# Live Lichens (Red ones!)...What have you got in lichens?



## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Ok so I just got an order in from ebay today of some live lichens. Most of them were pretty unremarkable, but the reason I got this order was it included some Cladonia "British soldier" lichen and some pixie cups Cladonia pyxidata (I think) for cheaper then most of the other offerings. Basically I got a big mix of Cladonia Lichens & Fruticose Lichens mostly. Looks like most of the British soldier died in transit but a few are still bright red so maybe it will take hold...If it lasts awhile I may order more. On to pics...

Here you can see the pixie cup and soldier together.









This pic pretty much includes examples of everything I got.









This pic is one of the lichens I got and some of this pink stuff I noticed growing in the viv today. Ironically it looks similar to the "pink earth dots" lichen I almost bought on ebay also...but I'm not sure it might just be a mold or fungus that happens to look similar.









Here is another of just the pink stuff, whatever it is...(kinda fuzzy, sorry). I've never noticed it in any of my vivs before today. Even if it is mold/fungus I'm ok with it surviving 









So thats what I've got, hopefully it will do well in the viv. 

Anybody else got some live lichens growing?


----------



## baba o'riley (May 9, 2010)

Hi dave can you give me the link to the seller? Cheers
Al


----------



## D3monic (Feb 8, 2010)

Probably the same seller I ordered from quite a few months ago. My british soldiers was one of the first lichens to disappear. Now they are all gone. I really liked the reindeer, it lasted the longest but eventually turned to mush.


----------



## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

It was from "angelaslittletreasures"

Here is the listing I ordered from...
LICHEN MOUNDS 12 ASSORTED FOR BONSAIS TERRARIUMS [email protected]@K! - eBay (item 270601217404 end time Aug-29-10 20:33:27 PDT)

Looks like she Up'd the price a little bit since my order by $3-4, but added 2 more portions of the regular lichens. If you want the soldier ones mainly it may be worth buying her separate listings for those...not sure. I negotiated for an extra portion of the soldier lichen...which was good since only 1 portion looked to have any alive. If you order I'd ask her to pack in some wet sphagnum moss and/or insulate the box a little more in this heat. I didn't bother to say anything since I got a real good price and some showed up alive...I went ahead and gave them positive feedback.

If you do a search for "lichen" on ebay then click the 
Home & Garden > Yard, Garden & Outdoor Living link that will narrow down the results. 

For some sellers if you are mainly wanting the Britsh soldier lichens it may be cheaper to buy the lichen assortments. You may get ALMOST as much soldier lichen plus all the others for around the same price. Not sure, haven't bothered to do the math...most of the soldier lichen portions from all the sellers seem to be around 1-2 sq inches though.

Here are the ebay stores of 2 sellers that often have lichens...the person I bought from didn't have an ebay store...

Shop eBay Canada Store - Organic Earth Art and Rare Finds:: Live Plants-Terrarium Vivarium, Decorations and Accent Pieces

Teresa's Plants and More Store items - Get great deals on Live Moss Lichens items on eBay Stores!


----------



## cheezus_2007 (Aug 20, 2009)

i have MILLIONS of lichens in our mtns.... are these the same type of lichens? parts of our forests are COVERED in them...all sorts of colors, reds, oranges, yellows, greens.... Maybe i should look more into these lol


----------



## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

D3monic said:


> Probably the same seller I ordered from quite a few months ago. My british soldiers was one of the first lichens to disappear. Now they are all gone. I really liked the reindeer, it lasted the longest but eventually turned to mush.


Thats a bummer...In this pic you can see how I placed mine...









I figured since they are from a temperate climate it wouldn't be good to place them in a real wet area. So I put them between that log and another piece of wood mostly, piled up a lil substrate there to set them on and misted. So it looks wetter in the pic then it usually is. Plus being raised up like that it should drain well and be among the first areas of the viv to be fairly dry after a misting. Basically I tried to surround them with wet and dry spots and regular substrate and the wood as places for them to grow. A lil bit of everything...and now I cross my fingers


----------



## D3monic (Feb 8, 2010)

Hopefully it does well for you. I ordered mine from this chick eBay My World - teresab123


----------



## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

cheezus_2007 said:


> i have MILLIONS of lichens in our mtns.... are these the same type of lichens? parts of our forests are COVERED in them...all sorts of colors, reds, oranges, yellows, greens.... Maybe i should look more into these lol


Maybe  ...should get some pics and post them!


----------



## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

D3monic said:


> Hopefully it does well for you. I ordered mine from this chick eBay My World - teresab123


Ya she is one of the ones I listed above. I haven't bought anything from her yet...maybe down the road. She is in Arkansas so I may try some of her mosses since I've had a few of the ones here in OK work in my vivs....It would be really nice to find a seller offering soldier lichen or some variation from Florida or else where down south if any grows in those areas, it may be more acclimated to viv like conditions.


----------



## harrywitmore (Feb 9, 2004)

Dendro Dave said:


> Ya she is one of the ones I listed above. I haven't bought anything from her yet...maybe down the road. She is in Arkansas so I may try some of her mosses since I've had a few of the ones here in OK work in my vivs....It would be really nice to find a seller offering soldier lichen or some variation from Florida or else where down south if any grows in those areas, it may be more acclimated to viv like conditions.


I think your lichens will only decline over a long period of time and then disappear. Most all lichens require very good air and do not transplant well at all. They also like only the purest water. They will hold together and look alive for a long time so you may be fooled into thinking they are living. While I hope you have success I will be VERY surprised if you do.


----------



## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Thanks Harry...and ya I kinda figured it was a long shot especially with temperate species. I got a really good deal on these compared to what I've seen the same species offered for in similar portions so I figured what the heck...give it a shot. I won't hold my breath though. If they fail, I may try them again when I get my desert viv up and running again, as it will have much better air flow and be closer to a temperate climate. Pure water isn't an issue I'm trying to steer clear of tap water and only use purified ro or distilled water in all my vivs now.


----------

