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Posted by gardentoad on April 13, 2003 at 14:19:58:
In Reply to: Re: toadstools posted by clacerda on April 13, 2003 at 12:02:09:
The term "Toadstool" is a folk-name covering any mushroom that is not recognised as edible by the person using the term. Though I have never seen a toad sitting on a "toadstool" on any fungal foray I have been on, the term toadstool has widespread use among many people of different cultures around the world. (If anyone is interested in reading up on theories of the origin of the term "toadstool" and connections between toad and mushrooms in various cultures, you might want to check out the book "Toads and Toadstools" by Adrian Morgan.)
The term toadstool may cover any number of thousands of mushrooms around the world, many of which are not related, and have almost nothing in common. So I could not even begin to hazzard a guess as to whether it is a poisonous mushroom or not. (This would be in terms of toxic if eaten by you, frogs biological make-up is different then humans and I have not seen a study of mushroom toxicology as pertains to anurans. Also as meat eaters the anurans would not be eating the toadstools either.)
There is not enough in your discription to give an identification of the actual species of mushroom. Important features would be; Does it have gills or pores under the cap? What is the color of the spores? What is it growing on? (This is very important for identification of species, mushrooms are very particular as to the substrate they grow on. Some species will only grow on wood chips, others only dead wood, others only living wood, some only grow in soil, still others will grow only on cow manure...well, you get the idea.)
The mushroom itself is simply the fruit of the plant (like and apple is to an apple tree). The real plant is fungal threads (mycelium)growing in material in your tank. If you want to keep the mushrooms from coming back for esthetic reasons, you might try keeping the substrate (what the mycelium is growing on)a little less damp. Or if that doesn't work, identify the substrate the mushrooms are growing on and avoid using it in the future. Changing to fresh substrate of the same type, but keeping the exact same growing conditions (moisture, temperature etc), will in all probability simply end in regrowth of the mycelium, and the resulting mushrooms. But that is only if you really don't want them coming back for esthetic reasons, if they don't bother you they most likely will not bother the anurans in the tank.
However, if the tank is too damp and is a host to not only mushrooms but also other fungus and molds, that would be another story, and this could be hazzardous to the anurans kept in there.
::your tank is too humid or too wet where the mushrooms bloomed. toads only need shallow water to sit in. don't mist the tank except to water the plants occasionally. how big is the tank anyway?
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:The mushrooms are pretty cute, but they're already shriveling. If they're really big enough will the toads sit on them (ie use them as stools?)?
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