Mold Discovered on Bark: HELP

[Lofiforever]

Hey everyone!

Just got four new slings on Tuesday. Baked some natural wood bark in oven at 400 degrees and put in enclosure, now 6 days later see a few mold spots on bark. Immediately removed all bark and am replacing with cork bark...Do I need to rehouse? How at risk are my slings?

 

[Astron]

How big are your slings and enclosures to warrant putting bark in? Just trying to gauge your sizing on what a sling is, as I know it can vary a fair bit.

Did you pick the natural bark up from a pet store or the like, or just stuff you found around a park or such? Got to be careful on the latter, never know what it's been exposed to by way of pesticides, chemicals or other potentially dangerous toxins, flora and fauna.

The other consideration on baking at that temp will be how long you did it for and how big and wet the pieces you were baking were when they went in. 400 degrees, even preheated, isn't going to do much for killing the nasties if it was only for 10 minutes.

I've used natural wood/bark in a couple of my enclosures for larger T's (even juvies), but it's sourced from a farrier friend of mine who smokes his pieces for his reptile enclosures for at least 24 hours to make sure nothing nasty has survived afterwards, and neither of us have had any issues so far (touch wood! Yeah, bad pun I know...)

Last thing to consider, which I'm guessing is the most likely reason if you've already considered all of the above, is how wet you're keeping the substrate. Even cork bark will get mouldy that quickly if you've got it too wet from being a bit liberal with regular mistings (which you would be completely right in doing with slings!)

 

[The Snark]

The other consideration on baking at that temp will be how long you did it for and how big and wet the pieces you were baking were when they went in. 400 degrees, even preheated, isn't going to do much for killing the nasties if it was only for 10 minutes.

Chlorine concentrations, fungicides, H2O2, hair dryer, towels left for days in the sun and soaked in boiling water, convection oven and microwave until the towels start turning brown, UV, .5 u ceramic water filter, and the black mold keeps coming back. So far I have found ONE fully effective method that kills ALL spores in specific locations: Propane torch.
Best of luck with your mold problems.

Last thing to consider, which I'm guessing is the most likely reason if you've already considered all of the above, is how wet you're keeping the substrate. Even cork bark will get mouldy that quickly if you've got it too wet

Exactly our problem. If it's damp, spores will find it and grow. PERIOD.

 

[Astron]

Chlorine concentrations, fungicides, H2O2, hair dryer, towels left for days in the sun and soaked in boiling water, convection oven and microwave until the towels start turning brown, UV, .5 u ceramic water filter, and the black mold keeps coming back. So far I have found ONE fully effective method that kills ALL spores in specific locations: Propane torch.

I love the smell of napalm in the morning!

Exactly our problem. If it's damp, spores will find it and grow.

But yeah, I'm thinking you're spot on there - prep and dry out substrate fully before adjusting moisture level for the enclosure and putting it in. And if you need a humid enclosure, get the cleanup crew prepped and ready to get in there beforehand!

 

[Lofiforever]

How big are your slings and enclosures to warrant putting bark in? Just trying to gauge your sizing on what a sling is, as I know it can vary a fair bit.

I've used natural wood/bark in a couple of my enclosures for larger T's (even juvies), but it's sourced from a farrier friend of mine who smokes his pieces for his reptile enclosures for at least 24 hours to make sure nothing nasty has survived afterwards, and neither of us have had any issues so far (touch wood! Yeah, bad pun I know...)

Last thing to consider, which I'm guessing is the most likely reason if you've already considered all of the above, is how wet you're keeping the substrate. Even cork bark will get mouldy that quickly if you've got it too wet from being a bit liberal with regular mistings (which you would be completely right in doing with slings!)

The two slings are a 3/4" Caribena Versicolor and a 1" Chromatopelma Cyaneopubescens. Both are in 32 ounce deli containers with 45 air punctures on each vertical side for cross-ventilation. The Versicolor has 2" of substrate and the Cyaneopubescens has 3". Substrate is a blend of coco fiber, arachnid-specific topsoil and a small amount of vermiculite.

Have been keeping the Versicolor a bit more moist than the Cyaneopubescens, but not much. Have misted both every 3 days. Cyaneopubescens had molted during shipping and has not eaten, Versicolor accepted one small prekilled cricket since I got him/her.

Bark pieces came from my backyard tree and had not been sprayed with anything. Were baked at 400 degrees for 12 minutes, and have since been removed.

Read the extensive mold post on here...it was a light green fuzz on the bark only, not substrate, and appeared about a day ago. I am thinking they should be fine?

Welcome any and all feedback.

 

[Lofiforever]

I am thinking I may just rehouse them anyway and not take any chances.

 

[Astron]

Read the extensive mold post on here...it was a light green fuzz on the bark only, not substrate, and appeared about a day ago. I am thinking they should be fine?

Absolutely, sounds like you've done exactly the right thing and gotten everything out nice and early before it's become a bigger problem and may have impacted the health of your wonderful bubbas.

Please forgive my ignorance on what the temps/humidity are like in NJ around this time of year, but I'm guessing they're cold and dry and so you're keeping them artificially heated and spraying regularly to compensate?

Obvs have no idea what your setup is like and I'm completely hypothesizing, so any extra info can only help guide additional advice!

 

[aphono]

Pictures of enclosures might help.

The real concern is they might be kept too moist. High humidity+ low ventilation is a killer for avics/Caribena. Your ventilation seems okay though, might be a case of possibly overly moistening them despite the ventilation.

Keep the versicolors on the drier side with a water dish along the occasional overflowing to create a small wet spot around it.

Cyaneopubescens will be fine on bone dry substrate plus water dish. It's fine to moisten a part of their substrate but only a small part if you don't want to go bone dry for it. Keep water dish full at all times for both species & let the overflown part dry out in between.

If you don't want to do water dishes, it is fine to mist occasionally. No need to go nuts misting, spray one area instead of all over. Maybe reduce the frequency- every 3 days is a bit excessive, especially if the substrate has been moist/very moist.

It's fine to simply let the enclosures dry out. I'd replace the substrate because of the vermiculite & reduce amount of substrate for cyaneopubescens as they are not diggers in the slightest bit. That much is simply a waste & takes away the inside height for their webbing. Straight cocofiber, straight topsoil or combo of the two is fine.