mould and humidity

[jason holland]

ok.... got a slight problem. not completely important... but it will be.

i got a a. versi a couple of weeks ago. i wanted to get a juvi, so got a tank it could live in and grow into... so got that all sorted. but in the end couldnt get a juvi and got a sling instead. so i bought a small container to put it in. then put that container inside its (evntually) bigger home. so hes double enclosed if you like. everything was going ok until i noticed mould in the "big" tank the other day. inside his smaller container its all fine. substrate is damp, and its humid and hot enough. the bigger tank tho looses moisture quite quick. humidity is a under recomended, but not by loads. there seems to be quite a lot of air vents in the top of the big tank... so what i want to know is....

would i be getting mould because im wetting the subsrate quite often due to it losing moisture fast in the big tank?

ive thought of blocking up most of the vents in the top ( say about 3/4 of them) but not sure what with.....

obviouslt the mould needs to be sorted too... so ill prob just redo the sub.

ummm.... swear there was one last thing...duno... just a reminder that the versi's house container is fine. no probs there... its just his future home. but i want to get it ready soi know it works for when he moves in. (basically this is a test if u like as i wasnt sure how this bigger house would work)

cheers for all the help. sorry about the humongous amount of text.

[Peter Roach]

obviouslt the mould needs to be sorted too...

Why ?

Mold will grow if it is too wet or not enough ventilation as you know but mold never hurt anyone and I would bet a lot of money that there are many millions of versi's in the wild who dont worry about mold either.

What type of mold and where is it ?
What type and how big are the two containers ?
What type of substrate are you using ?

My versi's containers had fungus and algae growing all over the substrate but as the versi's NEVER EVER go to the bottom, prefering to stay in the top 1/4 of the containers I never ever bothered to remove the growing multi-coloured slimey sludge and my versi's grew from 1cm slings to 3-4in with no problems or loses.

Everyone has their own idea on how to keep their prize pets but I really think that people worry to much about 'mold'.

I have always kept my avic slings/juvs in containers that have vermiculite substrate which is almost floating in water but I also have mega amounts of ventilation in every container so that the large amount of evaporation creates high humidity that they need but also provides the spiders with an enviroment that hasnt got stagnant air.

Versi's are in the pint sized containers on the top shelf, middle rack.

[James Box]

lol any excuse, eh Peter?
i do envy your organisational skills!

[Clinton Hogben]

Hi Mate
I found after some advice on this forum that common garden woodlice eat the mould and the spider ignores them well my L para does anyway I lobbed about a dozen in a couple of months back and haven't had and fungus / mould since.
if it really worries you change the substrata but you will find it difficult to keep it at bay in a humid tank

All the best

[jason holland]

cool cheers all. i wasnt worried to much... but i just wasnt sure how bad it could be.
the mould is scattered over the substrate and no where else.
the mould itself looks like someone has come along, god some wettish dust, and carefully placed little bits of dust on the substrate.
i use "forest bed" from T-rex

the containers....
the big one, looks like this - (kinda similar to your bottom right one peter)

its plastic and is L15 x H12 x W9(ish)

the small one (where the .versi is ) looks like so -

its a plastic food container with holes drilled in the top. (its plastic is slightly cloudy but see through)

its aprox C 3 x H 5.5