# Mushrooms



## Guest (Sep 24, 2005)

Hi everyone i got a question bout mushrooms and other fungi. My dad found this beautiful fungi growing on a section of a dead fruit tree in our backyard, I was gonna put it with my frogs, but could mushrooms be dangerous? I know a majority of them are poisionous and frogs absorb things through their skin, so I decided not too but I've seen vivs with mushrooms and I was wondering if these were selected because they are not poisionous or just that mushrooms pose no problems for frogs regardless if they are poisioness or not.

Thanks,
AJ


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## Guest (Sep 25, 2005)

I have never heard of a mushroom killing a frog. I think they would have to accidentally ingest the shroom to get hurt by it. 

I would put it in. The frogs living in the wild must encounter really wild and insanely poisonous shrooms in their forests on a daily basis. I figure its ok.


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## slaytonp (Nov 14, 2004)

The only disappointing thing, is the mushrooms probably won't just grow after you introduce them. But they may crop up much later from spores, or you may even get some other spontaneous mushroom growth from the substrate as your tank matures. The mushrooms we see are only the fruiting body of a much more complicated mycelium that sometimes grows for years in the substrate before producing the fruiting body. (Transplanting mushrooms is not as simple as transplanting a blooming petunia.) Dart frogs don't ingest mushrooms, even accidentally, so there's no reason to worry about any toxins that work as internal poisons after ingestion. These aren't contact irritants. I might be more concerned with the leap and gobble toads and frogs that may get a mouthful of plant material along with the insect they are after, but darts pick off their prey specifically and don't bite into stuff.


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## Guest (Sep 25, 2005)

Is there anyway to have fungus(mushroom) friendly substrate in ones vivs??


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## slaytonp (Nov 14, 2004)

Nothing specifically that I have discovered. They just come and go as they feel like it It's not like growing Shitakes-- you just can't plan for them and still have the other things going on in the tank. They are merely delightful, unplanned incidents.


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## Guest (Sep 26, 2005)

I need a delightfully unplanned appearance. Got to seed my tank first I suppose.
Thanks.


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## Guest (Sep 28, 2005)

*shroom*

why not buy a mushroom grow log and lean it against the back of the viv and ignore it, if it grows mushrooms then it will be cool and if not its somewhere for teh frogs to climb and plants to grow over.


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## Guest (Sep 29, 2005)

I've never heard of these mushroom grow logs. Tell us more please.


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## scooter (Jul 13, 2004)

i want to bump this because i was on a walk recently and found some bright orange mushrooms growing on the base of a tree. i've never seen anything like this in nature. they almost glow they are so bright. how do you make these safe for frogs?


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## Guest (Nov 13, 2005)

where did you go walking??


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## scooter (Jul 13, 2004)

southern illinois. i dont want to be to specific, because i technically wasnt suppose to be there. i will try to get picks as soon as i get a camera from on of my friends


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Does this shroom bruise a blue color if you pinch it? because if it does and you put that in your viv, and say your frog goes for a ff and accidently hits the shroom....oh man he may totally freak, next thing you know he'll be pressed up against the glass slowly licking it, and trying to convice his tank mate that he can read their minds, might see a magical elf village, and while driving pull over to stop and talk to a raccoon. Also he may develope an intense craving for burnt peanuts.... I say put that puppy in there


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## Guest (Nov 13, 2005)

Thanks Dave, I needed a good laugh. :lol:


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

it would be intresting to see if darts are capable of halucenations


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## Guest (Nov 14, 2005)

Dendro Dave said:


> Does this shroom bruise a blue color if you pinch it? because if it does and you put that in your viv, and say your frog goes for a ff and accidently hits the shroom....oh man he may totally freak, next thing you know he'll be pressed up against the glass slowly licking it, and trying to convice his tank mate that he can read their minds, might see a magical elf village, and while driving pull over to stop and talk to a raccoon. Also he may develope an intense craving for burnt peanuts.... I say put that puppy in there


Sounds kinda cool, where can I find these, ahhmmm, for the uhhmm, the frogs ofcourse. :wink:


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## slaytonp (Nov 14, 2004)

It would serve them right if they did. I've read some anectdotal "evidence" that even some captive bred darts have created hallucinations in a few in humans who have handled them and then tasted the exudates on their fingers, or licked the frogs. I wonder how one would tell if a frog was having a hallucination or just being itself? I think an animal has to have a brain complicated enough for imagination in order to hallucinate--and it would probably have to ingest part of the mushroom to experience any problem. 

I say, put the shroom in there, or better, take some spore prints from mature caps, then blow in the dried spores (would work better) and see if it grows. Mushrooms don't "transplant" like petunias. If you do this, it might take a couple of years to see the original shroom pop up, if it ever does.


