Hey all!
Newbie to arboreals, but the last couple days I keep finding my C. versicolor chilling on the substrate of it's dram vial, which has been bugging me out a bit. It's eaten well in the past, as I gave it cricket parts in it's web up top, and sprayed a very small amount of water every few days onto it's web, as the dram vial is a bit too small for any sort of water dish to reasonably fit alongside the plant anchor points I have set up. It's been fine in the past, but recently, as I assume it may be entering a light fast/premolt stage (not taking food at least), I wake up in the morning, see it's chilling on the ground, come back from work, and it's still there or moved slighly, but still on the ground floor.
Despite there being good cross ventilation (at least I assume - ordered the 50 dram vial from fearnot (along with the spider) with extra cross ventilation suited for c. versicolor), additionally, I have seen something on the substrate - it's coco fiber, which I know can be prone to mold, but, it's white and kinda fibrous/some horizontal strings that also sorta look like webbing strands, so it's hard to tell. Out of an abundance of caution, I've been removing the white mold or webbing from any of my spiders' enclosures, including a few terrestrials. Not wanting to stress them out with a full rehouse, I've just been taking a spoon and removing a chunk of the top layer that has the mold or webbing (like I said, unsure) on it. I'm at a bit of a loss for how to proceed, at least until they molt and I can justify a rehouse.
So a couple questions, lol, sorry for the long-windedness.
1.) I've attached a few pics of my C. Veriscolor's enclosure, quality's not great though. This is post-mold/webbing on the substrate removal. Any apparent issues? You can see it's webbing at the top, and a couple moisture spots I'm monitoring from light misting of the web. Plants for anchor points, some sphagnum I added with the mold/webbing removal, and a piece of bark. Should I make any changes? Any thoughts on the behavior?
2.) Substrate. I have a large bag of eco earth coco fiber substrate I've been using, but I also have a bag of biodude terro areanea or whatever, but no intentions to make a bioactive yet, as I don't think I have the experience for all the complexities. I'm not confident in my ability to make my own mix substrate correctly yet. Would just using the Biodude stuff without making it actually bioactive maybe be better vs coco fiber in case of mold? I don't think I've been over-moisturizing, for my terrestrials slings, they have water dishes as they're a bit bigger and have larger enclosures that I overfill a little to let some seep in as well.
Just trying to fix up my husbandry a bit, everyone's been doing fine so far over the last couple months, but I'm nervous about this reoccuring surface white substance that once again, has been hard to distinguish whether it's mold or webbing, but as consistent as it's been across a couple different species' enclosures, I'm nervous that it's the former. I've been spot-removing it. Happy for any and all suggestions.
You can see the c. versicolor on the bark on bottom right, which doesn't feel as bad as when it's been chilling just on the ground for what feels like long periods of time. But I've been placing food options (Tried small dubia and cricket parts) and very light amounts of water droplets on it's web, so I struggle to justify the "maybe hunting or looking for water" thoughts.
Newbie to arboreals, but the last couple days I keep finding my C. versicolor chilling on the substrate of it's dram vial, which has been bugging me out a bit. It's eaten well in the past, as I gave it cricket parts in it's web up top, and sprayed a very small amount of water every few days onto it's web, as the dram vial is a bit too small for any sort of water dish to reasonably fit alongside the plant anchor points I have set up. It's been fine in the past, but recently, as I assume it may be entering a light fast/premolt stage (not taking food at least), I wake up in the morning, see it's chilling on the ground, come back from work, and it's still there or moved slighly, but still on the ground floor.
Despite there being good cross ventilation (at least I assume - ordered the 50 dram vial from fearnot (along with the spider) with extra cross ventilation suited for c. versicolor), additionally, I have seen something on the substrate - it's coco fiber, which I know can be prone to mold, but, it's white and kinda fibrous/some horizontal strings that also sorta look like webbing strands, so it's hard to tell. Out of an abundance of caution, I've been removing the white mold or webbing from any of my spiders' enclosures, including a few terrestrials. Not wanting to stress them out with a full rehouse, I've just been taking a spoon and removing a chunk of the top layer that has the mold or webbing (like I said, unsure) on it. I'm at a bit of a loss for how to proceed, at least until they molt and I can justify a rehouse.
So a couple questions, lol, sorry for the long-windedness.
1.) I've attached a few pics of my C. Veriscolor's enclosure, quality's not great though. This is post-mold/webbing on the substrate removal. Any apparent issues? You can see it's webbing at the top, and a couple moisture spots I'm monitoring from light misting of the web. Plants for anchor points, some sphagnum I added with the mold/webbing removal, and a piece of bark. Should I make any changes? Any thoughts on the behavior?
2.) Substrate. I have a large bag of eco earth coco fiber substrate I've been using, but I also have a bag of biodude terro areanea or whatever, but no intentions to make a bioactive yet, as I don't think I have the experience for all the complexities. I'm not confident in my ability to make my own mix substrate correctly yet. Would just using the Biodude stuff without making it actually bioactive maybe be better vs coco fiber in case of mold? I don't think I've been over-moisturizing, for my terrestrials slings, they have water dishes as they're a bit bigger and have larger enclosures that I overfill a little to let some seep in as well.
Just trying to fix up my husbandry a bit, everyone's been doing fine so far over the last couple months, but I'm nervous about this reoccuring surface white substance that once again, has been hard to distinguish whether it's mold or webbing, but as consistent as it's been across a couple different species' enclosures, I'm nervous that it's the former. I've been spot-removing it. Happy for any and all suggestions.
You can see the c. versicolor on the bark on bottom right, which doesn't feel as bad as when it's been chilling just on the ground for what feels like long periods of time. But I've been placing food options (Tried small dubia and cricket parts) and very light amounts of water droplets on it's web, so I struggle to justify the "maybe hunting or looking for water" thoughts.
