Cleaning shelves

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Strong Chin

Active member
Joined
Oct 20, 2016
Messages
29
So we have two sets of boards we rotate in our boys cage. I just cleaned a set that we had taken out a while ago (prob should've cleaned it right when I took them out), I plan on swapping them out with the ones in the cage tomorrow.

I scrubbed them down with vinegar, let them sit for a bit, then scrubbed them down with warm water. Dried what I could, then let them dry over night. Today I'm going to sand some of the spots.

My question: there was alot of pee on the boards, so I ended up wiping them down with a lot of vinegar, all over, and then did the same with the water. I dried them but of course they were still damp, and had to dry over night. Pardon my ignorance, but even though they're dry now, is their a point where getting them TOO wet could be bad? Or if their kiln-dried, are they ok to be in the cage no matter how wet they get as long as they're dry by the time they go in the cage? This sounds stupid but I guess I want to make sure I didn't mess up the wood's "kiln-driedness" dumb as it sounds :hmm:
 
The purpose of using kiln dried is the wood is heated to kill any bugs, fungus, etc, as well as melt and release any sap or pitch inside, and drying out any bit that remains causing it to set and harden. The biggest danger with getting the wood soaked is mold and/or fungal growth if they stay wet too long.
 
Thank you! I found a small blue-ish spot on one of the boards (I think it was there already), I will probably no put that one back in in case it's mold. Otherwise everything seems dry and clean.
 
You can use hydrogen peroxide to spot clean stains on shelves, soak a paper towel, lay it on the spot for a few min, wipe and rinse with some water.
 
My chin doesn’t pee on the shelves. Sometimes the poops will leave a stain. I am able to just sand them down. Not sure if that would work for you, though.
 
I cleaned my females cage over and over and I still smelled pee. That is when I checked the wood shelves. They had pee on them that is where the pee smell was. So I took them out and poured white vinegar on them the pee fizzed. Then I soaked the wood in the tub for an hour and rinsed and dried them with a towel. Problem solved.

It is a pain so I took out a few of the wood shelves and put in a plastic one with fleece. I left a few wooden shelves but just not as many.
 
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