Strange eggs have turned up

schadbone

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 30, 2010
Messages
14
Hi Guys,
Hundred of eggs have turned up in one of my Tarantula box.
I have no idea what they are / or from.

Has anyone else seen this type of thing?
or knows what they are?

Regards
Steve
 

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losct2381

Arachnosquire
Joined
Dec 2, 2010
Messages
76
Those are spores it's mold like ge said clean the tank real good water and bleach
 

codykrr

Arachnoking
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Sep 22, 2008
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3,112
defiantly not eggs.

That is a mold/fungi.

Looks like the mycelium(fuzzy stuff- which is actually mushroom roots) are trying to fruit(make mushrooms).

It isnt the greatest picture, but I am guessing you use coco fiber?

get you spider out of there ASAP, and discard any and all contents of the enclosure.

The only way to re use the products in the enclosure again, would be to sterilize everything that you want to salvage. other wise the spores(mushroom seeds) will still coat everything.

Sterilize by heating what you want to a minimum of 200F. you can boil things like the water dish. that should do the trick.

Also, you may consider switching over to peat moss. It has a higher acidity level which can tremendously reduce the chances of mold happening again.

If you dont switch, make sure there is more ventilation, and keep it a little less moist.

Cheers, and good luck.

---------- Post added at 11:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:00 PM ----------

Those are spores it's mold like ge said clean the tank real good water and bleach
not spores. spores are the actual seeds of the mycelium, and are far to small to see with the naked eye unless there are billions of them grouped together on say a spore print. mycelium produces fruit bodies(mushrooms) to release more spores(seeds).

spores cannot be destroyed by bleach. the fruit bodies and mycelium yes. but not the seeds(spores).
 

Poxicator

Arachnobaron
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Nov 16, 2007
Messages
354
Ive had this before, ventilation and reduced moisture is the key but its easy to cure.
I certainly wouldnt go to the drastic measures that some suggest. Scrape out the affected substrate and throw it away. If you have some dry substrate place that on top, it will soak up some of that moisture but you might want to use some newspaper to absorb some moisture first.

If you're very concerned, remove your tarantula into a temporary home, take the lid off your enclosure and place it somewhere very warm for a few days, it will dry out naturally.

Simple cure but more importantly if you don't improve the ventilation and reduce the water you're adding you'll see reoccurence and possibly other negative factors. Tropical woodlice/pillbugs and springtails will defintiely help to reduce moulds/fungus and mites - they are garbage men of your tanks.

Remember, spiders do not inhabit sterlile habitats and apart from one instance in a BTS journal Ive never heard of fungus, mould or mushrooms causing any deaths. :)
 

Bill S

Arachnoprince
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Oct 2, 2006
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1,418
Another vote for Poxicator's common sense approach. Extreme measures that some people seem to want to jump to (not just in this thread, but in many cases) are often not necessary and possibly counter-productive.
 

curiousme

Arachnoprince
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I also second Poxicator's post and advice to remedy your situation. No need to freak out and ditch everything, plus it won't be fixing the underlying problem either.

If you try and sterilize everything, you are simply providing the perfect environment for anything to set up shop and live. There are no balance checks from organisms that are already there, because you have removed them and that is what isn't a good idea in my opinion.
 

Musicwolf

Arachnoknight
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Jul 2, 2010
Messages
283
I'll third this one - - Two of my enclosures had very similar molds a while back. I cleaned out what I could see, added ventilation and let the substrate dry out. Had one pop out with them again after I wet the substrate to ensure a good molt, but fixed it the same way again. Doesn't seem to bother the Ts either way, and I chose to do it that way so that I didn't mess up all those tunnels that they had set up in the substrate.
 

codykrr

Arachnoking
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Sep 22, 2008
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My approach may be extreme, but when you see what breathing that crap in can do, you will ditch it too. remember this affects your health as well.

I will stick to my regimen.

But the most "common sense approach" to begin with is to not use coco coir to begin with.

While peat moss *can* mold. Its very unlikely.
 

Poxicator

Arachnobaron
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We all have our different methods, you're certainly not alone in suggesting a full clear out.

The trouble with peat moss is whilst it holds is moisture well, once its dried out it very hard to get it to absorb water again. The other issue is one of peat gnats than seem to survive in it for years. But the biggest issue is its not a renewable source, unlike coir.

You're helping the environment by using coir.
 

