Discussion on Mold

[BobBarley]

I have mold and mushrooms growing all over the place in my Neoholothele incei communal... Albeit, the mushrooms are dying off because the springtails are wrecking havoc, there are still usually 1 or 2 mushrooms in there and, I'd guess the mycelium is still alive underneath the sub. The mold is almost all gone at this point. It's been going on for a month or more now, no issues, though I have noticed a pleasant, earthy smell.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

I got a bit overzealous with the moisture in my LP's enclosure once and ended up with mould. And a couple mushrooms. One sprouted up above the substrate, the other grew from deep in the substrate up along the side of the glass. I thought the one that sprouted up looked kind of cool in there, but I of course removed it before it could create spores and propagate itself. The other I watched grow towards the surface for a while before I reached in with tongs and pulled it up. it was kind of interesting watching it grow. Letting the substrate dry out completely stopped it all of course. This was on coco-fibre by the way. I had noticed a slight odour before seeing any signs of anything growing and had been keeping an eye on things.

I don't know that the mould itself is that big of a danger, but spores are very fine and I suppose that's where danger to the book-lungs could possibly come into play. The possibility exists I guess that the spores could get in and coat the "pages" of the book-lungs, inhibiting the absorption of oxygen. Sorta like the "black-lung" miners can get from coal dust. But the risk may be negligible insofar as tarantulas are concerned, I don't know. They don't inhale so it isn't as if they are sucking up the spores, so unless there are clouds of spores in the enclosure, it probably isn't that big of a threat. But on the other hand, why risk it?