# Green and white fungus in scorpion enclosure



## antsman (Feb 27, 2017)

I just got a _Heterometrus sp. scorpion and I've been keeping him moist. Now his hide has green and white fungus growing on it and some mold under the water dish.
Not enough ventilation? Should I remove all the substrate and start over?_


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## antsman (Feb 27, 2017)

I removed the flat wooden hide, It was most of the problem I don't think I cured it right. It had a lot of mold on it.
I just put in a temporary hide, half of a see through food container. I think I was misting to much and I don't have proper ventilation.
I have all the gear coming in the mail now, would of had this all ready, but he was a gift so I'm making due.
I am going to go find a flat slate rock tomorrow for his hide.
He hissed at me, when I removed the moldy hide. Thought that was pretty cool, also he's very much more lively now.


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## The Snark (Feb 27, 2017)

Some of that white fungi is plain bad news. Infects just about any celluloid material, all but impossible to eradicate, and capable of infecting human lungs. Guaranteed it left a cloud of spores from lesser Antilles to northern Siberia.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## antsman (Feb 27, 2017)

The Snark said:


> Some of that white fungi is plain bad news. Infects just about any celluloid material, all but impossible to eradicate, and capable of infecting human lungs. Guaranteed it left a cloud of spores from lesser Antilles to northern Siberia.


Great, it was only on the wood nothing in the substrate. I'm letting it dry out a bit, and his new enclosure will have much better ventilation.


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## The Snark (Feb 27, 2017)

Yes, the crap requires wood like material to go though the full reproduction cycle. Got a door downstairs that is infected, that white powdery crud. I sealed the wood with several coats of water proofing. Sat that way for about 4 years then the wood took a gash from moving furniture and out came the fungus again. Only thing that kills those spores that I know of is a 24 hour party in an autoclave.

So if you get a reinfection by putting wood in you will have to scrap everything in the enclosure and talk about repeated scrubbings of 10% sodium hypochlorite. Normal bleach isn't strong enough. I seriously doubt the usual method, baking your celluliod materials in an oven will do in those spores.

On an ecological note, that family of fungi knows their job and does it well. Without them the detritus layer in forests would have much more trouble decomposing and the ecosystem would suffer.


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## antsman (Feb 28, 2017)

The Snark said:


> Yes, the crap requires wood like material to go though the full reproduction cycle. Got a door downstairs that is infected, that white powdery crud. I sealed the wood with several coats of water proofing. Sat that way for about 4 years then the wood took a gash from moving furniture and out came the fungus again. Only thing that kills those spores that I know of is a 24 hour party in an autoclave.
> 
> So if you get a reinfection by putting wood in you will have to scrap everything in the enclosure and talk about repeated scrubbings of 10% sodium hypochlorite. Normal bleach isn't strong enough. I seriously doubt the usual method, baking your celluliod materials in an oven will do in those spores.
> 
> On an ecological note, that family of fungi knows their job and does it well. Without them the detritus layer in forests would have much more trouble decomposing and the ecosystem would suffer.


I don't plan on adding anything else unless it has been cleaned properly IE. store bought.
It seems like the mold was only growing on the wood, I know the spores are now all over the enclosure. But he will have to wait until Thursday or Friday when my order of substrate gets here, to get him moved.
I don't see any new growth, and I have let the enclosure dry out a bit more.
I had to much moisture, combined with inadequate ventilation, and a infected piece of wood. Lesson learned.
I have had a lot of trouble with mold in my ant enclosures, yellow aspergillus.

Here is the green mold, I had it in the T enclosure once due to some branches I used. It was easily removed and never came back. Same looking stuff I had In the scorpion enclosure.






This is sort of what the White mold looked like. But not nearly as progressed.


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## The Snark (Feb 28, 2017)

Sounds like you have a firm grasp of things. It's always amusing to me to read about terrarium set ups that suddenly come down with mold-fungi invasion. People just don't look at the larger picture: The recycling crew just doing their job and the terrarium builder failed to build the perfect airtight bio-proof bio-free garage.


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