Used Equipment and Diseases

[Kieran]

Hi Everyone!

I'm new here and had a question about using used equipment. I have a dragon on order from a breeder and have his enclosure all set up and ready to go, but a few items I purchased used (namely, basking light housing and basking log). The log won't be used for at least 4 months because the dragon is starting in a smaller enclosure (coming about 6 weeks old from Fire and Ice Dragons) and will not need a tall basking log until he's in his adult enclosure. The lamp will be used right away after I get him.

The person I bought the log and lights from had a dragon that lived to be about 7. He said the dragon was healthy and happy until he stopped eating and became lethargic for about a month before dying, all likely due to old age.

I'm probably being paranoid, but I am wondering if I should be worried about something like adenovirus, which I've heard can live on surfaces for a while? I cleaned all the items by spraying with a bleach solution, letting sit for about 10 minutes, then hosing down thoroughly. I have no reason to believe his dragon had anything contagious, but I want to be super careful. The last thing I want is to start of by giving my little guy something incurable.

I also figure even if there is adenovirus after disinfecting (the log is fake, some sort of resin, but porous), the log will sit for a few months before the lizard shares an enclosure with it, so that gives anything on there time to break down. And the light I figure gets hot enough to kill anything anyway. But I just wanted to make sure I'm covering all my bases.

Thanks for any help, and I'm excited to be on the forum!

 

[PatsyB]

Bleach really doesn't kill anything. It's more of a surface kinda cleaner. Ammonia kills certain parasites like coccidia. Steam cleaning kills everything. The wooden things can be baked in the oven to kill any parasites or bugs. I did 45 min at 300 degrees. Make sure the wood is not wet when you put it in the oven, and maybe crack a window for ventilation.

 

[Mom2Dovakiin]

Hey Patsy, can you recommend a good steam cleaner for tanks?

 

[PatsyB]

Hey Patsy, can you recommend a good steam cleaner for tanks?

I personally have a Shark 2 in 1 cleaner. It does your floors and comes apart to do smaller things like your tanks. I love it! I have some friends that own just a portable one by Giddeon (I think that's the spelling) and they like that one too.

 

[Mom2Dovakiin]

we have a shark but it's an older (and very large) one. Our old house was almost all either wood laminate or tile (with very little carpet anywhere. This new house is nearly all carpet (tile only in kitchen and baths). It would be WAY too big to use in this tank lol. So maybe just a small portable one. I like the idea of a steam cleaner since there's no chemicals involved at all.

 

[PatsyB]

we have a shark but it's an older (and very large) one. Our old house was almost all either wood laminate or tile (with very little carpet anywhere. This new house is nearly all carpet (tile only in kitchen and baths). It would be WAY too big to use in this tank lol. So maybe just a small portable one. I like the idea of a steam cleaner since there's no chemicals involved at all.

That's why I like it. There are no chemicals. I use distilled water in mine and a gallon of water lasts awhile. Not to mention my face gets nice and steamed too, like getting a facial while cleaning the tanks