Moldy substrate

[incognet]

We recently had a fungal issue in both chelonian habitats...

A small fruit body (Pleurotus genus?) appeared on substrate in Olive's enclosure. I believe that it spread from a potted sedge (with drainage hole), but we are not 100% certain.

Another fruit body (nondescript white parasol) appeared at roughly the same time in Sunny's enclosure. Its mycelium was more extensive, and seems to originate from a potted geranium.

This has never happened before, even when Sunny had a reptile fogger. I've since removed the contaminated substrate from both enclosures, and water plants/coir less frequently. I also sprayed problem areas with a hydrogen peroxide solution.

Is there a tortoise-safe fungicide? My brother suggested Benefect Botanical Decon 30 (with thymol), but I'm reluctant to use anything in a closed chamber. According to the Tortoise Table plant database, "...very high doses of oil distilled from Oregano plants can cause a build-up of toxic quantities of thymol in the kidneys and liver, but it would be almost impossible for a tortoise to eat sufficient quantities of the plant to experience this toxicity."

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

Hi!
I can't recommend any safe solution, unfortunately. Springtails and isopods do a good job eating mold but not macroscopic fungi.

Perhaps, you can do a substrate turnover and keep it a bit drier for a while. I haven't seen fungi growing under bright lights.

 

[incognet]

Hi!
I can't recommend any safe solution, unfortunately. Springtails and isopods do a good job eating mold but not macroscopic fungi.

Perhaps, you can do a substrate turnover and keep it a bit drier for a while. I haven't seen fungi growing under bright lights.

Yeah... I think drier substrate (especially near terra cotta pots) will have most impact. There's a visible springtail population in both reptile enclosures, but it doesn't seem like they did much to limit spread of mycelium.

Another small fruit body appeared in the potted sedge yesterday. Olive nibbled on it before I could react. It's probably a harmless oyster mushroom, but we scraped the remainder from soil line. She actually flipped herself while mushroom hunting, so they must be tasty.

 

[incognet]

My little mycophile went digging for "truffles" last week. She seems to enjoy the taste of mycellium. I removed additional substrate to discourage this behavior, and increased her portion size at regular meals. So far, so good...

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

My little mycophile went digging for "truffles" last week. She seems to enjoy the taste of mycellium. I removed additional substrate to discourage this behavior, and increased her portion size at regular meals. So far, so good...

You might just have the worlds first truffle tortoise, watch out truffel dogs!