Humidity vs Mold

[N8Legged]

I moved several tanks into the bathroom because i'm very busy with school and forget to mist regularly and figured the steam from my showers should be able to help keep my tanks moisture levels up. I keep an A Metalica who's in his last stretch of life, an 1/2 inch A versicollor inside a pill vial. two P. Dictator scorpions that share a divided 10gallon tank, and a P, Imperator who is full grown and has a tank to herself. i'm trying to keep the humidity up because my P imperator a few months ago gave birth but ate all her babies and when i posted pictures people on here told me the substrate was too dry and it stressed her out. but now i have mold growing in a few of the tanks. I've read that Wood Lice are good for managing mold. any other tips?

 

[The Snark]

Living for years in the tropics between rice fields and recovering rain forest I'd like to know this myself. I've tried every trick in the book and written a few of my own. So far I've found 2 solutions: Humidity always kept below 50% r to retard growth (won't kill spores) and chlorine gas to eradicate it, and bleach out your world in the process. Molds will grow between 34 and 140 F and 50% humidity up.

 

[viper69]

I moved several tanks into the bathroom because i'm very busy with school and forget to mist regularly and figured the steam from my showers should be able to help keep my tanks moisture levels up. I keep an A Metalica who's in his last stretch of life, an 1/2 inch A versicollor inside a pill vial. two P. Dictator scorpions that share a divided 10gallon tank, and a P, Imperator who is full grown and has a tank to herself. i'm trying to keep the humidity up because my P imperator a few months ago gave birth but ate all her babies and when i posted pictures people on here told me the substrate was too dry and it stressed her out. but now i have mold growing in a few of the tanks. I've read that Wood Lice are good for managing mold. any other tips?

Visit the Dendroboard forum, they deal with this all the time. I also suggest you provide your animals proper husbandry and do what it takes to remember, OR maintain less animals as you are very busy w/school.

There is really no excuse for poor husbandry, it's all within your control. You can't remember, then set alarms/reminders/post-it notes. Do whatever it takes, otherwise give your pets to someone who has the ability and time to take care of them properly. There's nothing wrong w/that at all.

I raise veriscolor and never take a shower w/them as you do, and I've lived in very dry areas (scrubland areas). You are overly concerned with humidity IMO, unless you live in a desert?

If you want to solve this problem, stop taking showers w/your animals. They rely on YOU for their health and their LIVES.

 

[Ranitomeya]

In my experience, high humidity provided by evaporating moisture from damp substrate and/or spraying isn't a big issue if you can couple it with good airflow, but high humidity from any source without good airflow is no good for most organisms--especially arboreal tarantulas like those in the genus Avicularia. Bathrooms tend to have the worst airflow in any part of the house and the moisture will inevitably cause mold growth, so move them out of there and just remember to give them some water.

Set a reminder on your smart phone or computer to help you avoid missing your duties and provide a deeper substrate to give yourself more of a leeway to how frequently you need to provide moisture. Your Avicularia do not require that much humidity as long as you provide them with water to drink from at all times. It wouldn't even be a problem if they go without water for a few days, so you can easily get away with filling up once a week unless you live in so dry an environment that you yourself cannot keep your skin from drying and cracking. General maintenance does not take much time, maybe just a few minutes at a time--you just need to keep doing it until it becomes a habit.

 

[N8Legged]

very well i've always checked their water dishes and made sure those are always full i'm guessing my problem might be more of the ventilation as far as my Avic tank goes. it has vent holes on 3 faces of the tank at both the upper and middle portions. but maybe it needs more. i'll probably move my Avics out but i think i'll keep my scorpions in I just changed the ones half log to a synthetic rock hide. care of these animals is of utmost importance to me. I just thought that I might be able to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. I do live in florida the hydrometer usually always reads at least 60% humidity. I was just thinking that if these animals come from rainforest jungle environments they probably are used to a more fogy mist like humidity. but also in those area's they're not in an enclosure so there's probably also a lot more air flow.

 

[The Snark]

You meant hygrometer.
Be aware of the difference between tropical rainforest, tropical jungle, and temperate rainforest. By far the most hostile, reflected in a much lower population density of animals, is the temperate rainforest. It is always cool and damp with fungi and molds a constant threat to health. Tropical climes typically become extremely arid for some part of the year which does a severe knock down of many plants and organisms.
The upshot of this is people keep tropical animals but end up subjecting them to temperate climate due to the lack of extreme weather and humidity variations.


A month ago we managed to plug through our usual hot season compounded by drought conditions. The rainforests around here were basically a desert, with almost nothing green to be seen for miles. In the heart of the jungles, high humidity rainforest, it was a critter free for all. You couldn't sit anywhere for more than a few seconds before getting covered with bugs and ants. Humidity ranged from 40% to 80% with temperature ranging from 80F at night to 110F during the days.

Spin it back to living in the coastal redwoods temperate rainforest. mold and fungi central, insects and foraging animals quite rare. Humidity ranged around 65% to 90% (the fog belt) with temperature ranging 40F to 75F, day and night.

 

[Introvertebrate]

This was on a pet blog: "Some females (P. imperator) feed upon their young even if conditions are ideal. Most will “sample” one or two of their brood, but if your scorpion seems bent on eliminating her entire clutch, then your best to remove her and rear them yourself." Maybe your humidity, or lack thereof, had nothing to do with it.

http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatr...pion-has-babieswhat-should-i-do/#.V27jJKLoGnY

 

[Venom1080]

giving avics a lot of humidity is a good way to kill them. i hope you take them out. if you cant handle a few avics and scorps maybe have some one else care for them till your schedule is less full.

 

[Ranitomeya]

It sounds like your humidity is fine if it's always around 60%. I'd focus on providing better ventilation for your Avicularia. Remember that since your scorpions will be at ground level, in hides, or burrowed in the substrate--if they've been provided with enough substrate to do so--they will experience higher humidity from being closer to the source of evaporation as long as the substrate isn't dry.

 

[N8Legged]

giving avics a lot of humidity is a good way to kill them. i hope you take them out. if you cant handle a few avics and scorps maybe have some one else care for them till your schedule is less full.

I moved my Avics out to my Island counter which should provide them with as much airflow as does occur in my apartment. classes just ended. just been a crazy past couple of weeks. i really haven't noticed anything that would indicate my scorps are unhappy or unhealthy besides my Emp killing and eating most of her clutch back in november.

 

[Venom1080]

I moved my Avics out to my Island counter which should provide them with as much airflow as does occur in my apartment. classes just ended. just been a crazy past couple of weeks. i really haven't noticed anything that would indicate my scorps are unhappy or unhealthy besides my Emp killing and eating most of her clutch back in november.

those scorps like high humidity, im not surprised theyre doing fine. good to hear the avics are out.