I got a mushroom problem with Jessi's substrate, for some or other weird reason the substrate in her enclosure keeps on sprouting mushrooms :igiveup: and it is very annoying and confusing as my other T's got the same substrate in but they don't have mushrooms sprouting, any advice as to what I can do regarding this?

Nothing really without throwing the substrate away. Every time a mushroom sprouts it drops more spores, so once there are spores you're pretty much stuck with them. However, I find they look pretty cool, they aren't harmful as long as they are kept away from the water bowls

Also microwave the peat before putting it in the enclosure. Make sure the peat is VERY hot and steaming. Let it cool and then put it in the enclosure. So also wash everything then inside the enclosure with jik and rinse VERY well! And also pull out the mushroom before it opens and releases spores....

Vixen82 wrote: I got a mushroom problem with Jessi's substrate, for some or other weird reason the substrate in her enclosure keeps on sprouting mushrooms :igiveup: and it is very annoying and confusing as my other T's got the same substrate in but they don't have mushrooms sprouting, any advice as to what I can do regarding this?

What kind of tarantula are you keeping in that cage? Mushrooms growing are a sure sign that you're keeping the substrate damp. And there are fewer than about a dozen or so tarantulas that really NEED damp substrate. (Well, now that the taxonomists are sorting out the genus Theraphosa, maybe slightly less than 2 dozen.) See the following webpages.

Relative Humidity

Misty-Eyed Misting

In fact, it wouldn't be a bad idea to back up the proverbial webtree a few branches and read the entire Spiders, Calgary webtree .

Hope this helps. Best of luck.


We need to learn to view the world from the perspective of a large, fuzzy spider!

Cameron, Thank you, I think it best to just get Jessi out and get new substrate for her, I really don't like the mushrooms growing in her enclosure.

Andre, The substrate that has been in her enclosure I placed in almost 7 months if not more when I rehoused her, it not new substrate at all.

Uncle Stan, Thank you for the links, Jessi is a Curly and the mushroom problem started a month ago, I don't mist any of my T's enclosures as not one of them requires it at all, but what I do is when I fill their water bowls is to let the water over flow just a bit. And most of the time the substrate doesn't stay damp long enough for mushrooms to sprout,

Your tank is the perfect environment for growing mushroom, the spores have got it's own green house.
The best thing to do is let your peat dry out and remove the infect area and replace with new peat..

This normally helps.
There is 2 kinds of people that make peat, the ones that leave the pile of fresh peat outside in the open, so when the wind blows in blows all the seeds and things into the peat and then it is made into blocks and shipped to us, then we use it and end up growing things in our tanks.

The 2nd kind of supplier is the one that makes he's product inside a building, where it is grinded up, washed, dried and pressed away from the elements and all things seedy .

This is the best peat one can use.
Also there is the peat that is packaged close to the sea, this peat often has salt in the mixture.