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## Guest (Nov 14, 2005)

Thats correct, you'd have a much better chance of populating your tank with some mushrooms if you allow the matured shrooms to drop spores in your tank. As far as a growing medium goes, that varies from mushroom to mushroom. I can tell you from experience though if you wanna grow the "spiritual" shrooms in there, the climate is pretty ideal for the mycellium (fungus underneath that sprouts the fruits) to grow in. It needs temps between 70 and 80 degrees, 75 being ideal, high humidity and sufficient air exchange to ventilate the gases produced. If you can support those needs, have a clean environment (no other molds or fungus growing in the substrate), and if the substrate has enough nutrients in it for the mycellium to grow on (bird seed is a strong provider of necessary nutrients) then it is quite possible you could support a shroom cycle in the viv.

Heres a shot of a couple of my homegrown beauties


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Our hobby will probably soon be targeted by the government with some of the recent posts about licking frogs, growing shrooms, and i'm sure a few people out there have tried to grow weed in their vivs too i bet


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## Guest (Nov 15, 2005)

Anybody grow Jimson weed?? :? 
Just kidding. Damn thing is soo ugly.


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## slaytonp (Nov 14, 2004)

Jimson weed (Daturia stamonium) is closely related to garden flowers such as morning glories and the moon vine, but it grows close to the ground and although it has some fairly nice white morning glory like flowers, it's mostly a garden pest. The toxin is atropine., mostly gotten from it by ingesting the seed. This is a drug that opthalmologists use to dilate your pupils as eye drops during eye exams. My toxicology references state that superficially, the symptoms of atropine toxicity resemble those of the excitement stage of alcoholism. So what's new in the world of escaping daily life? You might as well drink perfectly legal booze. 

You can't grow a decent pot plant in any acceptable dart frog habitat. Too humid, not enough room, not attractive enough in the over-all scheme. Grow pot in the woods, preferably on someone elses property, or space it between your corn rows, vegetable marrows or dahlias.


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## Guest (Nov 15, 2005)

May I just say that Jimson weed seeds are also very dangerous (In case someone decides to try it). More than 2 seeds can kill. So I've heard from botany proffessors, never read it myself.


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## slaytonp (Nov 14, 2004)

You are so right, Ella. While atropine is a useful drug in very specifically controlled doses for specific medical purposes, it is a deadly toxin. You wouldn't go around experimenting with ingesting nightshade (belladonna) or fox glove (digitalis), both also deadly, and attempting to get a charge out of Jimsom weed is just as stupid. These drug escapes from real life are too often permanent, like you get rowed across the River Stix by a guy in a shroud, and they never seem to make anyone any smarter or more initeresting to anyone else except perhaps to themselves at that particular time.


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## Guest (Nov 18, 2005)

slaytonp said:


> You are so right, Ella. While atropine is a useful drug in very specifically controlled doses for specific medical purposes, it is a deadly toxin. You wouldn't go around experimenting with ingesting nightshade (belladonna) or fox glove (digitalis), both also deadly, and attempting to get a charge out of Jimsom weed is just as stupid. These drug escapes from real life are too often permanent, like you get rowed across the River Stix by a guy in a shroud, and they never seem to make anyone any smarter or more initeresting to anyone else except perhaps to themselves at that particular time.


Yup,

By the way, my name is actually Caesar (I just go by Khamul round these parts), and Ella is from Ella Baila Sola, which is the name of an old spanish group, She Dances Alone, who sang a song which said "Cuando los sapos bailen flamenco" Which means when toads dance flamenco" (In other words, never). 
I wouldnt have made a big deal of it, its just that, well Im a guy, not a she....


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## slaytonp (Nov 14, 2004)

How stupid of me! I did not even notice your "gender" indication, nor did I use my high school Spanish and do any translating. I need to become a bit sharper about these things where even senility is a poor excuse!


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## Guest (Nov 19, 2005)

lol, its all good. Please at 71 and on dendroboard, you have all my respect! How many people out there at 71 can even use a computer. My 69 year old grandpa can't even use a touch tone phone, or at least rufuses to learn :?


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## Jeffey_Kasparek (Jan 21, 2005)

Sometimes mixing long fiber sphagnum with peat moss works as a grow medium. I usually stick the bag in my bathroom closet for about a week and then bury it in the substrate and then drop some magnolia leaves over it. Everytime, every tank, it's worked for me.

On a side note however, if you find a particular shroom that you think is really cool, keep it! I've been using tongs recently to "dip" the shrooms into a clear epoxy and then just suspend it over some newspaper while it cures. After that, find a log or branch you really like, and silicone it to the log. I know this takes away from the wonderful experience of having them randomly pop up in the viv, but it's a sure way to get a mushroom in the tank.

~ Jeff


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