Bearded dragons require clean enclosures to stay healthy and happy. As you probably noticed already, they also have smelly poops. In this post, we will talk about how to clean bearded dragon tank properly (light and deep cleaning), removing poop from wood/carpet and getting rid of bearded dragon smells.
How often do I need to clean my bearded dragon’s tank?
To keep your bearded dragon’s tank clean and fresh, make sure to do light cleaning every day (morning or evening) and deep cleaning once a week.
Light cleaning would include changing water in a bowl if you have one, removing any remaining bugs, spot cleaning for poop, washing the water bowl with hot water and soap.
Deep cleaning would be removing the substrate and cleaning it, cleaning the inside of the tank, washing and disinfecting the accessories and glass.
Bearded dragon tank daily or light cleaning
For the daily light cleaning, remove the water bowl (if you have one) and food bowls and wash them thoroughly with soap. Make sure to throw away any leftover food.
If you use paper towels for bedding, replace them daily too.
Make sure to look around the tank to spot any poop. Bearded dragons can poop in various spots of the tank.
How to deep clean your bearded dragon tank?
To deep clean bearded dragon’s tank, you will need to take your dragon out and place it in the big container and move it to another room. This is important to avoid your dragon from inhaling any potential toxic fumes.
After this, take out all the accessories and put them in a separate bucket. It’s a good idea to have a bucket only for your bearded dragon’s cleaning.
You need to clean tank accessories at least once a week, because most of them are made of porous materials. If you don’t clean them for a long time, they will start smelling and will be impossible to clean out later.
Remove the substrate for cleaning. In your dragon’s tank, you should use paper towels, tiles or a reptile carpet like this. Don’t use any loose substrate as it’s dangerous and can cause impaction! You will then also need to clean the terrarium glass and disinfect the accessories.
Let’s talk about each step separately.
What to clean your bearded dragon tank with?
- 1:1 Vinegar and water solution – only for light cleaning, but smell might stay for a day or so
- Non-toxic reptile cleaning solution like this or similar – for light and deep cleaning
- Baking at 250-300 degrees for 30 minutes – to disinfect new and current wooden accessories for deep cleaning. Boiling is a good option too
- A steam cleaner like this – powerful tool that uses 200-300 degrees pressurized steam – for both light and deep cleaning, non-toxic
- A non-toxic chlorhexidine solution like this – anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-viral and safe – for both light and deep cleaning
- A bleach solution (1 part bleach in 9 parts water) – fumes are toxic, only for occasional deep cleaning if other options are unavailable
Step by step deep cleaning of a bearded dragon tank
1: Cleaning the substrate
If you use paper towels, it’s easy to replace them daily. With a reptile carpet, cleaning might be different depending on if your dragon poops on it. Some owners train their bearded dragon to poop in water, either in a small water dish in the tank, or in a bathtub.
If your dragon’s reptile carpet isn’t too dirty, you can just spot clean it every few days with vinegar solution. To make vinegar solution, mix 50% vinegar with 50% water. It’s a good idea to pour it in a sprayer and spray on areas that need cleaning. After that, you can brush it with a sponge or paper towel. Air out and return to the cage.
If there is any poop on the carpet, you can soak wash it with soap and hang to dry. It’s always a good idea to have a replacement carpet to use when cleaning another one. And to properly clean the carpet (once a month), soak it in a bleach solution (1 part bleach to 10 parts water). You might also consider replacing it fully once in 2-3 months.
A great alternative to reptile carpet is a non-adhesive shelf liner like this. Shelf liners are easy to cut to the size, and to clean. They are also machine washable. Tiles – ceramic, porcelain, slate – are also great for a bearded dragon’s tank. You can take them out and clean easily.
2: Cleaning the accessories
For a deep weekly cleaning, make sure to take out all the tank accessories to clean – such as branches, hammocks, ramps and others.
You can wash the accessories with hot soapy water and scrub them with a brush or a toothbrush. To clean bearded dragon poop off wood, wash the branch with soapy water and then bake it in an oven or wash with hot pressurized steam. Baking at 250-300 degrees for 25-30 minutes will kill all the parasites with heat. Boiling is also great for cleaning wooden accessories.
You can also get a steam cleaner like this, which will allow you to clean your dragon’s accessories with only hot pressurized steam. Make sure that it heats to around 250-300 degrees F (121-149 C), to kill all parasites.
Another way to clean the accessories is to put them in a large bowl filled with a bleach solution. Fill the tub with 1 parts bleach to 9 parts water. Let them soak for an hour and then rinse for a long time to remove any residue. Also let it off-gas for few hours before bringing back in the tank.
3: Cleaning the glass and inside of the tank
For a weekly cleaning, you will also need to disinfect the inside of the tank. After you remove all the accessories and bedding, you can start cleaning the glass.
There are few options with what you can clean the inside of the tank with. First of all, you can use a non-toxic chlorhexidine solution – it’s antibacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral. You can get a chlorhexidine solution like this which you have to mix with water for cleaning.
Another option for cleaning the inside of the tank is to use a steam cleaner that will kill all parasites with a hot pressurized steam. Also non-toxic, as you will use water only.
If you want to scrub the surface of the tank, you can use a natural and non-toxic reptile cleaner like this from Fluker’s or similar. You might also use 1:1 vinegar and water solution, but will need to let it off-gas for at least few hours before putting your dragon in. Vinegar smell might stay for another day or so.
How to make my bearded dragon smell better?
The main reason why your bearded dragon would smell bad is because its tank is not clean enough. Uneaten foods, feces, urates and even dead bugs will all emit smells because these are made of organic compounds. Bearded dragon’s body shouldn’t itself have a smell – but its waste will.
A dirty tank will cause high bacterial growth, causing smells too. If you mist the tank or bathe your dragon, make sure to dry it after because moist conditions cause bacterial growth. Another cause of bad smell is loose substrate such as sand.
You must not use sand because not only it can cause impaction, but also cause bacterial growth when getting wet. When your bearded dragon poops, its waste will be absorbed in the sand, and your dragon will smell bad when walking over it and picking up the smells.
Some bearded dragons can have a stronger smell than others. If your bearded dragon smells bad, bathe it every day or every other day and use a brush to scrub its skin gently. But mainly, please look for the cause and try to fix it.
Don’t use any soap though. If your dragon smells because of bacteria or other microorganisms on its skin, make a soak for it with chlorhexidine. Add some of chlorhexidine to make a pale blue bath. Scrub your dragon with a toothbrush as well.
This should help freshen your bearded dragon. If the smell persists even after that, wait until your dragon sheds fully. What is more, check your bearded dragon’s poop for parasites if it smells extremely bad. Bearded dragons that are infected with parasites have especially smelly poop.
If you spot clean your bearded dragon’s tank daily and give your dragon baths, its tank won’t smell. Clean enclosure is the key to a healthy and good (or neutral to be more accurate) smelling bearded dragon!
You can find another post on grooming your bearded dragon including nail trimming, bathing and cleaning the tank here.