Cleaning this #*&%$ incubator!!!!

[Blisschick]

I have a cabinet incubator that I'm being loaned, and I'm trying to clean it up to put some eggs in it. I think it's a GQF Sportsman of some old model. It's been in storage for a season, and mouse moved in at one point and peed all in the back corners.

I want Mickey's pee out before I fire it up, but I'm having issues with reaching all the way into the back corners to clean it properly. Does anyone know of a way I can disassemble it without having to take the turning frames completely out?

 

[bigredfeather]

I think I would try cleaning it with a maybe a clean toilet brush or some other type cleaning brush with a long handle instead of tearing it apart. In my expiriences, nothing good ever happens when you try to tear something apart that isn't designed to be torn apart. Use a 10% bleach solution and let it dry, and it should disinfect it properly.

 

[Blisschick]

I've tried taking the handle off my Swiffer and wrapping a damp towel with a rubber band around it, but it's not cleaning the goo off the surface effectively enough. I don't know if I have a brush that can get all the way into the point of the corners. I'm being kind of OCD about this.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

you can remove the rear panel, the instructions are on the GQF web site, you need to remove that panel if you need to replace one of the rear motors

 

[MandyH]

Is it in the top where the motor is or in the bottom corners? If it's in the bottom you can just take a bottle of spray bleach or some cleaner and spray it and let it sit for a bit then come back with your modified swiffer get up and wipe it out. I've had to spray mine and after it soaked, take a shop rag and wrap around the head of a toilet scrubber and give it heck.

 

[bel]

Mouse pee from males spraying usually will come off with a soaking of dish soap and water, you might have to saturate it really good with a spray bottle to get it off if its caked on bad. (why parents should never buy their kid a male mouse, the males mark everything and stink terribly, totally opposite of the females).

I wonder how something like a steamer might do cleaning incubators, I remember those commercials where they had that steamer blasting things off, and steam is great at sterilizing.

 

[silkiechicken]

I've raised and bred many a rodent... you'll never get it out of wood. Their urine will crystalize on glass and be nearly impossible to clean out without a trace. Plastic it just soaks into and can alter the color, wood... it will always be stained and there. Their strong urine is why I potty train my rodents. Much easier to throw away a plastic carton turned into potty than the bottom of a cage.

I'd just wipe it clean and call it good.

 

[Blisschick]

I taped a toothbrush to my broom handle and scrubbed the best I could, wiped it clean, then sprayed the whole unit with bleach water. Nothing will actually be touching the back corners, so I should be good. There's a catch tray that goes into the bottom. The only problem I've ever had is when one of the chicks decides to jump out of the tray and gets stuck in the back bottom, behind the tray on the floor of the unit. It's fun trying to convince a newborn that it needs to come forward so you can catch it.

 

[onthespot]

maybe you can soak a rag in water with lots of baking soda and a little laundry soap and stuff it in the corner for howeve long seems prudent, and then wipe it all up, or even hose it out really quick and spritz it with a 10% bleach solution. It will never look new again, nor will it smell new, but you will feel better OCD wise if you know you gave it a good shot. LOL