Will lichen grow when moist?

tarantulanewbie

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I bought corkbark with lichen at Petco, it was the only kind that was left.

My questions are, will it grow in moist conditions and is it dangerous for tarantulas?

I'm planning to use it in my a. Urticans enclosure.
 

The Snark

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Moist conditions, yes. Dangerous for Ts? Depends on what bacteria is present if there is one. Lichens aren't a single plant but composite of organisms usually comprised of a fungi and algae. It could also contain bacteria instead of algae, or have both. The component organisms will vary. So technically, a lichen would most accurately be an occurrence than a specific set of organisms.

I recently encountered an interesting explanation of lichen from a tradition. Where living organisms are specific objects, that is a tree, that a bush, that a cat, that a marsupial and so on, lichen is referred to as the traveler.
It grows on wet rocks near tide pools to, I think, 22,000 feet elevation and is found in the driest locations in the world.
 
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viper69

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I bought corkbark with lichen at Petco, it was the only kind that was left.

My questions are, will it grow in moist conditions and is it dangerous for tarantulas?

I'm planning to use it in my a. Urticans enclosure.
I have to ask- just curious--, what prompted you to start this thread after receiving input from another thread? Thought you scraped it off?
 

viper69

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Moist conditions, yes. Dangerous for Ts? Depends on what bacteria is present if there is one. Lichens aren't a single plant but composite of organisms usually comprised of a fungi and algae. It could also contain bacteria instead of algae, or have both. The component organisms will vary. So technically, a lichen would most accurately be an occurrence than a specific set of organisms.

I recently encountered an interesting explanation of lichen from a tradition. Where living organisms are specific objects, that is a tree, that a bush, that a cat, that a marsupial and so on, lichen is referred to as the traveler.
It grows on wet rocks near tide pools to, I think, 22,000 feet elevation and is found in the driest locations in the world.
Lichens are a symbiotic organism composed of fungus and an alga, not fungus and bacteria. If I'm wrong, cite the literature on that. I'd like to inform some people in case.
 

tarantulanewbie

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I
I have to ask- just curious--, what prompted you to start this thread after receiving input from another thread? Thought you scraped it off?
Was told to post in this forum and that was before I decided to scrape off the lichen.
 

viper69

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I

Was told to post in this forum and that was before I decided to scrape off the lichen.
I've had lichen in with various exotics as you described and never had a problem myself, but I never rule anything out when it comes to nature.
 

Tenevanica

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Lichens are a symbiotic organism composed of fungus and an alga, not fungus and bacteria. If I'm wrong, cite the literature on that. I'd like to inform some people in case.
Lichens are a mix of fungi and cyanobacteria. They are composed of fungus and bacteria.
 

Iska

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Most of the lichens take an INCREDIBLY long time to grow, about 1mm or less per year. The kind on your cork bark is likely one of the slow growing species, (gray blueish/green colour?) and isn't toxic to humans; in fact is edible and used in teas sometimes - no available information on tarantula toxicity though. But I would suspect its not harmful.
 

grimmjowls

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From what I understand, lichen is either made up from algae and fungus, or algae and bacteria.

Link supporting the first.

This page talks about both kinds.

Lichens are organisms made up of two symbiotic (mutually beneficial) partners – a fungus and either an algae or type of bacteria. With divorce rates around the world soaring, we could all learn a thing or two from the humble lichen! The fungal partner protects the algal or bacterial partner by retaining water and a host of other functions and in return the algal or bacterial partner provides the ability to photosynthesise, feeding both partners. A match made in heaven! For the fungus, this relationship is biologically essential. On the other hand, most of the algal partners are capable of living alone – but like any good relationship, having a partner allows them to live a more fulfilled life – in this case surviving in more extreme or different habitats than a free living algae could tolerate.
There are numerous kinds of lichens out there, so its likely @viper69 and @The Snark were both right.

Either way, as long as the corkbark is baked and the tarantula isn't outright eating the lichen (???), I would imagine it would be fine.

EDIT: just realized I'm like a month late on this one... damn, posts in this subgroup get old fast. Either way, can't have too much knowledge, right? ;)
 

viper69

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From what I understand, lichen is either made up from algae and fungus, or algae and bacteria.

Link supporting the first.

This page talks about both kinds.

Lichens are organisms made up of two symbiotic (mutually beneficial) partners – a fungus and either an algae or type of bacteria. With divorce rates around the world soaring, we could all learn a thing or two from the humble lichen! The fungal partner protects the algal or bacterial partner by retaining water and a host of other functions and in return the algal or bacterial partner provides the ability to photosynthesise, feeding both partners. A match made in heaven! For the fungus, this relationship is biologically essential. On the other hand, most of the algal partners are capable of living alone – but like any good relationship, having a partner allows them to live a more fulfilled life – in this case surviving in more extreme or different habitats than a free living algae could tolerate.
There are numerous kinds of lichens out there, so its likely @viper69 and @The Snark were both right.

Either way, as long as the corkbark is baked and the tarantula isn't outright eating the lichen (???), I would imagine it would be fine.

EDIT: just realized I'm like a month late on this one... damn, posts in this subgroup get old fast. Either way, can't have too much knowledge, right? ;)
No Snark is correct.

You need fungus, and either an alga or a bacteria. To my knowledge, Lichen is not made up of algae and bacteria together.
 
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