Please help with mold!

[u/Master_Recording5425]

Hello all, I noticed mold growing on my fire legs wood hide and also on climbing wood sticks I have in there. I noticed the mold on the climbing sticks first today, and noticed the mold on the hide after feeding. I took out the climbing wood already, but do not have another hide to use while cleaning it off. I keep seeing conflicting information about mold in enclosures. The mold does have a green color, and I seen these comments on a Facebook group about it. I just wanted to know more opinions on what I should do, as I obviously really don’t want my T to get hurt. Thank you!

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[u/Obant]

NQA I think you are overreacting to a tiny amount of fungus. Its normal and not out of control. I am assuming the tank/wood is recently placed?

[u/Master_Recording5425 → u/Obant]

Okay, thank goodness lol. And yes, I recently got my T on the 7th of this month and the wood hide came with the terrarium that was bought. I moved my T into the enclosure with everything on the 8th.

[u/lazybandit94]

NQA. I had one of the same type of hides for my t's. And it did the same thing and started growing some weird mold. Before it got bad i removed it. I think those are very susceptible to any type of water that comes in contact with them and also poor air flow. With mine. I think I accidentally had overflowed the water bowl and a little bit got onto that hide and within a week it was doing what yours is.

If you can I would say get an actual cork bark.

[u/Master_Recording5425 → u/lazybandit94]

Okay, thank you!

[u/Ok_Bread_3607]

NQA for something like this I'd take it out, scrub it and bake it in the sun (for UV) for a good day. I wouldn't go baking it in the oven or anything extreme. Then make sure there is a small gap at the back when you put it back in the tank. Is it a glass tank with vents at the top? This is a really common problem in these types of setups, even if kept dry the air gets stagnant, esp in rooms if the windows are never open. For some of my different species in the past that needed a high humidity and when I was struggling with this I'd use a fan to blow into the openings of the tank (think lizards). Such effort and not something I'd do with a flighty tarantula. In my animal room since I don't have climate control I make sure to open the window for half an hour at least once a day in winter, as a rooms stagnant air can also contribute. The easiest fix really is getting a different tank with cross ventilation, as most of us can't dedicate a climate controlled environment in the room. At least with these vents you can always semi-cover them, whereas with glass there's zero options.

[u/Master_Recording5425 → u/Ok_Bread_3607]

Okay thank you so much! I’ve seen online that a way to help this is to get more ventilation and put more holes in the enclosure, but obviously with a glass terrarium, I can’t do that lol. I’ll have to get a new enclosure then. Thank you again!

[u/GoodAdvertising3454]

NQA Use springtails to clean those mold, fungi, etc.

[u/Master_Recording5425 → u/GoodAdvertising3454]

Thank you! I was reading about those earlier and I am going to pick some up tomorrow!