Tarantula Enclosure Smells Bad

[warhorse333]

It smells like the coco fiber substrate, but like it was moistened with puke. Like it's been peed in and left outside. Like a tree that's been grown out of pure sulfur. Like 100 dead crickets have been left to rot in a belly botton. The smells actually makes me stop moving and take it in when I open my T's enclosure. It grips me for a second and I need to mentally tell myself to move before I can move again. The tarantula seems too docile too. In the 5 1/2ish months I've been caring for it I've never seen it capture and kill what I've put in there. It just poops on the glass and leaves a bolus which I'm usually able to find and pick up. If it weren't for that I'd have no idea if the feeders managed to escape or not. It also has not webbed at all but has settled in a half-log of corkbark I've glued to the wall and only eats a couple times a month. Please tell me what I'm doing wrong and if I should change the substrate or not. Thank you for your time.

 

[Vinny2915]

For that type of smell there are 3 options, fungal outbreak (unlikely because you can see it easily and usually isn't that bad of a smell), bacterial outbreak (likely), or a prey item has dug underground or hasn't and died in the enclosure, probably by the sounds of it started rotting too (extremely likely). Had a roach die in an H.mac enclosure and OMG that smell was ripe. It literally smelt my living room up.

 

[Mirandarachnid]

Sounds like you need way more ventilation.

What species? Pictures of the enclosure and spider will be helpful.

 

[Lokee85]

It smells like the coco fiber substrate, but like it was moistened with puke. Like it's been peed in and left outside. Like a tree that's been grown out of pure sulfur. Like 100 dead crickets have been left to rot in a belly botton. The smells actually makes me stop moving and take it in when I open my T's enclosure. It grips me for a second and I need to mentally tell myself to move before I can move again. The tarantula seems too docile too. In the 5 1/2ish months I've been caring for it I've never seen it capture and kill what I've put in there. It just poops on the glass and leaves a bolus which I'm usually able to find and pick up. If it weren't for that I'd have no idea if the feeders managed to escape or not. It also has not webbed at all but has settled in a half-log of corkbark I've glued to the wall and only eats a couple times a month. Please tell me what I'm doing wrong and if I should change the substrate or not. Thank you for your time.

First of all, this was highly entertaining to read, thank you.

As to the smell, what is your ventilation like? Low ventilation can cause stuffy enclosures which could harbor bacteria and cause smells.

Edit: @Mirandarachnid beat me to it.

 

[boina]

Dead feeders, especially large dead feeders, can create quite a stink.

 

[Theneil]

What species is it?
What, how much, and how often are you feeding it?

Sounds like a moist enclosure with dead feeders (crickets?) to me.

 

[MikeofBorg]

Could also be slime mold spores got into the coconut husk during processing. It can smell like urine and probably won’t be visible until the fruiting bodies appear. Some species look like dog vomit when they go into fruit. The stuff if motile too. Moves like an amoeba. It’s like a single giant cell with the cell nuclei all floating together until it fruits. Then it stops moving and goes to spore on the surface.

 

[Venom1080]

my bets definitely on dead feeders. even stuffy cages dont smell like that. and mold ive seen in cages doesnt smell terrible.

 

[Sarkhan42]

Likely not the case in this instance, but the thing that always springs into mind when I smell something putrid in my collection is phorids. I’m mostly rid of them now, maybe one or two showing up now and then, but goooooood lord the stench of an infested carcass may be one of the worst smells in this hobby, it really never leaves you.

 

[warhorse333]

Sorry about the late reply guys, school is hectic. I'm cheap, so I got this terrestrial enclosure and just turned it on it's side. I then used glue and paper to make sure the substrate doesn't fall out every time I open it. As I previously said, my Avicularia Avicularia isn't webbing or has much of an appetite, so I'm wondering if maybe the the enclosure is too small or not ventilated enough or something.

 

[Rittdk01]

If it smells like puke u should probably change it lol.