Mold?

hey guys.

A lot of you know I got a couple slings not that long ago! Including two H.incei to replace the three that sadly passed.
But now a problem seems to have arised in only the H.incei vials I put food in the vials before I left yesterday and the the H.incei ate right off the bat and nobody else did... So when I got home I checked all of them, but three (including the H.incei had left overs that were moldy so I pulled them out and went to the H.incei. They seem to have mold as well! But its not the hairy type of mould I found on the food, It was just Large white dots (none on the t's and they weren't moving so not mites...) so I'm probably just going to remove there dirt (I feel bad about their webbing). and dry it out.

Just wondering if this is the right protocol?

No. If that is mold, it's everywhere now. Think a huge cloud of microscopic spores. Stressing the animals won't help. You need to first address the problem that the environment is conducive to that mold. Then take methodical steps, carefully thought out.
As example, put the animals in an ICU for 24 hours, make the enclosure very hot and dry, bathe it in powerful UV to kill spores, then return the animals with the enclosure returned to a habitable state for them. Make the environment as hostile to mold as possible while staying in the comfort range of the animals.

The thing is, while the mold may have come from the dirt, it is no longer confined there. Change the dirt every day now and the mold will regrow. Change the environment.

Spot clean the mold and increase ventilation.

ICU?? There isn't even a perceived issue with the spider. That's like saying I found mold in my basement so I need to go to the hospital for the night.

Mold is only an issue if its out of hand, otherwise with small bits its more of a cosmetic issue than it is a health issue for the t.

Ok well those are to slightly different approaches

I dumped the dirt, washed, dried and blow dried the vials to make it a very unforgiving environment and hopefully demolish the spores (if it was mold). Weird thing was wen I touched the mold with tweezers it was liquid, it cling to my tweezers the way a droplet would. Maybe it was an a bunch of feces droplets? It was mostly just on the web as well.

I also used some dirt from B.vagans enclosure ( just moist enough) to fill all the vials, hopefully this will be enough to prevent whatever it was from happening again (unless it was poop).

Should have taken some pictures...

Lol, spider poo strikes again.

mold is real good at spreading. its a eukaryotic micro-organism that has airborne spores that get everywhere. that's why its also real good at making comebacks.
for getting rid of it, bake the substrate. for making sure it does not come back, wash enclosure with vinegar solution. vinegar is natural anti fungal, antibacterial disinfectant.
plain soap will also do.

cold blood said:

Spot clean the mold and increase ventilation.

ICU?? There isn't even a perceived issue with the spider. That's like saying I found mold in my basement so I need to go to the hospital for the night.

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+1. ICU? Mold is from too much moisture and inadequate ventilation. The spider is somehow going to benefit from being put into a container with lots of moisture and little airflow? If there's a respiratory issue from moldy conditions, an ICU will make it worse. There are VERY few situations when ICU's can actually do anything to help, and in situations like this, will make things worse. If a spider's dehydrated, it needs a drink and it will quickly bounce back. What is an ICU supposed to accomplish? Most people use them without any idea of a spider's ailment, and even less about how to remedy it. I'd be willing to bet ICU's have killed more spiders than they've cured. Other than a Theraphosa, Hysterocrates, or other moisture-dependent species that's been kept too dry for too long, ICU's are probably a inappropriate and ineffective treatment for just about any other situation.

The biggest issue is: why is that spider in a vial? They're notorious for poor air circulation. Slings should be in deli cups (8, 12, or 16 oz) and if they're too small for that, 3 oz soufflé cups, all of why can be purchased by the sleeve from a restaurant supply store. Put a little substrate on the bottom, along with some long fiber sphagnum, which can be lightly misted for the spider to drink from, and hide in. I make airholes in deli cups with a soldering iron or drill bit, and use a safety pin for soufflé cups. Proper caging and husbandry cure mold; I live in a very humid state and don't have problems with mold.

I think its poop. White dots that are moistured when you touch them? Looks like poop to me! Maybe a picture can help!

I swear ICU's are USELESS unless the spider is severely dehydrated or something . ICU's are a joke tbh, it's kinda like a really bad answer to a question because simply put we really don't know what the hell we are doing as a hobby when something bad happens. This is what an ICU looks like to me, James whats the answer to 6+6? 11 sir, well close enough here have a point.

jigalojey said:

I swear ICU's are USELESS unless the spider is severely dehydrated or something . ICU's are a joke tbh, it's kinda like a really bad answer to a question because simply put we really don't know what the hell we are doing as a hobby when something bad happens. This is what an ICU looks like to me, James whats the answer to 6+6? 11 sir, well close enough here have a point.

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I know what you mean. It's a knee-jerk reaction to a problem not understood. To me, ICU's are reminiscent of the 'medical' practice several hundred years ago of using leeches on patients to drain their unhealthy blood.

Poec54 said:

I know what you mean. It's a knee-jerk reaction to a problem not understood. To me, ICU's are reminiscent of the 'medical' practice several hundred years ago of using leeches on patients to drain their unhealthy blood.

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Yeah man, we need to figure out other ways to look after T's, I feel everything but health has grown significantly in the hobby, ways to treat your T's medically is still left in the 80's, we are seriously lacking in that field.

jigalojey said:

Yeah man, we need to figure out other ways to look after T's, I feel everything but health has grown significantly in the hobby, ways to treat your T's medically is still left in the 80's, we are seriously lacking in that field.

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It's tough with invertebrates; with an exoskeleton, you can't open them up and operate on them. We don't have equipment to measure their bodily functions. Even if we did have medicine, giving it to them would be a challenge. Over the past century, there's been a fortune spent on veterinary care for cats, dogs, and livestock. There will never be anything comparable with inverts. The demand isn't there, so neither will be the funding. In many cases, cage conditions are the cause of spider's ailments, and therefore probably the cure. Perhaps a better understanding of tarantula's husbandry needs is the solution.

Currently there's some issues with husbandry. There's a lot of species in the hobby now and we know little about most of their habitats and climates. There's also some bad information out there on husbandry, like keeping Avics moist and spraying them daily. Another problem is that we keep spiders in so many different indoor conditions, and those often vary on what part of the country we're in. The substrate moisture and ventilation that work in California may not in Florida, and vice versa. What is ideal in the SW may give people in the east mold. What's your rainfall and temps? How often do you run the furnace? Ceiling fans? There's so many variables.