Never had a sling do this before.

Karmaz · Aug 26, 2015

I am OCD about getting leftovers out of my T's enclosures and all of them cooperate. Nicely leaving their leftovers outside their hides, the slings push them out of their burrows when they're done. So, I'm at a loss for how to handle my new issue. One of my b. Vagan slings isn't cleaning his house anymore. He has two boluses stashed in the deepest part of his burrow. Both are obviously well eaten and he hasn't webbed them up or anything, but they look like they're molding and that worries me. Apart from flooding him up out of there and re doing his enclosure to retrieve his stash I have no other ideas. Either way it'll have to wait a few days because he's closed off his hide and I'm assuming he's ready to molt by the look of his shiny bubble butt... Maybe once he's done he'll evict them with his molt. But the moldy remains still worry me.

Arachnomaniac19 · Aug 26, 2015

To stop this problem in the future I'd recommend getting some isopods or some springtails. They'll eat the bolus and make it so it doesn't mold as much (or at all).

Beary Strange · Aug 26, 2015

A lot of my burrowers about bad about this, with the C.elegans the worst of the group. During the only rehouse they ever really needed I found a ton of boluses and old molts buried deep inside. Bunch of little trash hoarders.

Isopods are great cleaners, but would not be appropriate for a B.vagans enclosure, given that their care requirements are completely opposite.

Blueandbluer · Aug 26, 2015

I know people say it's ok, but I also worry about them crawling on my T and stressing it out, especially during molt. Or, worse, taking an opportunistic on a freshly molted T. I just can't bring myself to do it.

Arachnomaniac19 · Aug 26, 2015

Belle Fury said:
Isopods are great cleaners, but would not be appropriate for a B.vagans enclosure, given that their care requirements are completely opposite.

If you have a wet spot around the water dish it can be done.

cold blood · Aug 26, 2015

Arachnomaniac19 said:
If you have a wet spot around the water dish it can be done.

Which will help them to keep the area clean...right around the dish.

Unfortunately, that's not where the bolus's are.

Beary Strange · Aug 26, 2015

cold blood said:
Which will help them to keep the area clean...right around the dish.

Unfortunately, that's not where the bolus's are.

Exactly. And would do little good unless the waterdish is inside the hide where the OP's T is leaving it's bolus.

Realistically, if the B.vagans is being kept dry as it should be, the bolus shouldn't be a mold threat in the first place. Negating the need for a cleaning crew altogether.

Arachnomaniac19 · Aug 26, 2015

cold blood said:
Which will help them to keep the area clean...right around the dish.

Unfortunately, that's not where the bolus's are.

I actually find that my isopods are quite "adventurous". Maybe it depends on the species?

---------- Post added 08-26-2015 at 06:58 PM ----------

Belle Fury said:
Exactly. And would do little good unless the waterdish is inside the hide where the OP's T is leaving it's bolus.

Realistically, if the B.vagans is being kept dry as it should be, the bolus shouldn't be a mold threat in the first place. Negating the need for a cleaning crew altogether.

Just because it doesn't mold doesn't mean that you shouldn't have a cleaning crew. Cleaning crews break down boluses quickly and cause the bacteria, which may be harmful, to be killed faster. I'm not saying that you need a cleaning crew without the possibility of mold, just that it is still good to have, IMO.

Karmaz · Aug 27, 2015

Well given that the b. Vagan hoarder is only around 1/4 inch (I've seen pill bugs bigger than him.) He has no water bowl at the moment. And yes he is a little moister than I keep my bigger slings. But nowhere near wet and anything with uneaten body fluids and organic matter can mold/rot. Up until now I've not had this issue. I'm hoping his sudden laziness is simply premolt and he'll clean house soon.

BobGrill · Aug 27, 2015

Karmaz said:
Well given that the b. Vagan hoarder is only around 1/4 inch (I've seen pill bugs bigger than him.) He has no water bowl at the moment. And yes he is a little moister than I keep my bigger slings. But nowhere near wet and anything with uneaten body fluids and organic matter can mold/rot. Up until now I've not had this issue. I'm hoping his sudden laziness is simply premolt and he'll clean house soon.

