Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went camping this weekend and brought back toadstools from what appeared to be at least 10 different species of fungi. I also brought back any mycelia I could find, along with small moss and lichen covered rocks. My question is, what do I do with the toadstools? I know that the spores in the caps are the means for reproduction. So, do I grind up the caps and mix them into my substrate? How do you guys introduce mushrooms into your vivariums?

Thanks,
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Matt

well i think by burying the shrooms or tearing them up and spreading them around might be a way to grow them. Most of us dont grow them intentinally. I planted my tank in june and i just now notices today two shrooms growing in my tank!

I really wanted them to grow i just knew itd be a matter of time. I guess that means my tank has "cycled" and every thing is great!

aj
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Click Here to see my vivarium and steps on how to make a basic vivarium UPDATED 9.10.03 Now complete! Blue Sipaliwini Darts need to get old enough to go the big tank now!

kungfu28181: My god. You are insane. -Mon Jun 30 21:41:05

i too am interested in ading mushrooms to my tanks. i collected some the other weekend and mixed them with my substrate, let it sit for a while, and then removed most of the mushroom parts. i don't know if it is going to work, but i hope so. i have also just had them pop up in my other tanks were i didn't mix the mushrooms into the substrate, so who knows. i have read the springtails really like to eat fungi, so i am hoping that by mising them with the substrate it will also help in setting up a colony in the tank, so the frogs can always have little snacks.

I've wanted to grow them also in my tanks and there was a recent artical in reptiles on beneficial bacteria and fungi. The only info I have found are from places/websites that sell shroom plugs that you hammer into a log and that impregnates the log and it produces tons of mushrooms on the log for consumption. Its too costly of a method in my opinion especially since the shrooms only last a little while, but a good choice if you were to grow it on a window sill to have fresh shrooms to feed the family.

Maggie

Use mature caps. Remove the stem and place the caps underside down on a piece of white paper. Cover this with a plastic lid or deli-cup with some airholes for venting. The spores will ripen and fall onto the white paper. You can then scatter them where you want them, the wait and see what comes up. The log plugs Maggie is talking about are probably [bleep]aki mushrooms. (Delicious).
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Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos