What disinfectant / hand wash do you use?

[Zeec]

The most imortant aspect of this issue is not really what product one uses but HOW you wash your hands or whatever else you are disinfecting. Most cleaning products including regular soap will do a great job with almost similar results providing that your take your time and THOROUGHLY wash your hands. When you wash your hands you are just flushing out the bacteria from the surface, soap acts to break the organisms loose which are then rinsed off. Betadine or similar agents like alcohol based gels rely actually on killing the organisms instead of flushing them. Both soap and the gels/betadine are equally effective but do not get rid of all the organisms. While a Povidone-iodine solution like betadine or povidine is most effective, being bacteriocidal, most people do not use it correctly. If you use it, you still need to thoroughly scrub your hands including the " four sides" of your hands which are the palm, the back of the hands, between each finger and the tips of your fingers or under your nails. Also diluting it is not a good idea since its already "diluted" containing 10% povidone/iodine so you render it much less effective, its far better to just use a small amount to first scrub your hands then use plain water to rinse it off.

For disinfecting enclosures and large water tubs, if you want to go the extra step and use something other then or after a detergent/soap ( which in my opinion is all you need) than you can use a highly diluted water and bleach rinse. It is perfectly safe (in small amounts) and is excellent at killing most organisms. A diluted bleach solution is much safer than most cleaning products out there that contain a host of toxic chemicals.

In the end i would just like to point out that you need not go crazy with washing and cleaning with differnt gels/solutions or whatever else for you and your tort to stay healthy. Bacterias/viruses/parasites are all around us and no matter how much you clean they will always be there, your body usually does a very good job at fighting them off and keeping you healthy. But as it was pointed out earlier speciall care has to be taken for the young elderly and those who are immunocomprimised, and during regnancy ( not because you are weaker when you become pregnant but because some of these organisms can cross the placenta and harm your baby)

Man I didn't mean to write all that, hope this helps

[Becks]

I use alcohol based gel for hands
and f10 for cleaning

[Bertie1974]

'It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it'
Good to see that people are taking their own health into consideration. Working in a hospital, infection prevention/control is quite a HOT topic at the moment with bugs such as MRSA and C-Diff proving very difficult to get under control. Whether you use just soap and water or the alcohol hand gels, there is a six step method to follow that ensures your hands are disinfected properly:

If using soap (including antimicrobial handwashes) Wet all hand areas and then apply hand washing agent. Remember to rub all skin to cause friction in the following order.

1.
Palm to palm.

2.
Right hand over back of left hand with fingers interlaced, change hands and repeat.

3.
Palm to palm with fingers interlaced.

4.
Clasped hands with back of fingers against opposing palms, change hands and repeat.

5.
Rotate right hand around left thumb - then change.

6.
Finger tips to clean centre of palms.

Use the same six step technique when applying alcohol hand gel

It seem a bit long winded to begin with, but you do pick it up quite quickly. It is also worth bearing in mind that having long or artificial nails, wearing jewellery such as wrist watches and especially rings with ridges or stones could harbor bacteria that prove difficult to wash away.

Hope I've not frazzled your brains.... tutorial over

Sam x x

[KearasNana]

Thanks Bertie1974 that's really helpful

I use an anti bactirial hand wash and then milton hand gel. All the animals bits and pieces get washed in the utility oom sink, which gets cleaned throughly once finished

[Dazza]

I use F10 and Antibac gel after handling the tortoises !!

These products will be on my website just as soon as i get time !!

Dazza

[fi_fi]

Hi Guys,

Just so i am clear, can i use F10 to clean water dishes, enclosures etc?

Thanks

Fi

[Dazza]

Yeap F10 can be used to clean anything, it is a very safe product to use around animals, most vets use it !!

Darren

My nan has this dettol hand wash is that any good?

Originally Posted by sarah

So disinfectants on the market are rubbish and don't get rid of all germs, what do you use?
The same with soap really, soap does not get rid of germs the best to use is an alchohol based one, especially for people with different types of tortoises, cross infection is a big killer. So what do you use?

We use diluted Betadine or Hibiscrub before and after handling each species,scrubbing under our nails too.We also do a shoe change before entering each species part of their garden areas to prevent pathogens being spread on footwear.

[fi_fi]

Is this it...