Anyone else have fungus or mold on cork bark?

[antinous]

Ah yeah. *nods* I've had them swarm the boli and I've left them in there but they never actually disappeared for me. Let me try and find the link to the first place I went for Isopods. Though I had better luck with wild caught in my area to be honest, but lets see here....

http://www.neherpetoculture.com/bugs

I think I have better luck with wild caught because the kind they sell are more tropical. The wild caught seem to do better in the dryer tanks and substrates for me.

How do you culture springtails if I may ask? What substrate do you use?

 

[lunarae]

How do you culture springtails if I may ask? What substrate do you use?

Oh those guys are easy. Get some charcoal, put it in a bowl, put water in the bottom of the bowl like half an inch deep. Then sprinkle yeast over the top of it, put on a lid, and let it sit for a good few weeks. They'll explode in populations. Then you can just add a little more water and pour them in or take out the chunks of charcoal and knock them in or set the charcoal in the enclosure and they'll disburse with time.

 

[antinous]

Oh those guys are easy. Get some charcoal, put it in a bowl, put water in the bottom of the bowl like half an inch deep. Then sprinkle yeast over the top of it, put on a lid, and let it sit for a good few weeks. They'll explode in populations. Then you can just add a little more water and pour them in or take out the chunks of charcoal and knock them in or set the charcoal in the enclosure and they'll disburse with time.

So what kind of charcoal would you recommend? The way I'm visualizing this is to put the charcoal blocks in the 16 oz deli cups first and then add water into it (half inch or so like you said) and then sprinkle the yeast? Do I just check up on them every now and then? Do they need air holes? How long do you think it would take to get from 100 to, let's say 1,000? How many would you put into a large enclosure for a Theraphosa? And yes, this is 100 questions haha. Thanks!

 

[lunarae]

So what kind of charcoal would you recommend? The way I'm visualizing this is to put the charcoal blocks in the 16 oz deli cups first and then add water into it (half inch or so like you said) and then sprinkle the yeast? Do I just check up on them every now and then? Do they need air holes? How long do you think it would take to get from 100 to, let's say 1,000? How many would you put into a large enclosure for a Theraphosa? And yes, this is 100 questions haha. Thanks!

the charcoal I used is just straight up all natural charcoal, no addition of lighter fluid. 'Royal Oak' is the brand I went with. I can't say for sure how long it took cause you do just wanna kinda set them up and forget about them a little. How much you sprinkle kinda depends on population you start with. What I would do is set it up, then sprinkle like a pinch of yeast over it. Spray it some so that the yeast is wet (promotes the mold growth a bit more) and let it set for a week. Check on it. If it has mold and your springtails still alive and kicking leave it alone and check again. If it doesn't have mold feed them again. It'll take some feeling out, but that's what I did. I've left them alone for weeks on end after feeding them real good and had thousands by the end of it. They really do reproduce fast.

As for a large enclosure I'm still working on those kinds of numbers and figuring it out. I would say that a good 1000 or so would help seed a tank. If your setting a tank up for microfauna you want to give them usually 2 months to equalize and cycle, that gives your springtails a chance to up their numbers as well within the tank.

 

[viper69]

Never had mold on cork bark, not once, even in a tropical enclosure for geckos from the rainforests.

You have some ventilation issues perhaps, meaning if you can't control fungi issues, you have to increase the ventilation to keep it more dry.

Yes - everything molds in my house, for some reason. Even with unlimited ventilation, it always happens.

Dude, that's seriously bizarre. Do you have mold in the walls too? Out there all those

I'm up for any cheaper alternatives to cork bark. That's just what I had on hand from past enclosures. When the N. chromatus molts and gets rehoused I'll try the clay pot. do you use the whole thing or do you break in in half?

PVC- Below is a PVC hide I made

AF E. sp. Red, Post-Molt

• viper69
• Aug 29, 2016

W/a Dremel you can cut a clay pot in half.

 

[Moonohol]

Yes - everything molds in my house, for some reason. Even with unlimited ventilation, it always happens.

Use terracotta pots as hides. Tarantulas readily use them, they're dirt cheap, and they can't mold.

I seem to be having a similar problem with my P. metallica. The enclosure has a LOT of cross-ventilation and I only dampened the substrate a bit, but sure enough, mold popped up almost anywhere I put water on the sub. I let it dry out a bit which did seem to stagnate the mold's growth, but now I'm concerned that the enclosure is getting too dry for my little guy. To complicate matters more, I'm 99% certain he's in premolt, so I don't want to risk an enclosure change just yet. I suspect the mold issues may arise from the fact that I live in an old Victorian house, but I wish I could find out for certain. To confound things even more, my other two Ts have had zero mold issues...

