Mushrooms growing out of tortoise poo: HELP!

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jenniferayers

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So, I have a really random question. I have a very large Sulcata, that leaves her poops everywhere in my backyard. We don't get a whole lot of rain here in Austin, TX, but when we do, we've been getting a huge amount of mushrooms growing in the backyard, of all different varieties. My concern is this...I had one incident where one of our chickens pecked at a piece, and was roaming around drunk for a bit, until I noticed and brought her inside to care for her. She ended up recovering ok, but this really worries me. Thing is, I have all sorts of animals, dwarf goats, a mini pig, iguana, etc., that roam free in the backyard, and am worried that I will end up with another situation like this, only worse. I've been picking them out of the yard ever since, but there's a ton of them, and it takes some time to get them all up. I'm specifically concerned, since I found a mushroom growing out her poop today. From what I understand, the psychedelic ones grow out of cow poop, and I'm just wondering what sort of noxious mushroom is growing out of her poop, and if I need to pay special attention to picking these out and getting rid of them. I've been trying to learn about all the different varieties that I've found to determine which ones are poisonous, so I can focus on getting those up first, when we have a good rain. Does anyone know what kind grow out of tortoise poop, and if they're the poisonous ones?
 

Yvonne G

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Hi Jennifer, and welcome to the Forum!

It really is a good idea to clean up after your tortoise daily. Feces that are left on the ground bring flies and then maggots, and might re-infect your tortoise with parasites if he should happen to graze around the feces.

Mushrooms grow on decaying matter. Doesn't matter if it's a dead tree root or an old tortoise poop left on the ground to rot.

I have one of these in every tortoise pen and I use it daily:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000HMBK64/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

Since you have so many animals in the same yard, and the goat and chicken feces are hard to see, chances are that you will have the mushroom growing, no matter what you do.
 

jenniferayers

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Ah, ok...we've been mostly leaving the tortoise poop, thinking it would be good fertilizer, but you raise a good point about parasites...didn't think about that. Thanks for the heads up!
 

Tom

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Every June I have a mushroom problem too. Every morning I just have to hand pick them and chuck them. One of my dogs ate one and reacted similarly to your chicken.
 
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