Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok. so i set up a semi natural habitat for my bredli.
my soil mixture is roughly 20% humus 10% sand and the rest is soil. i baked it all at 350 for a couple hours. the wood inside was baked the same way. it has a sprinkling of cypress mulch atop the soil.
i have a brownish growth appearing on the soil now after a few weeks. it is appearing on different places. seperate from the wood and next to it. the wood appears clear of the growth as does the cypress.
does anyone know what it is or what i did wrong? how do i get rid of it?
thanks
Michael

Humus is made up of organic matter. Your "soil" also could contain organic matter. Organics will decompose. Although you sterilized/pasteurized all of your ingredients fungi, molds, yeasts and bacteria can all be airborne. These can infect your mix regardless of the precautions you took. If you ever saw a microscopic view of what we breathe everyday you would be amazed. Then there are the spores that could be on your hands while putting this all together. Either way your once sterile mix has become contaminated with what sounds like a fungus. It's brown and I would imagine kind of fuzzy or hairy looking.

Chamomile tea made in a strong solution of 2-3 teabags per cup of water can be used to kill off these fungi. You should be able to find this in any grocery store with the teas and coffees. Make the solution and put in a clean sprayer bottle and mist the areas. Keep in mind as long as the organics are present they fungi will re-occur.

Chamomile is non-toxic so is safe to use around your animals. It has natural antiseptic properties. When I worked in horticulture we often used this on soil mixes when starting seeds or cuttings when fungi would grow that could damage our starts. I've also used in in egg boxes on dud eggs that were attached to healthy eggs and could not be removed. These will often mold but brushing on a solution of this tea will keep the mold/fungi from contaminating good eggs.
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BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.
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I will definitely try the tea today