Tips on cleaning solutions?

[chin2heart]

I'd like to find out what type of disinfectant folks use to clean their cages. I've used an extremely watered down spray solution of Simple Green and water after breaking the cages down and rinsing them thoroughly. However, recently I've found it difficult to find Simple Green. I now use an extremely watered down solution of the all natural all purpose cleaner Clorox puts out. The name of the product escapes me at the moment. Is there "the perfect" cleaner out there?

 

[tkc1038]

My perfect cleaning solution is a mixture of White vinagar and water, disinfects and cleans even the yicky stuff. Works on all surfaces.

 

[GorillaJTA]

I use a 70% ethanol solution for wiping tiles and stuff (cause it only takes a few seconds to dry) and a 50% vinegar solution for wiping my pans.

 

[CJR]

50% white vinegar and water mixture. It just works well.

 

[Essentia]

I use straight vinegar for general cleaning. For getting urine off shelves I use peroxide and let it sit for a min and then wipe off. For litter pans that have urine crust I let vinegar soak inside overnight and it comes out perfectly clean.

 

[Dusty Foot Prints]

I use vinegar too. Luckily Annabelle is pretty neat, I never have urine on the shelves so everything cleans up pretty easily. I'm getting used to the pickle smell too! :thumbsup:

 

[Essentia]

To me pickle smell means clean.

 

[tkc1038]

Well you can use Vinagar as a general cleaner all through the house, for the house cleaner I put a few drops of essential oils in it to smell better, for animals I just use plain vinagar solution.

 

[partygirlha]

I never thought to add essential oils to vinigage fro cleaning - I like that idea.

 

[Rescue Momma]

I use straight up vinegar too. I take my cage & litter pans outside and hose them off. Then pour vinegar in them let them sit for about 10 minutes. I have a scrub brush I just use for the critters. A couple of passes with it and they are all clean. I rinse them really good with the hose let them air dry.

The vinegar cuts all of the crud and any buildup quick and is harmless.
I actually spent most of my day doing this today.:wacko:
I now have happy happy chins.
Prairie dog cage is next...but not today after 4 chin cages I'm tired.

 

[greychins]

Pretty much just vinegar, soap, and water. All the cages get taken outside (in the summer) and hosed down and scrubbed. I soak whatever really needs it in vinegar by itself, but everything else is scrubbed with a water/soap/vinegar mixture.

Love simple green, btw. Use it to clean everything animal-related when it's not summer and I can't take everything outside to scrub. It's too bad you can't find it anymore.

 

[mishellyshel]

the smell of vinegar makes me nauseous. i just bought an organic cleaner that smells like vinegar and its not even an ingredient, but i cant use it because it stinks!

i really like the product: Sun and Earth
http://www.sunandearth.com/

it has a nice orange smell. i only use it when the chinnies are out for playtime and spray it on the paper towel not directly on their cage, so none of the others get overspray.
but i really LOVE the way it smells and it does a good job cleaning.

i never thought of the essential oils, i will have to try that for some of the existing products i have. maybe even try it with straight vinegar so see if i can tolerate the odor.

 

[Cuddlebug]

I use peroxide to clean my cages. It's perfectly safe and does a wonderful job, plus no obnoxious smell.

 

[chin2heart]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll be doing the breakdown and cleaning this coming weekend and will put the suggestions to good use.