Mold Problem

jcornish86 · Sep 29, 2009

Sorry for double post in announcment section. I posted it wrong anyways here is my problem.

Ok so i woke up this afternoon inspected my A.versicolor's tank, i noticed some small blue dots of mold growing on the cork bark, unfortunatly her web is secured to it but i was able to remove the bark,w/e damaging the web. were i rinsed it off in scolding water and is now air drying in a windowseal. There are no other sighns of mold in the tank just the small spot i guess my question is is it safe to put the cork back in once it has dryed out. Her Humidity is prity high, as her substrait is prity moist what is the best way to go about drying up the substrait in her cage w//o moving her, she molted 4 days ago and i dont want to stress her out.

Moltar · Sep 29, 2009

Your enclosure probably needs more cross ventilation. Proper venting is, if anything, even more important than humidity. Drill some holes in the side or cut 2 bigger holes and put screen on them, something... Air needs to flow across/through the enclosure. Even a lot of holes near the top aren't enough.

Agent Jones · Sep 29, 2009

I would bake the bark too, but that's just me.

Also, if it were me, I'd give her a week or so to harden up all the while getting in there to push the substrate around a little (exposing different parts to air each day), then I'd cup her and give her fresh substrate. Molds reproduce through spores, so given the opportunity, this mold could pop up in your substrate as well.

jcornish86 · Sep 29, 2009

Alright do you think she will be alright for 3-4 days? there no visable traces of mold. She def needs more cross ventalation so i will have to go out and get another cube, and up the holes from 5 to 12.

Steve Calceatum · Sep 29, 2009

Either the enclosure is too moist, or there's not enouh ventilation, or improper sterilization could have caused it. I've encountered many mold problems with microwave sterilized bark, so now I sterilize in the oven.

Change out your substrate too. Mold leaves spores, and you don't want to risk the mold returning.

MIC · Sep 29, 2009

I found very useful the use of a small fan that blows at regular intervals (via a timer) for a total of 4 hours per day, pausing during the night, of course. The fan is in a distance of 1,5 - 2 meters from the shelf where i keep the tarantula terrariums.

I follow this method for more than 2 years and i have never experienced mold problems.

curiousme · Sep 29, 2009

jcornish86 said:
Sorry for double post in announcment section. I posted it wrong anyways here is my problem.

Ok so i woke up this afternoon inspected my A.versicolor's tank, i noticed some small blue dots of mold growing on the cork bark, unfortunatly her web is secured to it but i was able to remove the bark,w/e damaging the web. were i rinsed it off in scolding water and is now air drying in a windowseal. There are no other sighns of mold in the tank just the small spot i guess my question is is it safe to put the cork back in once it has dryed out. Her Humidity is prity high, as her substrait is prity moist what is the best way to go about drying up the substrait in her cage w//o moving her, she molted 4 days ago and i dont want to stress her out.

How big of a T are we talking about? If it is full grown, you shouldn't be messing with her enclosure just yet and even if it is a sling, i would still give it a couple of days.

The substrate can be moist, but shouldn't be sopping wet. If you have removed the cork bark(which is supposed to be resistant to mold) and rinsed it in scalding hot water, then it should be okay.(wait, is that an open window that you have it drying on?) You can remove the small spot of mold on the substrate and the surrounding area and up the ventilation, then you should be good to go.

i wouldn't change out the substrate unless you see a recurring problem.

jcornish86 · Sep 30, 2009

she is about 1.25 inch sling, the substrait a little to moist i think so am going to give it 3-4 days to harden up some more, and possibly get some food in her belly. making it a total of 8 days since her molt try to Cup her in a deli cup while i drill some more holes. Am conviced its because of poor ventalation as she only has 5 small holes atm, i plan on placing 3 on each side it should help alot.

Learned my lesson i guess the less water the better really as its a small michaels cube. ( very easy to overfill)

Moltar · Sep 30, 2009

jcornish86 said:
Alright do you think she will be alright for 3-4 days? there no visable traces of mold. She def needs more cross ventalation so i will have to go out and get another cube, and up the holes from 5 to 12.

I don't know how big these holes are but it's possible you should do still more. Look at Warpig's pictures if you have a chance. He does a lot of Avics and he's got the ventilation thing down. It's better to have more than enough ventilation than not enough.

Bill S · Sep 30, 2009

xsyorra said:
... or improper sterilization could have caused it.

Don't get too carried away with sterilization. It's not really achievable. There are mold spores in the air, your spider will have mold spores on it, the crickets (or whatever) that you feed to your spiders will carry mold spores with them into the container, etc., etc. In short, you will have mold spores present unless you hermetically seal the whole set-up under sterile conditions. Even if you completely sterilize the bark and the substrate, if the conditions you provide are good for mold, you will soon have mold growing. The best thing to do is control the conditions. Lower the humidity or dampness a bit. Or improve the airflow. Or both.

Mold Problem

jcornish86

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Moltar

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Agent Jones

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jcornish86

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Steve Calceatum

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MIC

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curiousme

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jcornish86

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Moltar

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Bill S

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