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Mold Outbreak

airenlow

airenlow

hope is not a strategy
While I was away for Xmas there was a small outbreak of mold in my '08's tubs. My girlfriend was feeding and filling water while I was gone but I told her not to spot clean...I figured the fewer times she had to open their tubs the better the chances were of me still having all my snakes when I got back.

In both tubs the aspen was soaked but there were no signs of the water bowl being tipped. A dark green mold was growing in the corner behind the water bowls. They were promptly bleached and aspen was replaced.

I'm guessing the humidity is too high and all the water evaporated out of the bowls...right? Would the saturated aspen, alone, be enough to cause mold to grow that fast or do you think the lack of spot cleaning contributed? Next feeding day I will be drilling more holes in their tubs...besides that, what else can I do to lower the humidity in a 6 quart tub?

Thanks for any info you might have!
 
The snakes might have spilled the water, too. I'm pretty careful about wiping off the bottoms of the water bowls when I put them back, because mold will grow.
 
airenlow said:
I'm guessing the humidity is too high and all the water evaporated out of the bowls...right? Would the saturated aspen, alone, be enough to cause mold to grow that fast or do you think the lack of spot cleaning contributed? Next feeding day I will be drilling more holes in their tubs...besides that, what else can I do to lower the humidity in a 6 quart tub?

Thanks for any info you might have!
Click to expand...

More holes will help but you can also play around with the placement of the water bowl or try a slightly smaller one. If the water bowl is near heat, it will be more humid in there so if it's not already, I would recommend moving your water bowl as far away from a heat source as possible.

Something that's helped me also is a heating lamp (NOT right on top of the tub) I have my snakes in the same area and their tubs/tanks were getting very humid so I just put a heat lamp in the area, not directly facing or really close to any one tub and this seemed to help my humidity go down.... Just make sure you're extra vigilant about water checks if you have small bowls because the lamp will evaporate the water FAST.
 
I vote poop.

I went on vacation for 3 weeks, and left my snakes in the care of my friends. Who own snakes. I really didn't think I had to *tell* them to spot clean, but apparently they seem to think big gobs of poop are fine because they DIDN'T clean it up at all. It was very fuzzy and moldy when I got back. Ugh.
 
Its been 7 days now and there is no sign of the mold coming back. Their aspen is still bone dry. Very weird! I will keep an eye on it for the next couple weeks. Thanks for the input everybody!
 
v_various said:
I vote poop.

I went on vacation for 3 weeks, and left my snakes in the care of my friends. Who own snakes. I really didn't think I had to *tell* them to spot clean, but apparently they seem to think big gobs of poop are fine because they DIDN'T clean it up at all. It was very fuzzy and moldy when I got back. Ugh.
Click to expand...

I can only imagine how they treat their own snakes! Yeesh.
 
I vote your GF filled the bowls all the way, and the snakes climbed in, spilling half the water out.
 
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