Disinfecting 2nd hand cage and equipment

[AliKati]

The 2nd hand Hamster Heaven I got off Ebay has arrived, with all its bits and more extras. I'm in the process of cleaning and disinfecting all the bits.

Question:
I have sprayed lots of Johnson's cleaner and disinfectant and leaving it for a while. Then I'm going to pour boiling water of the stuff - and then spray more Johnson's and scrub it all down.

Is this enough to make sure all smells of the previous hamster, and germs are removed?

[fluffychick]

I had a particularly grubby 2nd hand rat cage once, it got washed with hot soapy water (fairy liquid), any urine stained parts got scrubbed with vinegar, 2nd wash in soapy water, rinse, spray with animal safe disinfectant, dry. left 24 hours to "air" then sprayed again with disinfectant, dried with a cloth and done.

anything not so crusty gets same treatment without the vingegar.

I personally would say what you have done is fine, though be careful with boiling water, don't warp anything plastic!

[AliKati]

True, I'm not going to let the boiling water sit, just run over it from the kettle. I don't have any vinegar in the house - but there aren't too many crusty bits, so hopefully all can be removed!

Another question: I was also sent a wooden ladder thing that is hung from the top of the cage, with dangly wooden bits. Is that safe second hand or should I dump it?

[fluffychick]

when I moved teddy into his 2nd hand gabber rex, I put it in the bath full of hot soapy water to wash so it got a good soaking and used a non-scratchy scourer and a toothbrush to scrub it. it cleaned up lovely.

I had cleaned his old cage out a few days before I moved him so all of his bedding and woodshavings moved to the new cage so it smelt like him, after all the washing of the cage I couldn't imagine there could be any previous hamster smell or germs left.

he threw a mardy after I moved him, chewed everything in a rage to the point that I nearly moved him back into the mini duna but he settled down after a few hours and has been fine since then.

also make sure you dry the bars of the hamster heaven really well, and don't leave it sitting in water too long, you don't want rusty bars!

If there is already any rust from when you got it you can sand it off and repaint with japlac or plasticote if needed.

[AliKati]

Cool, I'll give it a scrub with hot water too. No signs of rust, though the paint from some of the bars were chewed off. I was planning - when he's up later, to get some of his old bedding transferred over, so it wouldn't be too alien. And use his own toys. I am however, fully prepared for a full-on tantrum.

Ps..what are your thoughts on 2nd hand wooden toys? Can they be re-used or best dumped?

[fluffychick]

I threw away all my old wooden rat toys even though I am sure they would have been fine with a good scrub. they just didn't feel like they would be clean enough. I used to wash and let them dry off fully to put back in the rats cage but they were being used again by the same pets then. maybe I was too overcautious.

apparently wooden kitchen surfaces are really hygienic as wood is naturally antibacterial. lots of info on the internet about it. I guess if it's safe to use and wash a wooden kitchen surface or wooden spoon in the kitchen and that gets rid of germs including salmonella so it's safe to use for cooking next time then washing any wood should do the same. wood naturally kills off bacteria over time.

the theory is great but I wasn't sure about it for pet stuff.

hopefully someone else will have an opinion on this before you decided what to do with any wooden things, would be a shame to throw them away if you don't have to.

[ashari]

For my wooden toys i use baby sterilizing fluid.i get a big bucket, fill it with hot water from the kettle, put in a little cap of sterilizing fluid and let it soak for 20 minutes.then empty the contents out,refill with hot water,get some rubber gloves and rinse everything in the hot water and leave to dry fully.i did this with my wooden toys from my previous hammy elly