Mycosis in scorpions from crickets

[Abu Bakr]

I only have a handful of crickets left. I used to feed them fruits. Since I plan on getting rid of them and getting roaches instead, I haven't cleaned their enclosure lately which has led to building up of mold in the enclosure. My question is, would it still be safe to feed crickets to my scorpions from a mold infested enclosure or could it potentially lead to mycosis?

 

[FrankiePinchinatti]

Others might have more to say, but my hunch would be no. In order for fungus to spread 3 conditions have to be met, first the spores have to be there, second there has to be favorable conditions for it to grow, and third there has to be a food source for it. The first condition will pretty much always be met because fungal spores are everywhere. The second condition may or may not be met in your enclosure depending on if you have a tropical species, fungus needs high humidity and preferably high temperatures. The third condition however shouldn't be met in your enclosure because you shouldn't have a lot of organic material for it to use as a food source.

Some species are prone to mycosis, but from what I understand that is affected by the enclosure conditions. If your enclosure conditions are good enough so that you don't have mycosis now, I don't think you would get it from the crickets because like I said, mold spores are everywhere so you aren't introducing anything new into the enclosure.

 

[Abu Bakr]

I have 2 tropical species that require high humidity. Heterometrus and tityus. I know the heterometrus enclosure is very well ventilated so I don't think that would be an issue but for tityus I don't know.
I always take the cricket parts out when the scorpion is done eating. I'll try introducing some springtails to the enclosure. Not sure if they can lower the risk of mycosis or not.

 

[Outpost31Survivor]

Here is good thread to read:

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/quick-question-mycosis-and-rainforest-scorpions.207827/