P. Irminia issue, web or mold?

[The Mack]

I recently picked up a P. Irminia sling, about an inch in size, and currently have him housed in a small simple acrylic enclosure with holes drilled. Everything has been fine but I noticed that only a day or two after I put in some sphagnum moss it was covered and inter-weaved with what looks like very thick and coarse webbing. Upon close inspection the "webbing" looks very coarse, long and curly at places almost like the fake synthetic webbing you buy for Halloween or even knotted up gray hairs. There is no sheen or glisten to it and it doesn't look like normal webbing (though I am pretty new to the hobby) and I hadn't noticed the spider do any webbing on the piece of cork bark I have in there either. There is a LOT of it all throughout the moss and I was surprised that the spider would lay down that much webbing in only a day. My sub adult A. Avic doesn't web even close to that much and his webbing looks normal. Unfortunately I can't really get a good picture of it, they don't come out. .

Anyways I was worried that it may be some kind of mold that I haven't seen before. Has anyone ever seen this kind of weird webbing from a P. Irminia sling? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[The Mack]

You can actually see it in these pics. . you have to enlarge them a bit though.

 

[shanebp]

I'm no expert, but that just looks like webbing to me. I would say you have nothing to worry about, but I could be wrong.

 

[JamieC]

Looks like webbing to me too.

 

[Moltar]

Actually, I think that's mold. Give it another day to grow, you'll see.

 

[BlackCat]

I have to agree that it looks like mold.

I've had some that looked like that before. Removed what I could and isopods made quick work of the rest.

 

[shanebp]

Anybody else have any input on this? I'm interested to know if its mold or webbing lol

 

[Kathy]

Where do you buy these isopods people speak of?

 

[spyd3r1]

Looks like mold to me.

 

[Malhavoc's]

isopods are mostly wild caught then reared a few generations, they are also known as pill bogs sow bugs tc

look like mold.

 

[Clement]

Looks like mold to me.

+1 you should take it off

 

[Lorum]

It is easy. Touch that thing (the web or mold) and pull it; if it doesn't resist, and breaks easily, it is mold. If it is very resistant it is web.

Looks like mold to me too, specially for the moss, in which it usually grows.

 

[Moltar]

If that was my tank i'd remove ALL of the moss, let the tank dry a bit then replace it with dryer moss. If you look closely it's all throughout the bulk of the moss. That stuff does hold moisture nicely but it will grow mold if too moist (obviously). That mold grows fast too.

 

[mikebannon]

that looks like mold to me. i have a P. irminia sling as well that only webbs up on his cork bark and top of the acrylic container.Also , why would an arboreal webb on the ground? thats also why i think mold.
-good luck

 

[flyguycolorado]

that looks like mold to me. i have a P. irminia sling as well that only webbs up on his cork bark and top of the acrylic container.Also , why would an arboreal webb on the ground? thats also why i think mold.
-good luck

+1 For mold-:8o
Mikebannon- yes P. irminia will web on the ground as slings and into adult life- most will burrow down and make web curtains- as slings/sub adults they are sub arboreal.
Most will do this less as adults but as slings and sub adults they live near/on the ground.

 

[Roy]

I think it is mold too. I have seen those in some of my scorpion containers, and scorpions most definitely do not web, LOL

 

[The Mack]

Thanks for all the replies folks. I just removed all of the moss and even after a good close look at it I'm still kinda stumped. I've never seen mold grow in fibers before, but then again I've never seen a spider web in knotty clumps before either. I'm leaning towards it being mold though. I'm going to replace it with some drier moss and see what happens. Thanks again!

 

[Moltar]

I forget what they're called but those fibers are the early stages of mold. First you get those fibrous threads, then some fruiting bodies the POW! mold everywhere. In another 24 hours it would have looked like shredded up cottonballs in there.

 

[The Mack]

Moltar, that's interesting. That is sort of what it looked like when I took it out. .like shredded cotton balls. I've never seen that kind of mold before, in the past I only have ran into the blue/green stuff that grows on wood in damp substrate. It makes sense though that it would be a different kind of mold because of a different medium (the moss).

 

[Moltar]

Exactly Mack. There are untold amounts of mold and fungus and bacteria just all over the place looking for the right combination of environment and food to get established. I've only really seen THAT type of white stringy mold in moss like you have pictured and starting up on a bolus that is sitting on very moist substrate.

Wood grows green/yellow fuzz.

Coco coir (or contaminants in it) grows clusters of white balls.

Mildew grows green/black slime.

Etc...