Shrooms

[SpaceWolf]

Hello everyone

Does anyone know if shrooms are harmful for mantids?

I recently build my terrarium, I used coco husk and wood we scrambled with some machine as soil.

But then after some weeks I saw mycelium growing in the part we made ourselves. I've already seen 2 mushooms popping up, but I pull them out before they spread their seeds.

I haven't really seen anything that says that they are harmful, but I kinda like them because they fit in the terrarium.

So can anyone clarify if they are dangerous and if I should restart the soil thing or not?

Best regards,

SpaceWolf

 

[ethanblaze1017]

Truly depends on the mushroom itself. I'd have to assume that if its growing indoors in coconut fiber that it is Leucocoprinus birnbaumii(the flowerpot mushroom). I've found them growing in a few tarantula enclosures in the past. They are poisonous, and harmful to living creatures. Whether or not your mushroom is poisonous or not, it'd be a good idea to remove it from your mantids enclosure. As there aren't many recorded experiments on interactions between fungi and mantids, we really don't know which are, and which aren't harmful to them. Hope this helped.

 

[Ranitomeya]

The high spore load of a mushroom kept within an enclosure could be detrimental to the health of any organisms being kept within the enclosure--especially if we're talking about organisms that are used to be out in the open where they are exposed to good airflow and air quality such as mantises. As soon as the gills or pores of a mushroom are exposed, they're generally already producing some spores.

If mushrooms are popping up, the substrate's already contaminated with fungal mycelium. Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of the thread-like fungal bodies growing below the surface. If the mushrooms concern you, you will have to redo the substrate, sterilize the enclosure, and sterilize all the decorations used. Drying will not kill most mushroom mycelium. It can rehydrate with moisture and resume growth and dehydration is actually one method of keeping mycelium in stasis for long-term storage of living material.

 

[SpaceWolf]

Okay thanks both of you, I'll probaply redo it then, I've also seen that my isopods really really enjoy the spores that fall out of the mushrooms. As soon as this happens you see them all crawling out of every corner to fight for what's left.