Avic cage and mold?

[Mha8649]

How do you keep the High humidity cages mold free?
I have recentlly purchased a A.avic and set it up in a 10g aquarium turned on side...I have made a plexi glass lid so the top stays in place and the bottom opens and have drilled holes for ventilation but I noticed only after a two or three days of having it set up there was mold at the bottom of the grape wood I had in there so I took it out and now have to replace it and the substrate. The substrate it eco earth. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MindUtopia]

Have a good bit of ventilation (holes on at least two sides, possibly three) and use a substrate that can hold a lot of moisture without harboring mold. Personally for all my Avics, I use 100% vermiculite. I've never had mold problems with them. In my experience, coconut fiber (I think that's what eco earth is?) does tend to grow mold if kept moist, so I only use it for my drier terrestrial species.

 

[MsDemeanor]

IME you need a whole side open to have no mold issues with the avics. Flat open water dish ( think lid of deli container ) and moss with the strate. I mist often in the winter due to dry heat, but almost never mist the strate itself unless it's very very very very dry. Then only a teenie tiny bit to hold some moisture. So far my avics have done really well like this
Good luck

 

[Mha8649]

Alright I have to ask this....now I've heard alot of people say that the ttkg is about the best book to get....and in that book it talks about cages and for the arboreal t's it says to use no substrate and a big bowl for water and a rock in the bowl for the t to climb out.....but every where else it says use atleast 2 inches and keep it moist. So my question would be do I need substrate in my A.avics cage... because if I can get rid of the substrate or atleast keep the substrate bone dry that would eliminate the mold problems.
I have watched my t drink from a small deli cup I have put in there..So if I make sure theres always water can I get away with dry substrate?

 

[MindUtopia]

There are some people who do not use substrate in arboreals. You can get away without using it or with keeping the substrate bone dry IF (and it's a big if) you can maintain humidity (70-85%) by doing so. That's the tricky part. It can probably be done with a large water bowl and regular (probably daily) mistings on the sides of the tank, but it's just one of those things you have to keep your eye on regularly. The only downfall to not using any substrate is taking the risk of your T injuring itself if it were to ever fall in its set-up. This is less likely perhaps with an arboreal because they are pretty agile, but still a possibility. That's one of the reasons I like vermiculite with my Avics. It provides some cushioning and ground cover, but since it's inorganic (a mineral substance somewhat like mica) it doesn't foster a good environment for the growth of mold and it holds water and maintains humidity pretty well.

 

[bluebell]

mold

Exo Terra makes snap on tank covers that I've used on aquariums that I had on end. Unlike the screen covers, these have very slim bars of metal that actually clamp on to the side of the tank so you don't need to worry about it falling off if the tank is on end. They have a large access door and allow for better ventilation, although you will have to mist often (I had to do it daily) to keep the humidity up but I never had any problems with mold.

Kathy

 

[Mha8649]

Well I am going to try to modify the plexi-glass lid I have now ...I have the top portion of the p.g with no holes and the bottom half that opens I have drilled holes in this (probably not enough) so I am going to remove it and build a wood framed screen to fit inplace ... I plan to use the screen not like windows but the kind that have bigger squares, that way no feet get caught. the only problem is crikets escaping but I can probably handle that. I will leave the strate in there but I am going to make it dry and put in a few water bowls and hopefuly with the p.g sealing the top of the cage will keep the moisture up ... if not I seen something in a diff post that involved a air pump and a bottle of water I will build one of those.

 

[P. Novak]

i use to have an a.avic and i really never bothered with humidity and there were no problems, now the avic is with someone else.

 

[Mha8649]

someone else as in with god or someone else as a friend? ;P

 

[Gesticulator]

Well, Mha For the last three years I used NO SUBSTRATE for my avicularia species. I misted the sides of the enclosures (5.5 gallon turned sideways) once or twice a week. In Michael Jacobi's article "The Basics Of Arboreal Tarantula Husbandry" (Arachnoculture Vol 1 no 2-May 2005), one of the suggestions is to hot glue a water dish to the side of the container. I use 2 water dishes...a large one at the bottom and a second smaller one glued to the side. I also use the screened lids, and as Michael Jacobi also suggests , I cover the edges of the perimeter with tape, so the moisture doesn't dry out too quickly.
I have followed both these suggestions and all had gone well. About 2 weeks ago, however, one of my avic purpurea died. The only concern I had, is that I wasn't using substrate. I since added substrate to all my avic's enclosures and have added isopods to their enclosures.
I doubt it was the lack of substrate per se that caused my T to die, but I did notice (however inaccurate my hydrometer is) that the humidity level has increased since the addition of the substrate. Hope this helps.

 

[stooka]

I also use 100% vermiculite with all my avics and dont have any problems with mould.You can also try tropical woodlice(pillbugs) i use these with all my pokies and they work very well in keeping things clean.Cool little things too and breed readily.Just gotta make sure the substrate stays damp.

 

[Mha8649]

Alright well heres the update: I still need to replace the bottom plexi glass with a wood framed screen and that will be the last thind I need to do I hope.
I changed the substrate (eco earth) and the wood.The new substrate is the jungle mix it was 3* more than the eco earth but I didnt have to soak it and it was already wet in the bag ready to use...and there was no hard stuff in it such as wood. I got a new peice of wood for her to put her web on .. I put two bowls of water in her cage one ground level and the other I hot glued to the wood about halfway up. I put a hygrometer in her cage its reading around a little above 60. and I put forest moss under the wood piece so the wood didnt come in contact with the wet substrate and mold. I hope this works as plans...I really like the A.avics and I want to get a versicolor down the road but we will see how this goes.

 

[MsDemeanor]

* just my 2 cents *

Water dish up high looks good but a little too full/deep for my anxiety prone opinion. Also, do youhave more ventilation up top ? JUst from what I can see, you will need tons more air to stop the nasties.
Big cage.... little spider

Looks nice though and spidey has a cute butt Good luck

 

[Mha8649]

I added the little glass marbles to the top one and I still have to add the screen but for the top portion of the plexi I plan to take about maybe 3 inches off and then silicone it in place with no holes like the ttkg says but its still a work in progress atleast the door anyways..I will have a screen in place tomorow to increase the airflow.
And for the big cage yes it's a ten gallon I wanted the 5.5g but it was mor than 3 times the price of the ten due to irregular size. And I was kinda kicking around the community ideal, don't know if I will ever try a community tank but if I do I would like to have a big enough tank already set up.

 

[MizM]

If I've said it once, I've said it... how many times guys? High humidity will only buy you trouble. Except for moisture dependent species, keep your enclosures bone-dry. I've lost too many Ts in high-humidity enclosures to parasites. Most species will do just fine in a dry tank with a large water dish.

If you just can't bring yourself to keep the enclosure dry, toss in 20-30 roly poly bugs (pill bugs). They will help keep the nasty critters away and don't bother Ts in the least.

 

[Mha8649]

If I've said it once, I've said it... how many times guys? High humidity will only buy you trouble. Except for moisture dependent species, keep your enclosures bone-dry. I've lost too many Ts in high-humidity enclosures to parasites. Most species will do just fine in a dry tank with a large water dish.

If you just can't bring yourself to keep the enclosure dry, toss in 20-30 roly poly bugs (pill bugs). They will help keep the nasty critters away and don't bother Ts in the least.

Well I'm kinda banking on that, I am going to try and get away with not misting...if possible I dont really plan on letting the humidity drop a whole lot but as long as theres no mold and the t's happy then I am happy. Pill bugs thats funny I had never heard them called pill bugs now rolly polies yes.. I used to catch them when I was little ....I will throw a few of those in there just to be safe ..if I have to keep the high humidity.what exactly do they eat?

 

[MizM]

exactly do they eat?

Mold, rotting vegetation, dead cricket parts...

 

[Mha8649]

alright an updated pic with the new door....If this in not enough ventilation..then shes just s.o.l .... with the old door the humidity stayed about 70% then in the moring I looked and it was upto 90% so I opend the cage and let some fresh air in... now with this new door the humidity droped to around 50%.. I'm not to concernd about humidity because like the book ttkg says they live in the top of the trees not on the ground where all the high humidity is and I also watched her numerous times drink from her water bowl one time she was in there for over 3minutes that was right after the new changes. .. well heres the new door. I hot glued the screen on the outside of the wood to avoid contact with the t. I have a plastic clip that holds the door closed I have to take a little off of the plexi glass before siliconing it in place. And I added marbles to the top cup I just havent put them back in after moving around the cage.

 

[Mha8649]

Well heres an update... The humidity stays between 55 to 60 % and there are the two water bowls.. and she seems to really like her cage.. she still hasnt tried to make a new web yet. but she hunts like crazy, I watched her hunt last night for the first time, it was awsome. she slowly walked down to the ground and then climbed onto a piece of wood and stayed there for a minute and then with lightning speed jumped to the moss the criket went down to quick for her to get it and she just started to dig like crazy. unfortunatly she didnt get to eat at that time but she kept hunting and it payed off.
Well after there resizing you cant see to well but shes eating a criket and then shes off to get a drink of water.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j5/Mha8649/tarantulas107.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j5/Mha8649/tarantulas106.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j5/Mha8649/tarantulas105.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j5/Mha8649/tarantulas104.jpg