mushroom

[8leggedfreak]

Ok so I get up this morning and look inside my trap-door spider's tank and there's this mushroom growing in there. The stalk is about three inches high. His tank is a small octagon shaped tank filled about 4 inches high with top soil with a little bit of wood chips(pet store bought, heat treated). What should I do? I hate the thought of having to empty out the soil and destroying his burrow. I know mold is bad but are mushrooms? It's growing right next to his water dish(which I probably don't even need for this species Stasis. Robertsi. Any thought people?:?

 

[Code Monkey]

No fungus, be it mold or mushroom, is harmful to your T unless it has the *rare* ability to grow in a living being as a pathogen or is out of control and happens to produce toxins as a by-product (also, not common). It's not good to have a moldy environment as it says you've got too much humidity and not enough air circulation, but the mold is a symptom of same problems that are potentially harmful to your T, not the cause in the majority of cases.

As for the mushroom, no saprophytic basidiocarp worth its dung heap is pathogenic. You can let things dry a bit if it makes you feel better, but it's almost certainly not going to do anything other than make your tank look more interesting.

 

[deifiler]

Yeah, I woke one morning to discover a 2 inch 'shroom in with my B.Albo'. The spider was pressed into the furthest corner away, so I removed it.

Get the mushroom out before it opens and unleashes the spores!

 

[SpiderTwin]

This happened in my A. metallicas set-up, I don't think I am keeping the enclosure too humid, there is no mold and no condensation on the sides. I just thought it was something that was in the soil that started growing after awhile.

I wasn't sure it would hurt the T or not, but I pulled out the shroom as soon as I saw it.

 

[deifiler]

GAH! I also found a 1.5" 'ink cap mushroom' in with my A.Geniculata today... hmmm

Removed it and moved the tank into direct sunlight (with bruce, A.genic' out) as the sun should hopefully destroy the spores... I'm unsure if this is myth or not, but I know they arn't particulary fond of sunlight.

Here's one of the buggers

 

[Vys]

Damnit...if I could find some funghi like that...and some moss...a little pond...some fish...I'd only need a couple of ancient trees to make one of my spids a really nice home.
Seriously, if I could get funghi with big fruits, so to speak, (don't know what it's called in english), that prolly weren't dangerous to my T's i'd love to have them. Perhaps in a wetter-than-the-rest-of-the-ground-and-even-with-the-ground(substrateground that is) pot..?

 

[deifiler]

Just get some compost, put it in a sealed container with very high humidity. Then place this in a dark warm place - like your airing cupboard.

But this kind of fungus scatters spores airbourne; these tiny moisture-loving spores arn't going to be a booklungs best friend though.

 

[Vys]

Oh, I didn't know that. I guess all funguses which create larger bodies release spores, or?

And just out of curiosity, what's an airing cupboard?

 

[deifiler]

Ahh, airing cupboard in Britain is the cupboard where the houses boiler (for central heating and water heating etc) is stored. Anyway, the cupboard with it in gets warm so towels and that kind of thing are stored there.

Yeah they literally 'burst' unleashing a swarm of spores. There's one typed called a 'puffball' that looks like a football and releases millions everytime it's touched. Pretty fun if you can get hold of one to see them come out and form a dark cloud

 

[8leggedfreak]

well now, I wake up this morning and find that there's now a mushroom growing in my g. rosea's tank. So I'm thinking that the spores were in the potting soil. Is my humidity to high and that's why their starting to grow? Should I nuke a batch of fresh potting soil in the microwave and change out the old substrate?

 

[Godzilla2000]

Originally posted by deifiler
Yeah, I woke one morning to discover a 2 inch 'shroom in with my B.Albo'. The spider was pressed into the furthest corner away, so I removed it.

Get the mushroom out before it opens and unleashes the spores!

That sounds like something from a bad Sci Fi movie.

 

[deifiler]

Originally posted by Godzilla2000
That sounds like something from a bad Sci Fi movie.

Read it n' weep. It's true, though the extent of the actual 'burst' varies from each species. Some just let the spores 'drift' down. Like on the common mushroom some peopel eat. Rub the underside with your finger, you know the soft 'rings'? Look at your finger and the colouration on it from the spores

 

[LPacker79]

Rub the underside with your finger, you know the soft 'rings'? Look at your finger and the colouration on it from the spores

Okay, I swear I'm never eating mushrooms again! Yuck!