Yellow mushroom in terrarium

hallenhe

hallenhe

Avid Member
This is Leucocoprinus birnbaumii (formerly Lepiota lutea), the Flowerpot Mushroom. It is a tropical species in nature, which has travelled around the temperate zones with potted plants; this is one of a batch that started coming up two weeks ago in my pygmy terrarium. The plant and soil with which they are associated were in the terrarium for ten months before showing any signs of Fungal Friends.
This mushroom is a known GI irritant in mammals; I have no data on reptiles. I am keeping it under a colander to prevent munching. I could remove mushrooms as they come up; the only way to completely eradicate it would be to change out the plant and soil.
Just FYI, in case anybody else finds these in their terraria someday. I think it's rather pretty, but I'm a mycologist, and biased.
DSCN9342.jpg

Closer up:
DSCN9343.jpg

It was yellower about a day before the pictures were taken.
 
I had some of these come up in a plant I use for showering my chams. They look really pretty before they bloom up like the pictures you had. I let it go and see how bit it got but the problem was that soon the entire pot truned into little yellow mushrooms. I think the reason is because when they bloom like that they drop their spores.

It does look cool in that enclosure though :p I'm sure someone can give you some more info on them regarding reptiles.
 
don't eeaaat it!!! donnn''tt eeaatt the maggiiiccc mushroom!!! its notttt magical!!! its evil i tell you! EVIILLLL!!!!!:p

i would get rid of it plus change the substrate up a little.


*mushrooms look so cool when brought extremely close-up!:cool:
 
That one's gone and yes, the days of my own personal Leucocoprinus culture are limited. The plant (and soil) it was with is no longer particularly happy, and will be traded out for one of my Emergency Backup Plants.
There is something fungal (I believe another species) that has began showing up beneath the top layer of substrate, against the glass. As long as it stays subsurface I'm not worried about it sporulating and affecting the air quality, but I think once I'm sure that everybody from this latest batch has hatched who is going to hatch, I will have to do a pretty major overhaul of the substrate.
 
I get those in my vivariums sometimes. Nice terrestrial orchids in that cage. Mine are in bloom right now. I thought substrate was a bad idea for chameleons?
 
ItODDospeed said:
I get those in my vivariums sometimes. Nice terrestrial orchids in that cage. Mine are in bloom right now. I thought substrate was a bad idea for chameleons?
Click to expand...
The general pattern is, substrate for pygmy/stumptailed chameleons (genera Rieppeleon, Rhampholeon and Brookesia), but not for the "true" chameleons (panthers, veileds, Jackson's, etc.) There are probably exceptions. Pygmies are small - my adults are a bit under 3 inches, from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail - and probably less likely to get stuck swallowing a big piece of substrate than a bigger chameleon.
Thanks for the orchis compliment; I find they do very well in this terrarium.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom