My daughter has an terrarium with a tree frog in it and we have found this little yellow mushroom in there. As cool looking as it is, we have done some research to find out what it is. We came upon this very informative site to let us know the correct term for it but still have one small question; Where do they come from or How did we produce them? She woke up one morning and to her surprise...there it was! It's getting bigger and bigger by the day. We have not changed the soil for a while or done anything for that matter, it's pretty much self sustaining. We do however feed the frogs crickets. Can anyone fill us in on how it got there. She wants to be a scientist when she grows up and is very amazed and curious about this that she wants to look at it under the scope. Is this harmful?
There's absolutely no harm in sticking your fungus under the microscope (other than to the mushroom, since you can't replant it)- just be sure to wash your hands carefully with soap after handling it. Mushrooms are fascinating subjects for microscopic viewing. I'd guess that the spores for it were in your soil or if you've got bark in the terrarium, in the bark, and the moist conditions and heat in the terrarium caused them to grow. The fungus itself has probably been growing invisibly below/in the soil for quite some time, and has only recently had enough mass to produce a fruiting body - which is the nifty yellow mushroom that you're seeing. I'm sure the real fungus experts here will weigh in as well. Any chance of a picture?
