Happiness!
Keeping your herps clean and healthy is key to longevity. After years of rescue and seeing the general LACK of quality care some people afford their animals, I realize you can only turn improve their life so much. The truth is the long term effects of poor sanitation are still unknown. However, preventative care avoids testing this theory.
For those concerned with the cost and time of care, keep it cheap and use bleach (cup per gallon of bleach is fine), have extra tubs or containers to store the animals. Think about it, if you have a snake from hatchling to live out its full life say 20 years, you will likely clean the cage some 1,000 times over the life of the animal. Now multiply that time the number of animals you keep. I have been doing this now for roughly 20yrs and I can attest to the efforts needed to maintain herps let along lots of herps. I have found lots of short cuts (as I am sure others have as well). So I am sharing a couple here for reference in hope to improve others efforts in providing quality care:
- I love 5gal buckets! For roughly $2.50 each they make great soakers for treating food dishes and bowls. Fill with dirty dishes, add a couple cups of bleach and a squart or Dawn or similar dish soak, and let sit for a day covered. The bleach will works it effects, when you rinse, scrub a little and rinse well.
- Plastic tubs rock! But don't stop at just enough to house your herps. Buy extra to swap out when cages are dirty, you can clean the soiled tub later, so don't let you herp sit in the soiled cage any day longer.
- Take the time to not only clean your herps cage, but interact with them. Listen, feel smell! Listen for raspy breathing, feel popping in their lungs or gurgling, smell for stanky rot smell (hopefully never!) and look at your herp. Bad sheds, retained eye caps, swollen body parts, extended vents or prolapse? Pay attention to the details.
- Remember if hte cage smells, there is a source, remove and sanitize. Get into the rhythm.
- Music or TV? Funny as it sounds, I have a stereo system and TV in or around my herp room. Why, to make it fun. Some argue their snakes like Country, Soft Rock and even (my favorite) Heavy Metal! Accountant by trade, herper by choice, Hard Rocker by Soul!
Good luck!
(I had about 200) I had at least half again as many tubs so I always had clean tubs on hand and so I could clean cages in cycles. It really worked well. Sundays I would line them up in the backyard and scrub and spray them out.