Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do you guys keep your terrariums at 80% or so humidity and still cut down on mold?

I've been working on my setup, and I've got it so it stays about 80% humidity, and now I'm seeing a little bit of mold. What I'm going to do right now is open the top and let it dry out substatially. Then I'm going to increase the amount of ventilation and see if the mold doesn't come back.

Any other ideas?

Don't worry about the molds. They will come and go and are essentially just a part of the biological breakdown process in a humid terrarium. There may be many different kinds at first. Eventually, your tank will balance so you don't have so much of it as in the beginning. Don't dry your tank out because of it. Your frogs need the humidity. Wipe it off the glass when needed, then don't sweat it. These aren't pathogenic molds.

A substrate of fine cocoanut fiber, such as Bed-a-beast and the garden variety you can buy in bulk at a plant nursery will discourage mold, as well as some of the more interesting mushrooms and other oddities that are rather fun to see crop up. I'm using the cocoanut fiber a lot now on new tanks, just because they break down very slowly and I'm designing waterfalls that splash around a lot over the substrate before draining into a false bottom through cocoanut matting. There is very little mold, even in new tanks, but they aren't as interesting in this respect, either.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
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