 

[JumpingSpiderLady]

When my husband got his B. vagans, it came in an enclosure that looked really cool, but turned out to be unusable for a spider. It has almost no ventilation. She had a piece of cork bark that we did end up throwing out because of mold. My preference is terra cotta pots now. As a bonus, you get to smash them into usable pieces. It's incredibly satisfying.

 

[louise f]

Fungus or mold on cork bark no never. I would believe it is a question of either bad ventilation, or too moist or a combo of both.

 

[EulersK]

Dude, that's seriously bizarre. Do you have mold in the walls too? Out there all those

I'm pretty sure it's my house. I ran an experiment a few weeks ago - straight topsoil, damp as if it were in a humid species cage, and I left the lid completely off. It molded, same as if the lid had been on with ventilation. So I know that mine isn't a ventilation issue.

Either that or aliens. Probably aliens.

 

[YagerManJennsen]

As long as you wash them, certainly. I'd probably sand the sides so it's not so smooth, though. Just about anything will work for a hide, I just refuse to use cork unless it's for an arboreal. I've yet to find a good alternative to a cork slab.

EDIT:


No paper. Use the plastic ones. It's not so much about the mold as it is the tarantula tearing it apart and it aging over time. Also, an A. geniculata shouldn't be bone dry. They'll tolerate that setup, but they do appreciate a small amount of humidity. Relatively few species are true "bone dry" dwellers. It's a term that gets thrown around way too much, in my opinion.

The bone dry species with the starbucks cup is a Grammostola sp. either north or porteri. I can assure you the genic has moist substrate. Our house is down basically between two hills and we're right next to a rain run-off creek so humidity tend to stick around. Also the cup hide was not intended to be permanent, I was flying by the seat of my pants that day and got a new T without actually have a real hide...so starbucks it was!

 

[viper69]

I'm pretty sure it's my house. I ran an experiment a few weeks ago - straight topsoil, damp as if it were in a humid species cage, and I left the lid completely off. It molded, same as if the lid had been on with ventilation. So I know that mine isn't a ventilation issue.

Either that or aliens. Probably aliens.

Man, I'd have the house checked for mold, you could be in a bad situation.

 

[EulersK]

Man, I'd have the house checked for mold, you could be in a bad situation.

Home Depot sells mold testing kits, don't they? I probably should check, honestly. If for no other reason than my dog. I feel just fine.

 

[YagerManJennsen]

Technology not cooperating, Sorry no pictures.

 

[viper69]

Home Depot sells mold testing kits, don't they? I probably should check, honestly. If for no other reason than my dog. I feel just fine.

I believe so. I'd call the Dept of Health see what they recommend. Mold's a serious health hazard actually for humans too. Places have been been shut down because what appeared to be mold in the bathroom was found all inside the interior of the walls.

 

[YagerManJennsen]

the charcoal I used is just straight up all natural charcoal, no addition of lighter fluid. 'Royal Oak' is the brand I went with. I can't say for sure how long it took cause you do just wanna kinda set them up and forget about them a little. How much you sprinkle kinda depends on population you start with. What I would do is set it up, then sprinkle like a pinch of yeast over it. Spray it some so that the yeast is wet (promotes the mold growth a bit more) and let it set for a week. Check on it. If it has mold and your springtails still alive and kicking leave it alone and check again. If it doesn't have mold feed them again. It'll take some feeling out, but that's what I did. I've left them alone for weeks on end after feeding them real good and had thousands by the end of it. They really do reproduce fast.

As for a large enclosure I'm still working on those kinds of numbers and figuring it out. I would say that a good 1000 or so would help seed a tank. If your setting a tank up for microfauna you want to give them usually 2 months to equalize and cycle, that gives your springtails a chance to up their numbers as well within the tank.

Could silverfish work for bolus cleaning? I just found two living in the carpet in my bedroom that in cutting up to be replaced.

 

[lunarae]

Could silverfish work for bolus cleaning? I just found two living in the carpet in my bedroom that in cutting up to be replaced.

I will be honest, I have no idea. I don't know anything about silverfish or what they are. I would look them up and see what they feed on and their general dietary needs and what their behavior is to find that out.