Yeah, they can get pretty nasty. I don't think anything can get them clean again. I suggest just throwing them away and buying them new for a couple bucks.

If bleach doesn't kill it you should toss. Once the slime stage hits you should toss.

There was an article a few months back about all of the harmful bacteria squeezy toys retain over time. I believe one of the suggestions were to replace them every 6 months or so.

I agree, my son loves anything he can squeeze and shoot water with during bath time, but better safe to throw and replace, then not be able to clean them.

Just to be clear, when you say "soak" are you sucking the solution into the duckie? Just soaking wouldn't help, I'd think.

I have sucked up a bleach solution, swished it around, and let it soak. But then that means you have to suck up a lot of rounds of water to get all the bleach out. After laboring over them a couple of times, we just tossed them. (My kids like to squirt them in their mouths, so it amplified my yuck factor.)

We don't try to clean them out. When the most recent rubber ducky gets slimey and icky, we relegate him to the garden. That way, he's outside where the slime isnt going to get everywhere (and gross me out) and she still gets to see him every day. Eventually we'll probably have to toss them altogether, but for now this is a cute way to enjoy them...and a cheap garden accessory.

I seal all of those holes shut with my glue gun. It makes it so they can't shoot water out, which may be a downer for your kids, but mine don't even know that's an option. I feel much better about them in the tub for months on end.

We don't buy those kind anymore because they get so toxic so quickly.

A turkey baster or tylenol/medicine syringe works just fine for shooting water without the mold!

Yeah, no squeezy bath toys are allowed in my house for this very reason. We have received a few as gifts and they go straight to goodwill. Here is an eye-opening article about them. http://safemama.com/2010/03/03/hidden-filth-pvc-in-bath-toys/
Also, as this article relates, many of those soft plastic bath toys have PVC which is a really toxic plastic. My kid has hard plastic toys for his bath and he's very happy with them. We have the Green Toys tugboat and some other stuff from Boon and a couple of small Bilibos. Much healthier.

For preventing, I'd try a dab of waterproof cauking, but the glue gun idea would work too. As for cleaning them, I wouldn't bother. We used to have some quirt toys, but they get gross. I guess it's more reason to all untoys in the tub (cups, spoons, etc.)

We toss ours. We use Happy Meal plastic toys in the bath. Since they are free I don't feel bad tossing them after they've become a science experiment.

we use waterguns for shooting water and i cut a small x at the bottom of squeaky toys so water can actually drain out yea it doesnt shoot water anymore but i hate gross bathtub toys

After, I accidentally discovered a gross amount of mold in a bathtime baby, I looked into this issue. I read in several places that squirt toys can't really be cleaned and should be thrown out after 6 months. This seemed incredibly wasteful to me, so I replaced our squirt toys with things that can easily be cleaned: foam letters, a boat that can be opened for cleaning, etc.
Good luck!

after reading this article, we decided to nix the few bath toys we had that we could not easily clean the inside of
http://www.ksdk.com/news/watercooler/story.aspx?storyid=197121&catid=71

I'd love to know a good cleaning solution also, but I think there may not be one!! I agree with other parents who have decided to avoid these kinds of bath toys. There are so many other options that are BPA free and can be sanitized. My son's favorite are the stacking cups with holes in the bottom allowing water to stream out.

Also, if your little does love bath toys you can find non-pvc ones. Haba makes some sweet little ones.

I like the idea of not purchasing them or gluing them shut. I spent several nights, while the young ones were bathing, at the sink, with rubber gloves swishing them w/diluted bleach. Over and over again until the water came out clean. It was a pain and I realized it wasn't worth the time or risk.

I've been pretty lucky with ours - we squeeze them out really well after every bath and they haven't gotten moldy in the year we've been using them. I had one get moldy within about a month of use and tried bleaching out the inside. It worked, but I used straight bleach and let it sit in various positions (with tape over the holes so it couldn't come out) for DAYS. Then I rinsed really well and finished up with rubbing alcohol (so it would all evaporate). In the end, it wasn't worth it because that same toy got moldy again, no matter how much I squeezed and I tossed it the next time.

Yeah, we ditched all of the bath toys a while back too. Now we have stacking cups, beach buckets, and some plastic paint brushes, which the kids use to "paint" each other and the walls of the shower.

get these Boon Scrubbles!
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/183-2603108-7194622?asin=B001Q3L8RY&AFID=Froogle_df&LNM=|B001Q3L8RY&CPNG=baby&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=B001Q3L8RY&ref=tgt_adv_XSG10001

Liz P. read my mind...the boon scrubbles are perfect because the top screws off and the insides are easy to clean and they don't have all the nasty toxins of many plastics!

I tossed them all away, hated that. My son much prefers his stacking cups with the holes at the bottom. I'm not a fan of really long baths anyway, so we don't get/need toys for the tub.

Get Straight-A cleaner from a beer/wine making supply shop. It's a food-safe cleaner used for bottles. We soak overnight. It works great!!!

Ah, yes. We had quite a few squeezies that arrived as gifts, and when the black slime arrived so did a new rule: no squeezies. I was appalled at the amount of plastic I added to the landful when I chucked the first round. The non-toys are where we are at currently - those silicone basting brushes have been a favorite for over a year, and the silicon covers to slip on pot handles.

Thanks so much! They are all now in the trash (sorry landfill!) and no more will be allowed. We do have the stacking cups and those are a big hit. I will do anything to avoid more bath toys so thanks for letting me know it is a great idea to throw them out.

My daughter received this BPA free rubber duck as a gift...it opens up to clean the gunk!
http://www.amazon.com/New-Dano-Classic-Rubber-Duck/dp/B002ZJOB68

wow!

I have tried bleach, detergent and vinegar

Nothing worked :(

wow indeed... my mom just slit a star-shaped hole in the bottom of the duckies and attacked the insides with an old toothbrush dipped in a bleach & water solution... it does not affect the squirt quality at all. but if that's too much trouble, then just toss 'em.

Toss them. We picked up some boon squirting toys after dumping the old cheap ones and while they're a step up (since you can open them and they're clearly higher quality), my daughter is 2 and still can't quite operate them properly. She does, however, love the other boon bath toys we got - the foam shapes are great and we've had them well over a year without any issues.