Mold in Brev. Enclosure

[Dyesub Dave]

About a week ago I bought a couple of Pygmy Brev. Chams and set up their enclosure as per the general outline. There's a layer of Hydroton, Charcoal & Coconut Fibre. On top of this there are several plants in pots, peat moss, sphagnum moss and dead leaves and twigs.

I've been spraying them twice a day ... in the morning and evening. The humidity is about 96% after spraying and gets down to about 40% at the time of the next spray. Mind you the humidity gauge is near the top of the enclosure. Temps range from daytime high 70's to nightime high 60's to low 70's.

I've noticed that some of the dead leaves on the bottom are starting to get a bit of fuzzy mold on them. I'm assuming that this is from the damp conditions on the floor of the enclosure. I was wondering if this would be a problem for the chams? Should I remove the moldy leaves or just let nature take it's course?

Here is a pic of the enclosure. I'll try to get a closeup of the moldy leaves this weekend.

Any thoughts or suggestions you have would be appreciated.

Thanks ... Dyesub Dave.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I would remove any signs of mold.
You may want to invest in some sowbugs and springtails.

-Brad

 

[Dyesub Dave]

OK ... Thanks Brad. Is this a common occurrence in terrarium type setups?

Dyesub Dave.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I imagine it happens quite often when an environment like this is being initially established.
Mold is bad for most living things and should (as I mentioned) be removed and strategies to prevent it employed.
The bugs I mentioned do help keep a habitat like this clean, but I would also focus on drying times. Just like with a screen environment, there needs to be sufficient "dry out" time between mistings. If you are getting mold, I think you may be keeping the enclosure too wet.
With any advice coming from me, concerning this particular species, it needs to be considered that I don't keep them and have no practical experience. Someone with pygs may have different or better advice concerning this and their advice should be received with higher regard.

-Brad

 

[Sean1978]

This type of thing happens with people who keep hermit crabs also, as they require a high-humidity and tropical temperature. I think ultraviolet light prevents mold from growing. Are you using any sort of special lights?

 

[Dyesub Dave]

I imagine it happens quite often when an environment like this is being initially established.
Mold is bad for most living things and should (as I mentioned) be removed and strategies to prevent it employed.
The bugs I mentioned do help keep a habitat like this clean, but I would also focus on drying times. Just like with a screen environment, there needs to be sufficient "dry out" time between mistings. If you are getting mold, I think you may be keeping the enclosure too wet.
With any advice coming from me, concerning this particular species, it needs to be considered that I don't keep them and have no practical experience. Someone with pygs may have different or better advice concerning this and their advice should be received with higher regard.

-Brad

Okay ... thanks for your suggestions Brad. I was just under the assumption that the humidity was supposed to stay fairly high for these little guys.

This type of thing happens with people who keep hermit crabs also, as they require a high-humidity and tropical temperature. I think ultraviolet light prevents mold from growing. Are you using any sort of special lights?

No not yet. That's one of my projects for this weekend. I currently only have a small 25W incandescent flood bulb over them. Perhaps I will remove the moldy leaves that are in there and when I provide some low level UVA/UVB fluorescent lighting it will keep the mold at bay.

Thanks ... Dyesub Dave.

 

[Julirs]

My pygmy tank has been up and running since last July and no mold whatsoever-and here I sit in humid Florida. Did you bake those leaves to kill off any yucky stuff? I only used brown dead leaves and baked them. If your leaves are too fresh I can see why they would mold up.

 

[Fidel]

Mold growth usually occurs in new dart frog enclosures which are similar to pygmy enclosures, especially on wood. The froggers say it is harmless, to frogs, not sure about chams though.

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Some mold/mildew is normal in a newly created habitat. We had it too. When I researched online at the time I learned that these habitats have to achieve an eco balance. Like a fish tank does. Once that takes place the mold disappears. In the mean time I cleaned it out by hand by wiping it off the surfaces. If I remember correctly, our habitat took a few weeks to get "established". I did bake all my leaves and wood before it went into the tank. And washed the moss in a 10 percent bleach solution, then rinsed it well. Hopefully you did that, as well. (I think I ended up googling "mold in terrarium" to get an answer).

We do currently have a gnat problem I have to deal with.

 

[Dyesub Dave]

Thanks for the responses. No I didn't bake the leaves. They were just leaves that had fallen off houseplants ( ie. Ficus, Hibiscus, Croton .. etc.) and they probably hadn't dried up totally. Perhaps I will take all of the leaves out and find new ones and bake them first. I also have a piece of birch bark wood that I want to get a curl of bark from. I was thinking of baking it but thought the the white bark may turn brown. Perhaps STEAMING it would work. I was actually going to start a thread about STEAMING items instead of boiling or baking.

I was thinking of the ECO-BALANCE process as well as I also keep fish tanks so it makes sense to me. Actually that's why I asked in the first place because I thought that it just may be a cycle that the new terrarium has to go through first. I'm going to try and find some sow bugs as well. I do have a red wiggler colony going right now. Do you think it would be a good idea to introduce some of those to the mix? They would likely help break down moldy materials but also would likely wreck all of the substrate.

Dyesub Dave.