Possible substrate Nematodes?

Wallo

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 12, 2019
Messages
9
So I discovered today that I may have recently left a dead dubia inside my sling enclosure and upon checkin I saw quite a few worms roaming around the substrate. For what I could gather as info on google, this could be harmless to the tarantula and will disappear once the dead food item is removed and if I let the substrate dry out. However, I'm wondering wether or not I should completely remove this soil and add new clean one? TIA

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cold blood

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Jan 19, 2014
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sling enclosures are small, its a quick fix to change it out. Fwiw, there is no reason to ever have such damp substrate....keep in mind, too wet is a much bigger problem than too dry.
 

Wallo

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 12, 2019
Messages
9
sling enclosures are small, its a quick fix to change it out. Fwiw, there is no reason to ever have such damp substrate....keep in mind, too wet is a much bigger problem than too dry.
Definitely is too wet. Enclosure is fairly recent not even a week old and as it's so small I made it too wet not realising it. You're right, it's so small I can just change it in 15 minutes, this question was mostly out of curiosity to know if these worms serve the same purpose as springtails, if harmless or useless. Thank you :)
 

spideyspinneret78

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jul 19, 2019
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1,253
Definitely is too wet. Enclosure is fairly recent not even a week old and as it's so small I made it too wet not realising it. You're right, it's so small I can just change it in 15 minutes, this question was mostly out of curiosity to know if these worms serve the same purpose as springtails, if harmless or useless. Thank you :)
They're probably harmless detritivores. Unsightly maybe, but I doubt they would hurt your spider. The fact that so many of them are there, though, is an indicator that the conditions may be damp with poor ventilation.
 

Wallo

Arachnopeon
Joined
Jul 12, 2019
Messages
9
They're probably harmless detritivores. Unsightly maybe, but I doubt they would hurt your spider. The fact that so many of them are there, though, is an indicator that the conditions may be damp with poor ventilation.
Thank you :) I don't think there's poor ventilation, it's a small Critter Box (From Lucky Reptile) so whole top is holes and there's holes on the side too. The T I'm housing there is a P. Metallica and what I've seen pretty much everywhere is that as slings they should be kept on moist substrate with 70 to 80% humidity even though I clearly did too much but I've already rehoused it just to be on the safe side. I'm pretty sure what caused it was the dead dubia roach and I'm glad it didn't get much worse before I noticed! :)
 
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