Your bearded dragon needs a clean and tidy enclosure to stay happy and healthy. If you have been taking care of bearded dragons for some time now, you might already know that these reptiles have smelly poop. Thus, part of your responsibility as the owner is to clean its enclosure regularly.
The good news is that there are lots of items and products that you can use to clean the tank of your beardie, including dish soap and bleach. But how about vinegar, the all-time favorite natural cleaner? Is vinegar safe for bearded dragons?
Yes, it is safe to use vinegar for cleaning the enclosure of your bearded dragon. As long as you rinse the tank thoroughly after you clean it to get rid of any residue, you won’t have any issues using vinegar around your beardie.
How Often Should You Clean the Tank of Your Bearded Dragon?
To keep the tank of your bearded dragon fresh and clean, it is recommended to do some light cleaning daily, either at night or in the morning, while deep cleaning should be done once weekly.
Light cleaning must include washing the water bowl using soap and hot water, changing the water in the bowl, getting rid of any bugs, and spot cleaning for poop.
Meanwhile, deep cleaning entails removing and cleaning the substrate, cleaning the interior of the tank, and washing and disinfecting the glass and all accessories.
What Can You Use to Clean the Tank of Your Bearded Dragon?
There are several products and items, most of which might already be available in your home, that you can use to clean the tank of your pet bearded dragon. These include the following:
1:1 water and vinegar solution
This solution should only be used for light cleaning although the smell of it might stay in the tank for one to two days.
Bleach solution with 9 parts water mixed with 1 part bleach
It is an effective solution but you have to take note that fumes may be toxic. This should only be used for the occasional deep cleaning when then the rest of the options are not available.
Nontoxic chlorhexidine solution
This is a safe product with antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial properties and is great for deep and light cleaning alike.
Steam cleaner
Pick a powerful steam cleaner that uses 200 to 300 degrees pressurized steam. This is a nontoxic option that works well for both deep and light cleaning.
Baking wooden accessories at 250 to 300 degrees for up to 30 minutes
It helps disinfect current and new wooden accessories to ensure a deep clean. A good alternative is boiling.
Nontoxic reptile cleaning solution
You can use this solution for deep and light cleaning.
How to Deep Clean a Bearded Dragon’s Tank
Here are the steps you can follow to deep clean the tank of your bearded dragon:
1. Clean the Substrate
It is easy and simple to replace paper towels daily. But if you are using a reptile carpet, the cleaning process might differ depending on whether your pet poops on it. Some owners train their beardies to poop in the water, either in a bathtub or a small water dish inside the tank.
If the reptile carpet is not that dirty yet, you can try spot cleaning it every few days using the vinegar solution. To prepare the vinegar solution, just mix 50% water with 50% vinegar. It will also be a wise idea to pour the solution into a sprayer and then use it to spray on the spots that require cleaning.
After this, you can wipe it with paper towels or brush it with a sponge. Air out the reptile carpet before putting it back inside the cage.
If the carpet has traces of poop, you can try soaking and washing it with soap and then hanging it to dry afterward. It is also a good idea if you have a replacement carpet that you can use while the other one is being cleaned.
For deep cleaning done once a month, you can soak the carpet in bleach solution with 10 parts water and 1 part bleach. You can also consider swapping it completely once every 2 to 3 months.
A non-adhesive shelf liner is also a good alternative to reptile carpet. Shelf liners can be cut easily to size and requires easy cleaning and maintenance as well. These are machine washable as well.
Tiles, including slate, porcelain, and ceramic, are also ideal to use in the tank of your bearded dragon. You can just take the tiles out and clean them as and when needed.
2. Clean the Accessories
Make sure you take out the accessories inside the tank for a deep clean every week. These accessories may include ramps, hammocks, branches, and others. You can use hot soapy water to wash the accessories and scrub them using a toothbrush or brush.
If there is poop on the wood, you can also wash the branch using soapy water. You can then wash it using hot pressurized steam or even bake it in the oven. Baking for 25 to 30 minutes at 250 to 300 degrees will kill off all parasites with the help of heat. Boiling can also come in handy to clean wooden accessories.
A steam cleaner will let you clean the accessories of your dragon with just hot pressurized steam. The best way to kill all parasites is to use heat at around 250 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
You can also clean the accessories by soaking them in a huge bowl filled with bleach solution. You can fill the tub with 9 parts water to 1 part bleach. Allow the accessories to soak for one hour and rinse for a while to get rid of all residues. Let them off-gas for several hours before you put them back inside the tank.
3. Clean the Tank’s Glass and Interior
You also need to disinfect the interior of the tank for the regular weekly cleaning. Once you have removed the bedding and accessories, you can now begin cleaning the glass.
For this, you got a few options. One is to use a nontoxic chlorhexidine solution that you can mix with water before cleaning. The second option is to use a steam cleaner to kill all parasites inside the tank using hot pressurized steam. This is also nontoxic because only water will be used for the process.
If you like to scrub the tank’s surface, you can also use a nontoxic natural reptile cleaner. You can also use a 1:1 water and vinegar solution. Just allow a few hours of letting it off-gas before you put your bearded dragon back inside. The smell of vinegar may last for a day or so.