Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted a bit earlier about whether or not there could be too much humidity in a tank and recieved only one reply (thanks...). The poster suggested backing off on the twice daily mistings and allowing the cage time to dry out in between.

I had misted that morning already, so I didn't mist that night. It continued to stay 100% wet and damp in the cage (29g glass tank with hood). It didn't dry out even a smidge. I woke up this morning to a tank completely covered in an extremely think layer of fungus (mold?). It was white and fluffy. At least an inch think everywhere, some places up to two inches think. I could see through it though. It was even growing on the driftwood and water fall. It was the most digusting thing I've EVER seen before, much less in an animal cage. I thought for sure my new little crestie would be dead, but he's still with me.

I hope it didn't cause any ill side effects that just haven't shown up yet. Anyway, I completely tore down the habitat, threw away a bunch of stuff and have the decor soaking in bleach water. I put plain paper towels in there and a few clean plants, etc..for him to hide out in.

I'm thinking there isn't enough ventilation in the cage - if I replace the hood with a screen top, should that clear up the problem? I think for now I'll also stick with paper towels and go easy on the misting.

Has anyone ever had this happen before? I feel like the worst pet owner in history right now.
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1.0.0 Thoroughbred
0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.1 Corn Snake
0.0.1 Milk Snake
1.2.0 German Shepherds
0.2.0 Cats
0.1.1 Birds (Conure and Cockatiel)
1.1.0 Rabbits
4 Fish tanks (SW and FW)

Here's my advice, let your humidity gauge tell you when to mist. Im not sure what your trying to keep the humidity at, when the gauge drops below what your trying to keep it at (about 10%) mist again, not before then. Also remove the hood, that pretty much prevents a good airflow through the enclosure. While not neccesary, if you can I would suggest one of those enclosures with a glass front and back, and screen sides. This allows for proper air flow through the tank.

Ive had fungus pop up on me like that before as well, not nearly that bad. Good luck with the enclosure. If you want to try a naturalistic setup, go ahead and rebuild it, let it sit for a while and try to "run" it for about 2 weeks, that should give you enough to time to see potential problems and have a good feel of what you need to do to keep things constant.

i had a female almost die from mold build up in a cage. i found her with her face right in a huge pile of it. i posted something about it awhile back. was having seizures and spasms, the works... anyways, it took about 2 weeks of pretty intensive care to get her back to her health but some how she came out of it and is doing perfectly fine! the mold couldn't have been in there for more than 2 days. just make sure to feed plenty and monitor the behavior of your gecko. i have a set up with a hood like you're talking about for my mossy leaftails and it stays very humid. for about 10-15 minutes a night i put a little battery powered fan up to the edge with it propped open a bit ( when the geckos are not active) to dry everything out then i mist everything again.

yea you should be using a screen top. im not sure why you werent using one in the first place, this will keep it extremely humid and not allow proper air ventilation.

get a screen top on that tank ASAP.

Well...I posted not long ago about the entire setup (pictures included top to bottom) and asked for any advice or changes that needed to be made.

No one mentioned a problem with my setup other than being concerned a baby crestie might have trouble hunting in the moss. It would have been nice if you'd replied at that point in time rather than wait until after the fact.

I appreciate the reply anyway though - better late than never.
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1.0.0 Thoroughbred
0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.1 Corn Snake
0.0.1 Milk Snake
1.2.0 German Shepherds
0.2.0 Cats
0.1.1 Birds (Conure and Cockatiel)
1.1.0 Rabbits
4 Fish tanks (SW and FW)

I find it odd that you blame the posters on this forum for your mishap and mistake.

Some basic common sense and study would have alleviated the problem before it began.

If it were me, I would switch to a screen top, they need to be able to dry out.

andrew

I was not blaming them. I was simply pointing out that if he thought there was a problem with the setup, he should have pointed that out when I asked for advice regarding the setup.

"some simple" research had already been done and led me to believe the solid lid would hold humidity in much more efficiently than a screen top. Upon noticing the humidity was maintaining a high level w/out additional mistings, I THEN asked if the humidity in the cage might be too high. Again, nothing was said about the lid - simply that I shouldn't mist as often.
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1.0.0 Thoroughbred
0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.1 Corn Snake
0.0.1 Milk Snake
1.2.0 German Shepherds
0.2.0 Cats
0.1.1 Birds (Conure and Cockatiel)
1.1.0 Rabbits
4 Fish tanks (SW and FW)

Again, whatever man,

you are blaming others for what is your fault in first a basic lack of animal common sense(atleast in this case)(some have it, some don't). Also, there are plenty of other ways to do research than requesting free answers from a forum. Like buying a book (the difficult way, I know).

andrew