Having trouble with AFS enclosure/Substrate help (pic heavy)

ArachnoDrew

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Ever since I've gotten this guy I've had non stop trouble trying to keep his substrate clean from anything. It's just eco earth slightly damp not soaking wet, but I constantly found mold with any wood or bark I tried to use for a hide. So i went plastic hide. Another issue is all the tiny little nat looking flys EVEYWHERE in the enclosure. If you look closely there all over the place in the substrate. I've changed substrates 3 times in 3 months and I can't keep stuff out of there.... it's been this way with a different setup as well when I had 5 4 inches of sub in there.

sadly it's beginning to (turn me off) from this inparticluar species. Or species who need moist humid substrates what am I doing wrong.

Current setup
Plastic Tree stump
Eco earth
Plastic dish
Fake plants
 

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Ghost56

Arachnobaron
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Ever since I've gotten this guy I've had non stop trouble trying to keep his substrate clean from anything. It's just eco earth slightly damp not soaking wet, but I constantly found mold with any wood or bark I tried to use for a hide. So i went plastic hide. Another issue is all the tiny little nat looking flys EVEYWHERE in the enclosure. If you look closely there all over the place in the substrate. I've changed substrates 3 times in 3 months and I can't keep stuff out of there.... it's been this way with a different setup as well when I had 5 4 inches of sub in there.

sadly it's beginning to (turn me off) from this inparticluar species. Or species who need moist humid substrates what am I doing wrong.

Current setup
Plastic Tree stump
Eco earth
Plastic dish
Fake plants
I don't have any idea about anything that has to do with scorps, I've never kept them. But those look like baby crickets to me.
 

Christianb96

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In the last picture are you pointing at what appears to be a bunch of small crickets? As for mold control I would invest in some tropical springtails and dwarf purple or white isopods. Try to get a single picture of the pest you are talking about.
 

Christianb96

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Try to get one and take a picture. It wouldn't be impossible to have a cricket lay eggs in your tank
 

ArachnoDrew

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I took a real good look at one they too look like tiny crickets. Well dam. Do I just let them be in there?
 

ArachnoDrew

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Are you sure they're not just jumping, I'm like 90% positive those are pinheads. I wouldn't bother changing the sub if you can confirm they're crickets.
They jump pretty dam high if so lol higher than ive seen any adult jump
 

Christianb96

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I would try to get as many as possible out and into a separate container. They are definitely crickets. Try not to leave crickets in with your scorpion for more then 24 hours.
 

Ghost56

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I'm sure You guys are correct at this point. What do I do next?
I would try to get what you can out, and then let the scorp take care of the rest. They aren't going to hurt anything, they may just annoy your scorp some. What you do scoop out, I'd keep. I'm assuming you're feeding crickets. If so, start snipping the ovipositor off on the females so they don't lay eggs.
 

ArachnoDrew

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There seriously so many in there. It's infested. He was already short on substrate I'm just going to dump it and give him fresh sub.
 

Ghost56

Arachnobaron
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There seriously so many in there. It's infested. He was already short on substrate I'm just going to dump it and give him fresh sub.
In that case, dump everything in a container. The crickets won't take long to grow, and are easy to feed. Free feeders lol.
 

ArachnoDrew

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They're making there way out of the lid. And it's 8" above them I don't want to see crickets hopping around the room in a few weeks lol
 
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darkness975

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@ArachnoDrew They will not survive long since they need to eat and drink a lot and unless you live in a pig pen (which is unlikely) I doubt your house has enough resources for them to live outside of an enclosure environment.

A good rule of thumb to go by with feeding crickets is to take them out if they are not eaten overnight. This eliminates the annoyance they cause if your Scorpion is not hungry.

Also, the reason you have baby crickets in there is because you introduced a gravid female that was not eaten right away. They lay their eggs in moist substrates. It happened to me once when I was first starting out.
To avoid this issue in the future, you can feed males to this one and save the females for the arid species. Or you can avoid using gravid females for feeding this one as a gravid cricket is pretty distinguishable from its counterparts that are not gravid.

Female crickets have that long tube thing (ovipositor) that separates them from males. You can see the ovipositor even in immature females.
 

ArachnoDrew

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I plan to scoop as many as I can out. Put them in a small critter keeper I have. I have cricket food and a water dish with some red cartridge pieces I'll leave in there. I'm about to head to the reptile store and get some new eco earth bricks
 

ArachnoDrew

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@darkness975 awesome info thanks man. Will Do. Hopefully I can go back to enjoying this guy and no have to constantly deal with changing his sub
. If it was a couple if babies ide pick them out but it looks infested. I can't imagine how many might be down in his burrow
 
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