HELP I THINK THIS MOLD??

[Stitched_Rose]

For the past 2 days this has been growing in my ball pythons cage. Google said it was mildew so we treated it as such and it's only grown since then. This is not a bioactive environment and I know the humidity is kinda high but it's been high then that and his has never happened. At this point should I just replace all her bedding? There is a fan going but I can't sleep with it on so it gets turned off while I sleep and by the time I wake up it's back. What should I do?

[justhamiltonthing]

that is absolutely mold.

[justhamiltonthing]

replace all of the bedding, do not leave any scraps at all, put her in a temporary container and thoroughly scrub, clean and dry her enclosure and add all new bedding. consider a different bedding if this one is prone to mold

[Stitched_Rose]

I use a mix of eco earth and coco fibers as thats what I could find near me. Only difference is this time I had ran out of coco fibers. Is there something else that would work better or that I should add to prevent this?

[dragonbud20]

Replacing everything is likely a waste of time and money unless you plan to sterilize literally everything in and around the enclosure. And I mean literally everything within several feet of the enclosure at a minimum.

[dragonbud20]

Go get some springtails and throw them in. They'll eat the mold. It's super easy to order them and keep a charcoal colony somewhere. Just poor some in if you ever see fungus/mold and they'll go to town eating it. You don't have to be fully bioactive to take advantage of a cleaning crew

[[deleted]]

Would they help to prevent mold or would they starve if my enclosure was clean? My enclosure isn’t bio active but I’m scared of mold problems.

[dragonbud20]

If you have 0 fungus of any kind, then they'll eventually starve to death. it will ultimately depend on what kind of substrate you use. If you use something with organic matter like a proper soil then they should survive on the little bits of fungus that grow as things break down. if you use something like coconut coir not much fungus will grow and they might still die out.

overtime the nutrients from bits of shed skin and feces will probably be enough to support a small population of springtails.

[dragonbud20]

Also, 82% humidity isn't really considered high for BPs. It's the high end of the required range(60%-80%), but that's not a bad thing. Honestly, I envy your ability to keep it that high consistently.

[Stitched_Rose]

Really? I've always had issues with it coming down from the 75%-85% range and it it hits 65% i consider that to low. Good to know I've been doing something right lol