To clean the inside of a pony--newbie questions!

[xkelpiex]

Hello, there! I bought a small lot of sea ponies and one of them , by lifting the head a tiny bit to see, is super gunky inside. What I want to know is--can I remove the head without using a knife? What cleaning agents do you recommend? Would a toothbrush be a good scrubber? I haven't completely seen the inside, but I am expecting the worst. Just knowing she has probably has mold and other goodies inside of her squicks me out and so I would love to scrub her clean and fresh. She's beautiful on the outside, so I'ma make her beautiful on the inside, too.
Thanks you guys for bearing with me and all my noob questions ;.;

[Nonnavlis]

The head should be able to be pulled off without a knife if you first heat the plastic by running it under hot water. It makes the glue soft so you can pry the vinyl away from it.

I clean my seaponies with a toothbrush and handsoap/dishoap, and a lot of rinses in hot water. There will be mold inside the pony if it looks gunky, so it will take some time, but she should come clean just fine. Vinyl is resillient.

Once you get the head off, I recommend rinsing her out till the water comes clean, then squeezing some dishsoap/handsoap into her body and scrubbing her with the toothbrush, then rinse again and repeat until she's clean.

You may not be able to work the toothbrush into all of her curves, in which case a bottle brush would work wonders, if you have one. You could also attempt pushing a cottonball into her and pushing it into any corners with the toothbrush to soak up the dirt.

[xkelpiex]

Wow, sounds a lot easier than I thought it was going to be! Thanks!

[HavACrumpet452]

The heads do come off usually with some working at it. Using a knife will almost certainly make it look like it was butchered when the head goes back on. Once you get a tiny spot opened between the head and neck you can use a blunt instrument or a butter knife to help you as long as it isn't cutting the plastic. Occasionally the neck seam rips on the inside and you'll have no choice but to glue the head back on. Leaving the heads on but unglued allows you to clean again easily if the pony gets dirty.
 
I clean with just a little bleach diluted in a bucket of water. A toothbrush and bottle brush are good tools.

[xkelpiex]

Yeah, most of the head on both sides are unstuck, but there are two small parts that are still glued, so I don't think I'm going to have much trouble now^^

[Greylady]

Also, for future reference, if you ever happen to need to take the head off a pony but the neck is glued, you could try putting some acetone (as in nail polish remover) on a thread or piece of dental floss and gently "saw" at the neck line. You'll probably need a few strands to get the whole way through depending on how much glue there is, but it should help at least loosen the neck. I'd recommend you rinse around the neck well when you've finished to remove all traces of acetone (as it can remove eyes and symbols, and I wouldn't say it'd be a good idea to leave it just sitting on the vinyl for too long either). Also, work in a well ventilated area while using acetone, it's definitely a no-no to breath it in. Open all windows and doors in the room if possible. It's even better to work outside. Just don't let any pets or other critters near your supplies. 

[hathorcat]

Is she a baby sea pony or an adult sea pony? If the latter the inside gunk is probably going to be rust from her internal weight which you will be best removing and cleaning as well to prevent it all building up again!

Run the neck under boiling water or even use a hair dryer to gently melt the glue and then you should be able to gently twist and pop the head from the body. If shes an adult sea pony remove the weight. The best step is to leave her soaking in something for a while - I usually use just very warm water and a soft baby wash to soak but I have recently seen a suggestion for denture cleaning tablets dissolved inside the pony to really shift the rust and gunk - sounds like a good idea! A bottle brush or a fine headed toothbrush are the best options to reach as much inside as possible

Good luck!!!

[SapphireCookie]

I'm glad you asked this, I also have a sea pony who's got so much gunk inside of her, she's gone from yellow to a brownish gold!

Hope you can clean your sea pony up nice and clean! (I'm going to try this too on mine)