose debris. Brush the walls and the ceiling down too, as dust can settle anywhere within the vivarium; sweep this up and put it into the bucket for disposal. Some councils allow soiled pet bedding and waste to be put into the garden waste bin but others don’t, so it’s worth checking with your local council to see if they allow it. It’s not a good idea to use the waste substrate in your garden composting bin – even if your reptile is healthy, there’s a chance that you might be placing small amounts of pathogens into the environment that could affect our native wildlife. Better safe than sorry!
Now you need to give your enclosure a good scrub. Hot soapy water is your friend at this point! Be careful not to use too much water in wooden vivariums, even if they are sealed round the edges; scrubbing hard can force water past the sealant and damage the wood beneath. Wipe or sponge out any dirty water, and in a glass enclosure scrub any limescale off the walls and door. RO (reverse osmosis) water is useful for this, as is a water and vinegar mix. Most vivarium cleaners will do an excellent job too, and there are specialist glass cleaners on the market that do a fantastic job.
Once the vivarium is clean and dry, spray it generously with reptile safe disinfectant. It’s important to make sure that any solid waste is removed before this step, as solids can make the disinfectant ineffective. These products are designed to work on microscopic pathogens, not great big lumps of hardened poo or dusty substrate. Always read the label on the product! Some need to be rinsed off and allowed to dry, while others can just be allowed to dry before you put substrate and decor back in. It will tell you on the label which sort you have.
Each piece of decor should have a good scrub under hot soapy water. This is a really good time to examine each piece for damage, small cracks that might leave a sharp edge, or general wear and tear. If the items have been soaking (the bath is very useful for this, as it is easy to disinfect afterwards!) then give them a good scrub with hot soapy water. Make sure that you are somewhere that you won’t contaminate any surfaces used for human food preparation. Rinse the decor well, and allow it to dry before giving it a spray with reptile safe disinfectant.
Polish your glass so that you can see your reptiles! Domestic window cleaner is fine to use on the outside glass, but avoid using it on the inside for amphibians. For snakes and lizards it’s fine to use on the inside, just let it dry thoroughly.
Fill with fresh substrate, and put your clean and dry decor back in. If you use a scoop to move clean substrate from the bag to the vivarium, do not use the same dustpan and brush that you used to empty the soiled substrate out with. Bacteria, viruses, fungal spores and other pathogens can all be spread by using dirty equipment on clean decor and substrate, so if you use a scoop either keep a separate one or disinfect the dustpan between uses.
Do this before you return your pet to their enclosure.
Sit back and watch them enjoy their nice clean house!
Honestly, it varies. You should spot pick your vivarium daily, removing any visible waste and soiled substrate and just giving a visual check of your enclosure. The water bowl should be emptied, rinsed and returned daily, and thoroughly scrubbed and disinfected once a week. A complete deep clean is usually carried out once a month.
A basic regime would be as follows:
Apart from cleaning your reptile enclosure, what other routine maintenance should you be doing? During a deep clean is an ideal time to check the state of your vivarium. Looking for cracks, splits, or areas where the wood has begun to soften with exposure to moisture.
It’s also a good time to check your decor; plastic plants become brittle with age. Wooden hides, coconut shells and other natural decors can begin to rot after a time. Any worn or damaged decor should be replaced immediately, and any vivarium damage should be repaired.
Wooden vivariums do deteriorate with time, and in order to keep your pet reptile secure and happy you need to be aware of the condition of their housing. Glass lasts well (unless you break it!), but still needs to be maintained. Plastic parts degrade with time and exposure to UV light, so keep an eye on the clips that hold the top of your glass vivarium in.
Check the clips that hold older UV bulbs in place; they can be replaced with metal clips if the plastic ones become brittle. Modern T5 units are fixed to the roof of the reptile enclosure with screws, so are much less likely to degrade and cause a problem.
Glass doors sometimes chip at the edges, especially when locks are used; if this happens it can leave sharp edges that can cause injury to either your pet or yourself. If you notice a small chip it can be gently sanded down, but a large or sharp chip will mean that the door has to be replaced.
We hope that you have found this article useful and that it will make your cleaning and maintenance routine rather less of a chore! Remember that if you are at all confused or worried about which products you should use we’re always available to help. Drop us a line or give us a call!
If you would like to find out more about our range of vivariums and reptile supplies available from our reptile shop in Kidlington, please click here to contact our team who are always happy to help. For more information on caring for lots of different pet species, check out our care hub which has a large number of care sheets that you might find useful.
We hope to hear from you soon!
Your cleaning kit should include:
Copyright 2021 Evolution Reptiles
All rights reserved.