As I probably said in the past, for some reason the default state of permanently damp rotting plant matter in Los Angeles County (whether in a well-aerated compost bin or in the wilderness) always seems to involve becoming moldy and horrible-smelling, and then have the mold go away but some vestige of the horrible smell remain (or for it to change into a different and less displeasing but still unpleasant smell for the remainder of its existence).
Anyways, after some confused trial and error I seem to have inoculated the pede's soil with a blend of microorganisms that suppress the mold. Now if I drop dry leaves at a certain stage of post-death breakdown into its cage they turn deep blackish brown within two days and do not mold at all. It loves those, and while its jaws seem too weak to eat the leaf itself even in such a softened decay stage it does enjoy scraping detritivorous microorganisms off the leaf surface. I'm reasonably sure the feeding difficulties I have w it are finally over, time to spare a few of its eggs from euthanasia.
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