I am so happy!  I am finally convinced my parents to buy me some white vinegar and peroxcide to clean the ratties cages since all 4 of my boys have URI, along with their sister...and I think by using only soap it was aggrivating the URI's and making htem worss because their cages and toys, food bowls, and water bottles weren't properly cleaned.

Just a side note...Vinegar and hydrogen proxide will also clean your salads,(in light of all the e. coli and salmonella on salad these days) its non toxic but of course you rinse it off before eating it.
I never thought about using for my rat cages though, I might start having to buy by the gallons.

Bleach 1:10 solution 10-15mins, ammonia 1:10 solution 30mins., and Phenols (Lysol, Environ, O-Syl) kill Myco, but phenols are very toxic to animals & are hard to rinse off. I wouldn't use them around animals. Ammonia needs a lot of ventilation & toxic fumes are formed when mixed with bleach. For Myco, I would stick to a bleach/HOT water solution 1:10.

Chlorhexidine (active ingredient in Nolvasan) or hydrogen peroxide do not kill myco. Neither does vinegar, but I couldn't find any references to mycobacteria & h.peroxide/vinegar combined. Nolvasan does, however, prevent it from growing.

I found a site called Clinical Microbiology Reviews which basically tells you which antiseptics & disinfectants kill what. According to this site Mycobacteria are "highly resistant" to chlorhexidine. The second link is about cleaners and reptiles and is in lamens terms.

http://cmr.asm.org/cgi/content/full/12/1/147#T4 rather involved reading.

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Disinfectants.html Easier reading, with brand names listed

Hope this helps!

You don't have to drag it anywhere to wash it! Just do the peroxide thing and wipe it down with water paper towels. It does the job without wasteing water,

All my rats are healthy, so I just use antibacterial dish soap on toys and furniture. I wipe down and rinse the exterior of the cage with Clorox Anywhere Spray.

Rayne, 20 babies? My girl had a litter of 16, (it was an oops litter), but20 is out of this world!

I used a product called Method 'Go Naked surface cleaner' for the first time tonight and I have to say I am quite pleased. IT neutralized my boys cage and I could just spray it, wait a few second to do its work, and then scrub with paper towel. No perfumes, no dyes, no animal testing and all natural products.

Kind of expensive at $4.99 a bottle (CDN) and I used half the bottle, but I also cleaned stinky igloos, wood, baskets and all the clips I use. It doesn't disinfect but it cuts the buck butter and the pee off the bars.


I think I'll use it in rotation with vinegar and water. I like the idea that I can spray the Method with the rats in the cage to clean up any day-to-day messes. I'm also quite sure that I'll make the switch to full fleece this week if cleaning becomes this easy.


wish me luck on potty training :\

Wow, this thread is so helpful! I have been using vinegar, peroxide and then plain water to wipe my cages, but I have always wanted to know what the chemistry was. Thanks, PhoenixMoon, for posting the answer!

And I am going to check out the Clinical Microbiology reviews. There is probably no way to kill Myco on the blankets and hammocks, but I am  grateful to be able to get out the pee smell! I have started adding vinegar to the pre-wash cycle, and it really helps. I have a front-loader, which uses very little water, and I used to have to wash their stuff using the Sanitary Cycle (super-hot water).

Our cages get done weekly, but I don't have anything huge.  We currently have one Martins H-600 (vacant at the moment), two R-660, two R-670, an H-600HR, and a 10 gal tank.  We have topper for the 10 gallon but it's not currently in use.  I do wipe down as necessary.
 
I've been using diluted bleach but I'm switching to the vinegar mix...

I've used baby wipes all natural and unscented I even use it on the rattys themselves. The cage stays clean (great for the hard to reach areas) and I have a question... this thread's kind of all over the place does the vinegar solution kill all the germs like the bleach? I also have asthma and I figure if it bothers my lungs it bothers theirs. (I've seriously rewashed cages after bleach with dish soap and have still not been able to breathe by them because the bleach residue is so hard to get rid of)

For the entire cage, the vinegar and peroxide spray works wonders.  For the inside...I have a Martin's 690 that I have put linoleum on the levels of...every day, twice a day, I do the baby wipe thing on them.  I use the unscented all natural ones that don't have alcohol or anything harsh.  I dry them with a paper towel too.  On the bottom they have towels.  I have a bunch of ones that have minor tears, so I cut them in half and use it on the bottom of the cage.  Usually two towels at a time so it's more absorbent, and I change that every other day and pick up the "raisins" every day.  My rat cage is always cleaner than my house.   

It is a good idea to rinse very carefully if you do this since mixing ammonia and bleach is harmful.