Mold

JaceJohn21

Arachnopeon
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Jul 23, 2007
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I was wondering if mold is harmful to my emperor scorpions. I have some driftwood in their aquarium that is growing mold on it. Its only one the wood and now where else. Its white colored also if that helps.
 
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~Abyss~

Arachnoking
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Mar 28, 2006
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yes, yes it is. I would clean that off and possibly remove the driftwood.
 

tabor

Arachnoprince
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I make a little bleach / water solution and just dip the wood in there a couple of times, kills mold and keeps mold away :)


just wash it real good with water afterwards
 

JaceJohn21

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Jul 23, 2007
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I make a little bleach / water solution and just dip the wood in there a couple of times, kills mold and keeps mold away :)


just wash it real good with water afterwards
Will the bleach keep mold from growing on the wood or will I have to repeat every week or two.
 

tabor

Arachnoprince
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no need to repeat...its been about a month since ive done it..still no mold :)
 

icefish

Arachnoknight
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is it dangerous to use bleach? doesn't the bleach kill the scorpion? thanks!!
 

Crono

Arachnobaron
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I would hope he took the wood out of the enclosure to do it. As long as it has been rinsed afterwards, there should be no harmful residue.
But do not put bleach into the enclosure.
 

tabor

Arachnoprince
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Use common sense !

Yes I took the wood out of the enclosure...sheesh people
 

icefish

Arachnoknight
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are ur guys sure the bark doesn't contain bleach residue completely? just curious that if some bleach left, what gonna happen? and what is the ratio of bleach and water mixture? thanks!!
 

Thaedion

Arachnoangel
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just throw out the offending wood, and get a plastic log. :p

Seriously though I would bake any wood that causes mold and if it comes back ditch it. I had a really cool looking piece of wood that grew mold instantly even after baking it, I ditched it! I'd get some wooden 1/2 logs that never grow mold others an orgy of fungi in less than a week.

But the accepted ratio is 1:10 dilution of bleach in water. don't use the scented bleach etc. Scrub the wood and rinse thoroughly repeat the rinse until you are satisfied there is no residue left over.

Use common sense !
I don't have any common sense... I play with scorpions... :D
 
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BadBikaDamo

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Jul 1, 2007
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I recently baked the some bark for a new set up at 150'c for 1hr, as a chef, I know this is more then adequate for killing any pathogens, even those that have developed spores. Unfortunately, within half a day of setting up the enclosure, mold developed on the bark items. Never had this problem when I just boiled same bark from same dead tree I use in all my other enclosures. So I'm going back to boiling wood items, baking substrate.

Damo
 

tabor

Arachnoprince
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are ur guys sure the bark doesn't contain bleach residue completely? just curious that if some bleach left, what gonna happen? and what is the ratio of bleach and water mixture? thanks!!

i normally use 1 part bleach but thats for a light rinse, if i'm feeling creative and want to make some cool light colored designs for the light colored scorps i use a concentrated solution and make some marking on it for a more rustic look.

i have done this for a while now and have seen no ill effects at all, just wash it thoroughly.
 

Rigelus

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Jul 12, 2006
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I know mould looks nasty when it starts developing on pieces of damp bark and for that feature alone is highly undesirable in a enclosure but does it actually represent a health hazard to a scorpion.?
Does anyone have any hard and fast proof that mould in a emps enclosure is going to harm it.?

I can't imagine a emps natural habitat of warm, dark and damp is so sanitized that mould is not naturally occuring.
 

skinheaddave

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I'm sure that mould -- at least some types -- can be harmful to scorpions.

That being said, I've found that when setting up humid enclosures a little mould might actually be a good thing. I tend to trim away any really bulky mould, but leave a little bit in the enclosure. After a while, I find that the soil seems to naturally resist mould. For years I had a Heterometrus tank going with almost no air circulation and no mould problems. There were all sorts of little critters living in there and I found you could throw in a dead cricket and it would fluff up a bit but then quickly recede. I did no tank maintenance and the population of scorpions exploded. I didn't even feed all the time, as there were several species of prey insect breeding in the tank as well. Unfortunately, when I moved it got relegated to the garage and all went wrong. I ended up tearing it down and keeping the scorpions individually in smaller containers.

I didn't do any controlled studies so I don't know whether there was a lack of spores, a lack of food for the mould, enough mould grazing inverts or whatnot -- but it worked well for me. I've done the same in a few smaller enclosures since with some success.

Cheers,
Dave
 
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