Fungus/mold in a terrarium

[LLeopardGGecko]

When I first started growing CPs in terrariums I had several small fans blowing over the light hoods and into the tanks to keep temperatures down and air circulation up. Well, since our house was redone last month, I neglected to put the fans back on the terrariums. Everything seemed to be fine until today, when I noticed some fuzzy growth on some of the dead (devoured) insects on some of the sundew leaves. Do you guys think this is a result of the fans not being there? I do keep several parts of my terrarium open on the top, like roughly 2 inches or so along the sides. With this in mind, it's not like air can't get in. Perhaps air isn't moving enough? Or do you think it's just a conincidence and sometimes old prey gets moldy sometimes?

 

[cplantlover2]

That happens with all my sundews in my tererrium. Sometimes I wonder if it digests it at all before that starts to happen. I just pick it off.I didn't think that was possible for it not to happen.

 

[jimscott]

One of the biggest detractors to keeping CP's in terraria is the potential for mold. Between the high humidity, relatively lower air circulation and possible some "greenhouse effect", you run the risk of producing mold. That is why many people do the "open tray" approach to CP's. I believe you've got the problem diagnosed - not enough air circulation.

 

[chloroplast]

Agreed; you should add a small CPU fan to improve air circulation. Also, crushing dried insects into a powder and lightly sprinkling onto the leaves will reduce the chance of fungus growing on unused portions.

 

[LLeopardGGecko]

Where do you buy your CPU fans for your terrariums Chloroplast? Also, is it hard to set up? Would you mind posting pictures of yours and how it's set up?

 

[chloroplast]

Unfortunately, I don't have a digital cam so I can't post pics.

Setting up a fan is easy. Get an AC fan at Radioshack (~$20 each) and splice to a power cord. You can opt for a DC fan, but you must instead splice it to an adapter ($30-40; also at Radioshack).

You can either place the fan on an elevated surface on the bottom of the terrarium so as to protect it from getting wet (placing it on an overturned saucer will do). Alternately, you can leave the fan hanging on one of the sides of the terrarium and use the lid or some tape to keep it in place.