He can be given a small bottle cap as a water dish.

Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk

Karmaz · Aug 27, 2015

BobGrill said:
He can be given a small bottle cap as a water dish.

Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk

A bottle cap from what? I've never given my slings any water bowl wider than their legspan, or deeper than they are tall. I just worry I suppose. And when I say he's small I mean I could set him on a dime and his legs would just touch the sides. Currently he's in a container about the size of a standard pill bottle. I'm open to giving him a water dish, but where to find one not only small enough for him, but small enough for his enclosure would be the issue. My 2 inch slings have 2 liter bottle caps as water bowls and they love them, but that would be huge compared to my b. Vagan sling.

Prle · Aug 27, 2015

Maybe you can cut something that has appropriate diameter and use it as water dish (syringe needle cup, felt pen cup, or something similar)?

Karmaz · Aug 27, 2015

Lol.. On a less serious note my wonderful fiance's idea is funny enough to mention. He said why not tie a string around the roach nymph then when the spider is done just pull the string. Idk I just found that funny.

Methal · Aug 27, 2015

Arachnomaniac19 said:
To stop this problem in the future I'd recommend getting some isopods or some springtails. They'll eat the bolus and make it so it doesn't mold as much (or at all).

? explain! I have a ....health fear for some of my Ts. rather than going poking around while T. McGrouch is striking everything that moves I could have some 'potatoe bug' eating up those boluses for me??

I will name my kid after you if this is true!

cold blood · Aug 27, 2015

I've tried isopods and in every single instance the t munched the isopod rather quickly...they won't work like magic with all t's.

Methal · Aug 27, 2015

cold blood said:
I've tried isopods and in every single instance the t munched the isopod rather quickly...they won't work like magic with all t's.

Sad day. Much sad day.

Karmaz · Aug 27, 2015

Methal said:
? explain! I have a ....health fear for some of my Ts. rather than going poking around while T. McGrouch is striking everything that moves I could have some 'potatoe bug' eating up those boluses for me??

I will name my kid after you if this is true!

I block T Mcgrouch in his hide with a handy Tupperware lid and do as I please in his house.. He gets over it.

Arachnomaniac19 · Aug 27, 2015

Methal said:
? explain! I have a ....health fear for some of my Ts. rather than going poking around while T. McGrouch is striking everything that moves I could have some 'potatoe bug' eating up those boluses for me??

I will name my kid after you if this is true!

Yep! They'll eat it. They also eat feces (sometimes) and their own dead. If you want them to be healthy, add a bit of carrot and some cuttlebone pieces in their tank. Don't add too many carrots or they'll be too full to eat the boluses.

Slimdean · Aug 28, 2015

As for small water dishes, I poke around the aquatic sections in pet stores and look for flowers that are cupped and small. It's not easy finding them but you can use those for slings. Granted it's all of two drops of water but it's something.

Also water bottle caps have a inner ring on their caps , I put a couple drops in there and don't fill the whole thing

Karmaz · Aug 29, 2015

Really seems like a pain in the butt to me. Two drops of water in a cap or two drops of water in the corner (there are no corners, but for sake of explaining). I've never had an issue with mold before, I use an eyedropper to put a few drops of water on his eco earth once a week and feed him every 2 days. His substrate is only damp less than an inch down in about a 1/4 inch section. It's on the opposite side of enclosure as his burrow and given that said burrow is nearly 3 1/2 inches deep I don't see how the miniscule amount of damp substrate could cause the mold on said bolus. There are ventilation holes around the top sides of the container as well as around the bottom sides of the container to keep fresh air moving through his burrows. I've always kept my terrestrial burrowing T's like this as small slings. (Until they're big enough to move up to a larger container) I've never had mold before, nor ever lost a sling. (knock on wood) He's in there all barricaded off in the depths of his burrow this morning freshly molted with his molt and his stash pushed towards the entrance to his burrow instead of stashed in the back. So, he's either going to bring them up, or burrow out a back door since he blocked himself in and gave himself no other option.

Never had a sling do this before.

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