Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is the 3rd time I have had mushrooms growing in my anaconda tank!

I use the crushed coconut bark from either t-rex or zoo med in his land area. I keep it very damp, I try not to let it dry out.

Now, I have no live plants in the cage, no branches from outdoors or anything. I just have store bought driftwood and silk plants. In other words, no other source for mushroom spores to have come in from.

So, anyway, this is the third time I have changed the bedding (each time I used either zoo med cage cleaner, or Quat Plus to clean/sterilize the cage before putting in the new bedding). A few weeks go by, and then all of a sudden these mushrooms start growing!

Someone identified them for me as Leucocoprinus birnbaumii, a common flower pot mushroom. Apparently this mushroom grows on the rainforest floors of Hawaii. Hawaii also happens to be were the cocnut bark usually comes from!

So, I am pretty sure the spores from this mushroom are int he coconut bedding. And it wasnt just one batch, I even used different brands.

Now, the bad news, is that these are considered to be a toxic species. Here is a quote from MushroomExpert.com "Leucocoprinus birnbaumii won't hurt you, unless you eat it. It won't hurt your plant. It won't hurt your pets or your children, unless they eat it." found on this page www.bluewillowpages.com/mushroomexpert/leucocoprinus_birnbaumii.html

With an anaconda, I dont really have to worry about him eating them, since (a) he is carnivorous and (b) I feed him outside of his cage (eliminating the chance of him accidentally ingesting it while eating prey). But I still dont like toxic mushrooms in with my beloved Loki, lol.

If anyone has an Iguana, A Blue Tongue Skink, or some other tropical/forest animal that is herbivorous/carnivorous this could be a problem. If you use crushed coconut bark, or even the coconut bark chips, and you keep them damp all the time, it seems these things will start gorwing!

So, anyway, the purpose of this post is to both let people know about this, and also see if anyone else has experianced this. If it seems to be common, I say its time we start writing the companies and recommend they sterilize the bedding before sending it to us.

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Billy
Reptile World
http://www.reptile-world.net

mixing is not the best choice you could make with your pets but i won't get on that topic.

the mushrooms are from bad coco that is too wet and not enough air circulation in the substrate. if it where white then it's safe to say it's part of the vivariums settling. for example. Black jungle says that grapevine when it molds is bad...it's really just the simple sugars being consumed during the systems establishment period. this has to happen otherwise the cycle can't start...in your case though, that type of mushroom is common with dirty substrate. you might want to switch to a peatbased leaf litter or soil mix.
under construction

Zoo med substrate comes with extra "gifts" thats why I switched . As you said they could get rid of the spores,insects before many ways to do it but they dont.
If you ever bought their mulch with a few ants in it you would switch to. The heating this stuff in oven beforehand,etc should eradicate the stuff. I switched companies instead.

"mixing is not the best choice you could make with your pets but i won't get on that topic."

I am not sure what you mean by that? I dont have him mixed in with anything? He lives by himself in a half land/half water setup. Unless you are talking about the substrate? I dont really have anything mixed either. I just lay sphagnum moss on top of the coconut bark since he likes to hide underneath the moss.

As far as the bedding, I really dont let it get dirty, and my snake doesnt realy do his business there anyway, he goes in the water.

Anyway, I will probably switch now. Maybe try the ESU Lizard Litter? Thats like a combination of Peat, Cypress, and Vermiculite I beleive? It really sucks because I like being able to use 1 brick of compressed coco bark as opposed to having to buy 2-3 bags of lizard litter or some other bedding. But if the other stuff is going to work better, I guess I do not hae a choice.

Oh, and Devon, very nice site your working on. And your enclosures look een nicer . Got any ideas on how to make a really nice half land/half water terrarium that is anaconda proof once they outgrow glass tanks? lol. I always figured a big plstic cage with a small preform pond sunk into it .
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Billy
Reptile World
http://www.reptile-world.net

Mushrooms can only grow in humid climates, I am guessing you are trying to keep the humidity up for your anaconda. What I do with my burmese is I keep her on newspaper (i know its ugly, but cheap and easy to find) and I have a hide box with the coconut husk fiber that I keep moist. She retreats there daily and spends more time when in shed. I have yet to have any incomplete sheds since I switched. I moisten the substrate when she's close to shed and then let it dry out throughout the next 15 to 20 days. Initially I was keeping it moist daily and thats when I noticed mold and the occasional mushroom. None since I cut back on keeping it wet daily. All of my snakes have a hidebox with a damp substrate. I have used moss with good success, but I really love the coconut husk! My indigo loves to burrow in it.

I have found it difficult to keep any substrate clean after any snake goes. Astroturf and newspaper is what I use with the burmese. I use Carefresh for the indigo, but even spot cleaning that is difficult. I hope this points you in the right direction!
Sincerely,
Roly
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Miami Hurricanes #1
NATIONAL CHAMPS 83,87,89,91,01

www.creaturetravelers.com is where i get my coco bedding from. I have used it in my chondros cage for the past 4 months now, and haven't seen a mushroom yet. It sounds like you may be keeping your substrate too wet.

I have some pothos plants growing in the substrate and are doing great (however I wouldn't do that with an anaconda.. he'd just crush 'em.) My cages floor is a 2' x 4' enclosure, about 4 inches thick of the coco husk. I have a mixture of Soft Chips and Soft Soil (the names of the products on his site.) One is chipped coco husk, one is ground coco husk (looks like dirt). This eliminates the need for the sphagnum moss. I mix 1 part soil to 3 parts chips.

About every 2 weeks, i'll add about 3 quarts of water and mix it in well. Aeration is one of the leading causes of preventing mushrooms. Put some latex gloves on, and pour the water in and mix it up really well. The more exposed surface area, the more humidity, also. You can see mine is somewhat dried out, but my relative humidity stays around 85% before the misting.

I know a lady who has this substrate and hasn't changed it in about a year and a half with her chondro, and it hasn't given her any problem.

I love the coco husk substrate i'm using, i'd reccomend darryl at creature travelers to anyone.

I had a similar experience with Bed-a-Beast. Soon after replacing the substrate in my rainbow boa's cage, I noticed a small green plant sprouting. It didn't last longer than a week, but it did get a little leaf on the top, and a few roots. I found it odd, but amusing! I wish I would have taken a picture so it could be identified.
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::i believe in joy > http://www.winds.org/nekomi/hope.html

::my homepage > http://www.winds.org/nekomi

My Growing Zoo:

1.0 Husband (Byron) ^_^
0.1 black cat (Shade)
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Zia)
1.2 Cockatoo cichlids (A. cacatuoides yellow-gold)
1.1 WC Cockatoo cichlids (A. cacatuoides blue Peru)
3.3 Pygmy corydoras (C. pygmaeus)
2.0 Endlers' Livebearers (P. sp. Endlers)