My tarantula enclosures all smell yucky.

[Kathy]

The past month or so I have noticed all the enclosures smell like death or something. At first I thought maybe my h. mac had died because I never see her but she hasn't. I have a lot of those little white and orange bugs that eat stuff - other than that I don't know what to do to get rid of the odor. Do you ever completely clean out the enclosures? I'm thinking I should just dump all the old substrate out, wash everything, and start fresh again. Although, the old world girl kind of worries me doing that - and their homes are all webbed the way they want. What do you think? I can't pinpoint the smell. Maybe I need to totally dry out the substrate, would that help?

 

[Erebus]

I'd change out all the substrate. The only thing I can think of that would smell that bad would be a dead T.

 

[Hobo]

Might be hidden, dead feeders or boluses somewhere.
What bugs that eat stuff do you mean? Isopods?

 

[Kathy]

Yes, isopods...could not think of what they were called. I'm thinking there must be dead cricket or roach bodies in there, because my t's have never had an odor before. Hate disrupting their homes, but I may just end up cleaning everything out. They have all been in the same substrate for three years now.

 

[peterUK]

If its a H mac, the substrate should be dry anyway.