Lopez

Arachnoking
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In my experience, coir is a superior substrate to peat. It can spring up mould spores but the benefits (it's excellent texture, stability, resistance to dessication, ease of rejuvination) outweigh the downsides (occasional mould/mushroom spores)

Peat is non renewable, heavy, difficult to rehydrate, easy to saturate...
 

codykrr

Arachnoking
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We all have our different methods, you're certainly not alone in suggesting a full clear out.

The trouble with peat moss is whilst it holds is moisture well, once its dried out it very hard to get it to absorb water again. The other issue is one of peat gnats than seem to survive in it for years. But the biggest issue is its not a renewable source, unlike coir.

You're helping the environment by using coir.
that is a whole different topic. but i will bite.

They also destroy vast amounts of forest to farm coconuts. Therefore either or, there destroying the environment.

Its all an opinion based subject. to each there own.
 

codykrr

Arachnoking
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Strange. I've seen peat mold more often then coco.

Really? Hasnt happened to me yet. I used to get tons of mold/fungus and the occasional mushroom(the yellow one) from coco.

I had plenty of ventilation and they were mostly in the ones that were only barely moist.
 

BCscorp

Arachnoprince
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I also second Poxicator's post and advice to remedy your situation. No need to freak out and ditch everything, plus it won't be fixing the underlying problem either.

If you try and sterilize everything, you are simply providing the perfect environment for anything to set up shop and live. There are no balance checks from organisms that are already there, because you have removed them and that is what isn't a good idea in my opinion.
You do realize your talking about a glass enclosure right?

I think it's best to do the full clean, why do a partial clean and possibly have to go through this again?
 
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curiousme

Arachnoprince
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You do realize your talking about a glass enclosure right?

I think it's best to do the full clean, why do a partial clean and possibly have to go through this again?
Why stress out your T by completely moving it into a new home, if the problem can be fixed with a bit of determination/ work and modifications to the enclosure? A little of the mold may come back once, maybe a couple times, but you can remove it with a spoon and eventually it does go away. If you have fixed the underlying problem, then you should have no worries of it returning 3 months down the road either. That underlying problem is most likely too little ventilation, or substrate that was too wet; which can be due to any number of reasons. In all of the cases that we have had mold, ventilation was the main problem. Once that was fixed, we only removed new mold a few times. I would recommend this route, because it doesn't cause the T to have a settling in period again.

What does the fact that it is a glass enclosure have to do with anything?:?
 

Leviticus

Arachnobaron
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I think both methods have there place depending on the situation. I have experienced mold growth with both peat and coir, though I find the coir extremely dry and difficult to rehydrate after it loses the initial soak. This is probably becase it is extremely dry in general where I live especially during the winter time. Therefore I can basically give any enclosure an extreme misting and never worry because in two days I will need to do it again which I don't mind right now.
 

codykrr

Arachnoking
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Sep 22, 2008
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Why stress out your T by completely moving it into a new home, if the problem can be fixed with a bit of determination/ work and modifications to the enclosure? A little of the mold may come back once, maybe a couple times, but you can remove it with a spoon and eventually it does go away. If you have fixed the underlying problem, then you should have no worries of it returning 3 months down the road either. That underlying problem is most likely too little ventilation, or substrate that was too wet; which can be due to any number of reasons. In all of the cases that we have had mold, ventilation was the main problem. Once that was fixed, we only removed new mold a few times. I would recommend this route, because it doesn't cause the T to have a settling in period again.

What does the fact that it is a glass enclosure have to do with anything?:?
the problem cant be "fixed" or the "underlying problem" solved untill you get the source of mold out. which is spores. When you scoop out what is visible you are missing the rest. mycelium can be finer than a hair. and naked to the eye. when you see mycelium at the surface, its fixing to fruit. what you are missing is the rest of the "roots" that are actually engulfing the substrate. I also am confused by the part about a glass enclosure. maybe he is suggesting it is easy enough to clean.

but trust me, scooping out what you can see is far from solving the problem. spores can lay dormant for hundreds of years.

I think both methods have there place depending on the situation. I have experienced mold growth with both peat and coir, though I find the coir extremely dry and difficult to rehydrate after it loses the initial soak. This is probably becase it is extremely dry in general where I live especially during the winter time. Therefore I can basically give any enclosure an extreme misting and never worry because in two days I will need to do it again which I don't mind right now.
I dont see the problem with people having trouble rehydrating peat. I dont let mine dry out enough to become hard to rehydrate i guess. with species like GBB and other dry kept species when i do decide to flood the tank i literally flood the tank. I literally just dump water into the substrate.
 
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