How do I clean jungle vines?

skyedog

skyedog

Established Member
I hope this is the right forum. I was trying to do a thorough scrub down of one of my enclosures and I wanted to take the Exo Terra jungle vines out and clean them too. Is it safe to scrub them without stripping the moss-like covering off? I was thinking of soaking them in very hot water but I don't think that would be enough. Does anyone know the best method of properly cleaning them? Thanks for the help.
 
I'd like to hear how boiling them turns out, I think the moss covering will fall off!:eek: Mabey steam cleaning or a UV wand would be a better choice, try the boiling on a small part of one end to see. I wonder myself.:)

-Jay
 
Malicious said:
I'd like to hear how boiling them turns out, I think the moss covering will fall off!:eek: Mabey steam cleaning or a UV wand would be a better choice, try the boiling on a small part of one end to see. I wonder myself.:)

-Jay
Click to expand...

ye only try each method on a small bit so you dont distroy the vine.:eek:
 
i use a bleach solution like 1 to 9 parts of water, and then do light scrubbing on the branches. after that i soak them in water after flushing them throughly for a few mins, and i add reptisafe in the water they soak in to help eliminate bad things

also dont boil it that stuff comes off super easy the boiling would loosen the glue causing it to fall apart in theory
 
Docility said:
i use a bleach solution like 1 to 9 parts of water, and then do light scrubbing on the branches. after that i soak them in water after flushing them throughly for a few mins, and i add reptisafe in the water they soak in to help eliminate bad things

also dont boil it that stuff comes off super easy the boiling would loosen the glue causing it to fall apart in theory
Click to expand...

Ditto. I give them a good soak in warm-ish water with a little concentrated anti bacterial wash stuff (only a very small amount), like the stuff you get for kitchen surfaces that comes ready mixed in a spray bottle, then rinse for a while in the shower! Leave to dry, then rinse again to be sure!
 
I'll try the bleach and water method that was suggested. But tomorrow I'll boil the end of one just to see what happens. I'll post back what the boiling did. Thanks for helping me out with this.
 
Be careful, sometimes the vines I use soak up some bleach and it doesn't come out. I ended up throwing some vines away because the bleach smell didn't go away.
 
Ok so today I was able to clean them by doing the soaking thing but I didn't use the bleach. I used a small amount of the antibacterial soap and reptisafe in the water. It seemed to work for the most part. But the curiousity got to me and I boiled a pot of water and put about 3 inches of a small size jungle vine in it. After a few minutes the mossy exterior started to come off, and there was something underneath it that looked like a brownish paper that started coming out too. So thanks everyone. I now know how to clean those vines up.
 
It started to come apart in about 30 seconds. It didn't take too long for it to start coming apart. Altogether I'd say about 2 - 2 1/2 minutes for the few inches that were in the water to boil off.
 
are we all talking about the Exoterra jungle vine IE this

28u1f8x.jpg
 
i wonder if the rinse cycle on the dishwasher would be too much.:confused:
i know it works great for the fake pothos vines
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

lurker9090
Experience with attaching branches to glass?
Replies
2
Views
159
jamest0o0
jamest0o0
D
how is my setup?
Replies
7
Views
412
Sonny13
Sonny13
C
Looking into some plants. Are any of the listed plants toxic? Experience with them in a chameleon cage?
Replies
5
Views
1K
MissSkittles
MissSkittles
Harry938
4 month update on my Cham and enclosure
Replies
2
Views
568
Harry938
Harry938
E
Remodeling enclosure after lost chameleon
2
Replies
20
Views
698
ERKleRose
ERKleRose
Back
Top Bottom