Dealing with “My Moldy Pony” right now. She was FULL of nasty black mold. None on the outside, all inside.
Are your ponies still in one piece? Are you trying to clean them only from the outside? Sorry- wasn’t sure if you had already removed the heads or not. If you have mold on the outside, you certainly have it on the inside, so be prepared to remove all of their heads. Some folks are unwilling or scared to do this, but you can always watch some YouTube videos on how to do it safely. First, I would try to take some general soap or dawn soap and take a toothbrush and clean them off with that to start- inside and out. Rinse off soap. Then, heat up a glass bowl full of water that is capable of holding at least one pony at a time. Some folks get the water to boiling, which is fine- just don’t burn yourself….. cont’d in next message…
I will take my pony, dip it in the hot water, and see if that loosens up more of the mold by itself first. Make sure to completely submerge the pony and leave in the hot water for maybe 15 minutes (hot water has never damaged my ponies or their hair). If you don’t feel comfortable with that, then soak them as long as you are comfortable. I am not sure about BBE, but my twinkle ponies have never been impacted by this.
So soft ponies CAN NOT be put in any warm or hot water- this removes the flocking because it loosens the glue holding the flocking in place. Cont’d next message……
For moldy so soft ponies, you will have to try and use cold water, gentle soap, and soft bristle brushes first, then submerge those ponies in COLD water with Oxyclean. If you don’t want to remove their heads but still use OxyClean, you can use the Oxyclean stain remover spray- it is chlorine free and color safe- you can spray the pony with it and gently use your soft bristle brush to try and clean off the mold and avoid getting water in the seams of the neck and the tail when washing off the cleaner. I am afraid that your problem will persist if you do not attack the mold inside, though.
Back to the hot water- i did not have my “glitter cutie marks” negatively impacted by the hot water, but I didn’t leave them in the hot water very long and I certainly was careful to avoid scrubbing the cutie marks with the brushing when I was cleaning them. Oxyclean will damage the glitter cutie marks- you can try using a magic eraser, but go around the cutie marks- I am afraid there is no cleaning product I have found that will not damage the glitter. If the mold is real bad, you may have to sacrifice them to save the pony, but we all try to avoid that! I did Oxyclean a Sunbeam pony- her glitter is still there, but they did fade. I had a tough choice to make with her, but she still shows fine and I got rid of the mold on her butt- I hope to find a good “reglitter” technique soon. Will post if I do!
Once you have allowed the hot water to “loosen up” the mold, use a soft brush, scrub the pony out again, and then soak the pony- still hot water- and add Oxyclean to the water and submerge her for 2 hours and let the Oxyclean do the job. My current mold pony has had 3 hot water Oxyclean soaks so far and she STILL has a little bit of mold that won’t let go in her head. Every case is different, but this pony no longer has hair or cutie marks (she is a total refurb), so I am willing to do this. Her eyes are still intact and I do not believe that if she had a regular cutie mark that it would have been impacted by the Oxyclean. You will have to monitor your ponies on a case by case basis to see if you think your pony would need another round of Oxy treatment. I have let some ponies soak for 3 hours at a time and their eyes and cutie marks were fine, but I have never soaked them longer than that. These are just my statements to try and give you some perspective- I work to restore G1 ponies and other generations may have other issues I am not aware of. But I do a LOT of research on the chemicals out there and have spent a lot of time researching effective techniques to save these girls- they deserve it! I am also not there to see your ponies- you can send a picture if you like so I can see what you are working with- it may not be so bad to warrant more than an exterior scrubbing(?). I will help in any way I can!
My ponies did not get “firm” with the OxyClean. Maybe because I used the hot water(?). Also, I have not dealt with the beddy-bye rust issue yet- I have not researched that situation, but if she has rusty eyes, she probably has rust in her tail (usually those ponies were played with in a bathtub at some point in their life). Rust can leave permanent staining on a pony that even oxy won’t be able to hide, so if you have any rust around pony tails, you will need to remove the head, remove the tails, replace the metal washer holding the pony’s tail together and replace it with zip ties (great YouTube videos on that!) and retail your pony after cleaning out the inside.
Trying to address all of your questions- sorry so wordy…. Looking up water to Oxyclean ratio now…..
My glass container I use to soak my ponies holds 6 cups of water to fill it, so I use about 5 cups of water to about 1/4 cup of Oxyclean, maybe a little less.
Haven’t had mold return as of yet, but I make sure the pony is completely dry before gluing their heads back on- sometimes I let them dry For more than 24 hours to make sure. The mold will start from the inside - if you see mold on your pony’s hair, then it is most likely inside the pony. If they get the mold after these treatments, you have a high moisture environment and need to store them in bounce sheets and/or dry rice to help with that. Bacteria/mold/insects/vermin are repelled by bounce sheets for some reason (name brand, no knock off brand).
Concerning hydrogen peroxide- I have never tried that, but I have tried a little isopropyl alcohol, but only at the end of a q-tip inside the pony. I do not get alcohol on cutie marks or eyes- I don’t think they will be damaged, but I avoid it at all costs. After using alcohol swabs, I always rinse the swabbed area with water- I am overly cautious and worry that overexposure to it may cause fading of the color or compromise the plastic. I hope that makes sense.
Sorry for the long messages and I hope this helps- treating mold will take time for each pony, but hopefully not a lot of hard scrubbing. Feel free to keep me posted! Good luck!!!
**Mod edit to merge multiple spammed posts**