Cultivating Mushrooms in Millipede Tanks?

Cavedweller

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Messages
1,064
Has anybody tried deliberately culturing mushrooms in their pede tanks? In the past I had some spring up on their own, but they were all eaten before they could fruit. Since the pedes enjoyed the mushrooms so much, I think I want to try collecting some more spores to spread in my pedes' tanks.

I don't know anything about mycology or IDing mushrooms, so I was just going to choose specimens growing in the same microhabitat as wild pedes and pillbugs.
 

Python

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
631
Sounds like a cool idea. I know nothing about it but I would be interested in seeing it in action
 

mickiem

Arachnoprince
Active Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2016
Messages
1,652
Great idea! Mushrooming is so popular right now, you could probably find lots of kinds. Most love oak habitats. A sweet little biotope - you could go on vacay for a month!
 

Ranitomeya

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 11, 2012
Messages
255
I've inoculated the wood-based substrate in my millipede tanks with edible mushroom spawn and it does fruit, but it very quickly gets eaten. It generally fruits only when it rains, so I haven't seen mushrooms in months even with visible mycelium growing through the substrate.
 

Cavedweller

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 23, 2011
Messages
1,064
Great idea! Mushrooming is so popular right now, you could probably find lots of kinds. Most love oak habitats. A sweet little biotope - you could go on vacay for a month!
I've been finding a lot of neat woody-looking shelf mushrooms on rotten oak stumps lately.

I've inoculated the wood-based substrate in my millipede tanks with edible mushroom spawn and it does fruit, but it very quickly gets eaten. It generally fruits only when it rains, so I haven't seen mushrooms in months even with visible mycelium growing through the substrate.
What method did you use for inoculation? Did you start the colony in a separate container then introduce it into the pede tank? That's really interesting that it only fruits in the rain, not just from being watered.
 

Najakeeper

Arachnoprince
Joined
Dec 10, 2010
Messages
1,050
This is from my Theraphosa blondi terrarium. They have been popping up for weeks and doesn't seem to bother the Tarantula. Obviously, since they are strict carnivores, no interest in eating the mushrooms.
 

Attachments

Ranitomeya

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 11, 2012
Messages
255
I've been finding a lot of neat woody-looking shelf mushrooms on rotten oak stumps lately.


What method did you use for inoculation? Did you start the colony in a separate container then introduce it into the pede tank? That's really interesting that it only fruits in the rain, not just from being watered.
I make mushroom cultures to feed some of my beetle larvae and for the occasionally bunch of mushrooms to eat. After the cultures have fruited a few times, they've pretty much exhausted their limited resources and can be broken apart and buried in the cellulose-rich substrate of enclosures as the inoculant. Most mushrooms do not use the presence of water as the signal to start fruiting, but the change in barometric pressure.
 

tetracerus

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 16, 2016
Messages
65


Similar to an above post, not a millipede tank, but I grew some unintentionally in my genic's tank...
 
Top