cleaning chinchilla shelves

[Taybay]

I am wondering the best way to clean the pine shelves in my cage.
I usually just wipe them off while cleaning and once a month I spray them with a 50/50 vinegar water mix then wipe them off.
I soak them in vinegar and water then sand them when I do a big clean or if I think they need it (approx every other month).... but I find both of these methods don't really remove the stains that I want to remove.
Am I not leaving the vinegar on long enough? how do I remove the stains?

Any tips?
Thanks!

 

[Amethyst]

The vinegar mix is for surface stains (I let is sit for about 5 minutes), and sanding for deeper ones. Maybe you aren't sanding them down enough, you need to sand down as deep as the stain is to get rid of it. If the stains are so deep you can't sand them down then it might be time to get new shelves.

 

[Taybay]

thank you! I will try sanding further!

 

[draagonfly]

I used a "mouse" sander - handheld small electric sander - with a very gritty sandpaper and it took less than 15 minutes to do all four shelves, the top of the house, and the leapin ledges in the cages. Definitely worth the investment. At first I was using a finer sandpaper too, but that took forever. I found that going with the heavier, grittier sandpaper did the trick.