Mould?

[Andrew Murdoch]

At the moment I have a Goliath which appears settled enough. At the front of the glass takkI noticed something which I think must be a type of mould in the substrate, it looks like 'small dots', it has spread across the front of the takn and I can only assume it has also spread back a bit as well!
The humidity level is high, the water bowl is always a quarter full, the other day I poured water into the substrate to dampen it. The substrate is kept dampish.
I am slightly concerned about the mould though. Any suggestions to adress this or is it okay?

[Stanley A. Schultz]

At the moment I have a Goliath which appears settled enough. At the front of the glass takkI noticed something which I think must be a type of mould in the substrate, it looks like 'small dots', it has spread across the front of the takn and I can only assume it has also spread back a bit as well!
The humidity level is high, the water bowl is always a quarter full, the other day I poured water into the substrate to dampen it. The substrate is kept dampish. ...

Ahhhh. The blondi owner's lament: "I've got THINGS growing in my blondi's cage!"

A couple of points to consider:

1. The "things" you can see growing in a blondi's cage aren't what you need to worry about. It's the things that you can't see that'll kill the tarantula.

2. It's a good idea to always have a second, back up cage fully set up except kept dry to switch your blondi into on a moments notice in case you need to. When (not if!) it's time to change, merely dampen the substrate, fill the water dish and switch the tarantula over.

Be sure to immediately clean the old cage and set it up as the spare for next time.

... Any suggestions to adress this or is it okay?

Unfortunately, no. Not really. Unless you want to try acclimating your blondi to a dryer cage. A few of us have succeeded in doing this, but it's not guaranteed to work.

Whenever you think you see something in your blondi's cage that makes you question whether you should clean it or not, it's time to clean it.

Best of luck.

[Mrs Linda Street]

Just to add something to this thread, we don't keep our Theraphosas in wet substrate, we give them a large water dish, and give a good spray once to twice a week, and ensure decent through ventilation, and that goes for adults and juveniles, with obviously more humidity for slings, and they are all doing really well, because mould, flies and mites were a nuisance previously.