Favorite enclosure mold crisis

[spodermin]

Sometimes springtails just can't save one of your favorite enclosures from a mold infestation. Oh well, the new one will do very well. Spider in heavy premolt

 

[PanzoN88]

Sometimes springtails just can't save one of your favorite enclosures from a mold infestation. Oh well, the new one will do very well. Spider in heavy premolt

Oh no, experienced my first mold outbreak just two weeks ago in my O. sp. 'Cebu' enclosure.

 

[spodermin]

Oh no, experienced my first mold outbreak just two weeks ago in my O. sp. 'Cebu' enclosure.

It's tragic when they've webbed and made such a nice home and you have to gut it, dump it and start over

 

[PanzoN88]

It's tragic when they've webbed and made such a nice home and you have to gut it, dump it and start over

True, this particular orphnaecus sp. happens to be my heaviest webber in my collection. It had layers of webbing on top of several inches of substrate. It was a shame I had to destroy its volcano looking creation.

 

[MassExodus]

What caused the mold, spoder? I see people posting about mold all the time. I live in south Texas, it gets very humid here, it never drops below 60 humidity in my house(except in winter, with heat on) and I've only had the issue once, with a T stirmi enclosure, and it was caused by a piece of wood next to a water bowl. So the question is: What caused it? Not moving the waterbowl around occasionaly? Ventilation? Lets get to the bottom of this.

Sincerely,
Detective Spiderman

 

[spodermin]

What caused the mold, spoder? I see people posting about mold all the time. I live in south Texas, it gets very humid here, it never drops below 60 humidity in my house(except in winter, with heat on) and I've only had the issue once, with a T stirmi enclosure, and it was caused by a piece of wood next to a water bowl. So the question is: What caused it? Not moving the waterbowl around occasionaly? Ventilation? Lets get to the bottom of this.

Sincerely,
Detective Spiderman
View attachment 38899

I think in this particular case it was the fact that the substrate very dense not allowing much moisture to escape. It could have been the wood, or the water dish, or a number of other things but the reason I went 100% cocofibre is because thats my best guess

 

[PanzoN88]

What caused the mold, spoder? I see people posting about mold all the time. I live in south Texas, it gets very humid here, it never drops below 60 humidity in my house(except in winter, with heat on) and I've only had the issue once, with a T stirmi enclosure, and it was caused by a piece of wood next to a water bowl. So the question is: What caused it? Not moving the waterbowl around occasionaly? Ventilation? Lets get to the bottom of this.

Sincerely,
Detective Spiderman
View attachment 38899

Have you ever been to the valley? Humidity there is unbearable.

In my case it was a bolus that was stashed away deep in the substrate.

 

[MassExodus]

I think in this particular case it was the fact that the substrate very dense not allowing much moisture to escape. It could have been the wood, or the water dish, or a number of other things but the reason I went 100% cocofibre is because thats my best guess

What sub were you using before? Just curious.

 

[MassExodus]

Have you ever been to the valley? Humidity there is unbearable.

In my case it was a bolus that was stashed away deep in the substrate.

Yeah, I've found a few like that, but it was localized to the bolus itself. Never spread more than a half inch.

 

[spodermin]

What sub were you using before? Just curious.

A mix of organic potting soil, cocofibre and vermiculite

A bolus is possible too but the amount of cleanup crew should have prevented this. (Springtails and dwarf white isos)

 

[MassExodus]

A mix of organic potting soil, cocofibre and vermiculite

A bolus is possible too but the amount of cleanup crew should have prevented this. (Springtails and dwarf white isos)

You're right. That crew would take care of all boli. Its the soil. I started using the same mix a few years ago, but found potting soil molds easily, i was constantly spot cleaning near the dish. So I replaced it with jungle mix and eco earth. No vermiculite. Then I settled on dry sp, and clay/sand. Excavator clay is the shiznit. If you have dry sp, you should try it. I'm about to rehouse a juvie boehmei female, I'm going to try making something elaborate this time.