mold in terrarium

dianabee · Jun 11, 2008

Hi everyone,

I've noticed little bits of white mold growing on my cocofiber in my tiger salamander's enclosure. I'm concerned because I do not have it set up as a self-sustainable vivarium (there's no plants). Should I allow my enclosure to cycle as I would a vivarium, or should I remove the mold?

Also, is this an indicator that my humidity is too high? It's been pretty hot/ humid outside lately, and although my air conditioner's helped some, my apartment has still been pretty humid.

Thanks!

Mark · Jun 12, 2008

Mould and fungus are quite common in new terrariums. It normally disappears when the micro-fauna/flora establishes but this can take a few weeks. If it becomes rampant you should remove the substrate it’s growing on. If it's only a small amount I would be inclined to leave it alone and let nature take it’s course. Warm temperatures will aggravate it’s growth.

Topsoil tends to resist moulding. I think it has better micro-fauna properties. Coco-fibre is normally sold dry, sterile and vacuum packed; sometimes fungus is the first thing to get established on it.

Add a handful of spring-tails and woodlice as tank custodians

.

flyangler18 · Jun 12, 2008

I'll echo Mark's advice- springtails and isopods will keep fungal blooms at bay. These are commonly cultured for feeding poison dart frogs and similarly sized small amphibians, or you can collect some from under moist leaf litter and rotting wood locally. The tiger salamander will likely ignore them, so you can get a good healthy population reproducing in viv.

If you have difficulty finding cultures, let me know- I have some extras.

dianabee · Jun 12, 2008

Thanks for the response.
I know that a self-sustaining vivarium should cycle, as well as have all the good guy inverts. I currently have a tree-frog tank that's been going pretty well on its own for about a year.

However, I'd prefer not to have my salamander tank set up that way. His tank has no plants and no inverts, it's pretty simplistic.

The mold isn't bad, its just a little white coating in one corner, I was really just wondering if I should remove it since I'm not planning on adding any other biotic elements to the tank?

PS. Thanks Jason for the offer

, but as I've mentioned, I'm not looking to add any inverts, and I've got my own culture from my frog tank.

flyangler18 · Jun 12, 2008

However, I'd prefer not to have my salamander tank set up that way. His tank has no plants and no inverts, it's pretty simplistic.

The mold isn't bad, its just a little white coating in one corner, I was really just wondering if I should remove it since I'm not planning on adding any other biotic elements to the tank?

Well, even my most spartan simplistic salamander tanks wind up with a healthy microfauna population after a time- usually with little effort from me to 'seed' the tank. A handful of leaf litter and it's off and running. All the tanks are in the basement, so things tend to pop up in the tanks this time of year.

If you don't want to intentionally introduce tank janitors, there's no harm in scooping out the offending mold.

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