# Toadstool/fungus



## james.w (May 31, 2011)

I walked into my garage today and noticed an addition to my tegus enclosure. There was a toadstool/mushroom/fungus that had sprouted up. I'm not sure what it is but it has a white stalk and a black/silver/gray top, and it literally was 6-7" tall overnight. Does anyone have any idea what this is and is it harmful?


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## frost (May 31, 2011)

james.w said:


> I walked into my garage today and noticed an addition to my tegus enclosure. There was a toadstool/mushroom/fungus that had sprouted up. I'm not sure what it is but it has a white stalk and a black/silver/gray top, and it literally was 6-7" tall overnight. Does anyone have any idea what this is and is it harmful?



im pretty sure that those are very harmfull. the only edible ones are portabellas and morals.neither one can be grown easily.


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## Rhetoric (May 31, 2011)

Weird what kind of substrate are you using?


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## Kebechet (May 31, 2011)

frost said:


> james.w said:
> 
> 
> > I walked into my garage today and noticed an addition to my tegus enclosure. There was a toadstool/mushroom/fungus that had sprouted up. I'm not sure what it is but it has a white stalk and a black/silver/gray top, and it literally was 6-7" tall overnight. Does anyone have any idea what this is and is it harmful?
> ...



Actually there a quite a few different kinds of edible mushrooms- those are just the most desirable to eat. But I would agree that it's likely that it's harmful. I wish the OP had a picture of it though.


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## jerobi2k (May 31, 2011)

regardless I think the substrate should be cleaned more often. the part of the mushroom you see might have popped up over night, but the part you see is the reproductive part, most of the mushrooms activity is beneath the surface. yukko!


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## james.w (May 31, 2011)

jerobi2k said:


> regardless I think the substrate should be cleaned more often. the part of the mushroom you see might have popped up over night, but the part you see is the reproductive part, most of the mushrooms activity is beneath the surface. yukko!



How often would you recommend cleaning and what do you mean by cleaned??

I am using a sand/soil mix and will try and get a pic of it when I get home from work. I took it out and set in off to the side.


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## jerobi2k (May 31, 2011)

hey, Ive never used that for a tegu substrate, Ive always used mulch and I use "Zoo med, Repti Bark" Im sure many others can reccomend other routes as far as a cheaper mulch. Ive purchased big bags of mulch before and found some nasty stuff in them, so I stick with the stuff from the pet store and still heat it up to kill anything that might be lurking in the substrate. I spray down my gU's cage daily but today when I went to spray it down I just took the mulch by hand and turned alot of it because it holds alot of moisture and Ill spray it down again, anything that doesnt belong I take out. It seems to me like there was alot of moisture being held undereath your substrate and thats what led to your little shroom popping up there. Im no where near a Tegu or substrate expert but I keep it simple and have had lots of luck with my baby!


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## james.w (May 31, 2011)

How big is your enclosure?? The biggest bags of mulch I can get in las Vegas are the "large" bags from petsmart/petco. My cage is 8x3.5x3, I don't even want to know how many of those bags it would take to fill the cage.


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## jerobi2k (May 31, 2011)

my main enclosure is roughly 8x3 (in Garage) i have a 4x4ish visi. cage I keep open in the house for when hes roaming, yeah that mulch is costly, and I replace only some at a time, but I keep it really clean. Im not saying that your substrate is wrong, but my gU loves to dig, burrow and Im sure its easier to do and maintain using a type of mulch. many tegus like my own do alot of indoor roaming and Im sure its easier to keep things clean with Mulch vs. sand/soil. I know Ive seen some of the forum members talking about types of mulch to use, I bet they know of mulch much cheaper. Im sure someone will chime in with some input.


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## james.w (May 31, 2011)

I was using cypress mulch, but the sand/soid holds a much better burrow and holds humidity much better as well. Everyone is always saying it is dirtier, but it isn't. I don't have any problems with "mud" at all.


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