Should tarantula poop be cleaned up?

[UralOwl]

The main reason I ask this is because my A. versicolor has little blobs of poop covering the leaves in her enclosure. When she defecates on the glass, it's easy for me to just wipe off, but the leaves are another story. I don't want to take the leaves out and wash them as she's got her tube webbing behind them and I wouldn't want to destroy it.

Aside from it being a bit displeasing on the eye, is there any need to clean out tarantula faeces? Can it affect the tarantula in any kind of way if left idle after a period of time?
I've never really cleaned it out before (aside from wiping it off the glass in my avic's case) and my G. porteri has poop lining the glass on the front side of her enclosure now, but she couldn't seem to care less; she's probably one of the most inactive Ts I've got.

 

[SuzukiSwift]

There really isn't any need, even if you cleaned the poop from the leaves she would just poop on it again anyway, best to not disturb her and her web and just leave the poop there =) My versi has poop on her leaves to that's been there for a long time and it doesn't bother her, that's why they leave their tunnel web to poop, so they don't mess up where they spend most of their time lol

 

[MarkmD]

I don't usually clean poop that often, sometimes every month or if not bad every 3 months.

 

[jakykong]

I do like to clean poop off the front/front of the sides of enclosures, for aesthetic reasons. It doesn't seem to be a necessity for the tarantula, though.

FWIW, it does clean easy - just a Q-tip and some water is all I use.

 

[hamhock 74]

I do a complete clean of everything only when I move the tarantula to another enclosure, hot water and white vinegar. Some cages I haven't touched in 1.5 years, no problems.

 

[UralOwl]

Thanks for all the replies.

I do like to clean poop off the front/front of the sides of enclosures, for aesthetic reasons. It doesn't seem to be a necessity for the tarantula, though.

FWIW, it does clean easy - just a Q-tip and some water is all I use.

I actually hadn't thought of this before, lol. Problem is, my Versicolor tends to be out in the open about 70% of the time, and she can be pretty skittish, so I'd have to wait till she's in her webbing before I could do some leaf cleaning. I'll try it out sometime though.

 

[Solucki]

Also, for those hard to reach places, I use a chopstick or skewer wrapped with wet paper towel.

 

[macbaffo]

R: Should tarantula poop be cleaned up?

Aside for aesthetic and visibility of the enclosure from outside to inside there is no particular side effect on leaving poop around.
If you have a really well ventilated enclosure you could mist water inside all over glass and leaves once in a month or so.
Once a year a complete remake of the setup is advised also for scratching poop away from stuff.

 

[poisoned]

Once a year a complete remake of the setup is advised also for scratching poop away from stuff.

It's uneccessary, but can be done for owners pleasure.

 

[McGuiverstein]

I do like to clean poop off the front/front of the sides of enclosures, for aesthetic reasons. It doesn't seem to be a necessity for the tarantula, though.

FWIW, it does clean easy - just a Q-tip and some water is all I use.

Same here.

OP, I don't think you have to worry about it.