Mold in humid hide

I just went to moisten their humid hides, and I discovered one of them (out of 8) has mold in it!! I am suprised because I replaced the sphagnum moss only about 5 days ago, and I did soak and rinse the new moss in boiling water before using them.

Any idea what could've cause mold to grow in new boiled moss in less than 5 days? I am thinking if my leo "pee-ed" in there, will that cause mold growth?

Some info: moss is 0.5 inch thick, half of hide is sitting on UTH. Mold is growing on the warm half.

pee?...no I doubt it. It's probably just to wet!
I use peat moss, and only wet it every so often, then I let it dri-out compleatly. So mold never really has a chance to get a foot hold. throw out the sphagnum moss, soak the box in bleach and start over.

Originally posted by gothra
I just went to moisten their humid hides, and I discovered one of them (out of 8) has mold in it!! I am suprised because I replaced the sphagnum moss only about 5 days ago, and I did soak and rinse the new moss in boiling water before using them.

Any idea what could've cause mold to grow in new boiled moss in less than 5 days? I am thinking if my leo "pee-ed" in there, will that cause mold growth?

Some info: moss is 0.5 inch thick, half of hide is sitting on UTH. Mold is growing on the warm half.

Are the cages in a rack system? Or are they well ventailited on each cage? Is the moss in the hide only?

I use the peat moss in the hides, but I trash it every 2 - 3 days when I clean the cages. Peat moss is so inexpensive its easier to toss it and make a new humid spot than to worry about keeping it.

Is it possible one of the crickets pooped in it or something?

There are a couple of ways to prevent mold from building up. Like Overton said, you can let the substrate dry out every once in awhile. (My only caution against this is that dry peat moss is too dusty.) Or you can stir the substrate every week or so. This encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria that keep the peat moss smelling fresh without ever needing to be replaced.

I do the latter and seldom have problems with mold. I fill the entire humid with dry peat moss, moisten it, then pack it down into a 1-1.5" layer. My geckos actually do the stirring for me when they dig around and kick the moss out.

I agree its probably too wet which caused the mold. I used to put a thinner layer of moss in their humid hide and only mist it when it dries out in 1-2 days, and never had a mold problem; but this time, I boiled too much moss to start with, so I just gave them a thicker layer that didn't dry out for 5 days......my fault.