Help please?

[silversolitaire]

Is anyone of you guys familiar with mushrooms? I'm asking because I have reason to believe that my turtle Siggy took a bite out of one and now I'm worried that he might have poisoned himself... Can anyone tell me if this mushroom is poisonous?



There's an unmistakeable v-shaped turtle bite at the top... Help anyone?

Comments

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

it doesn't look poisonous to me, but i'm not an expert. it looks pretty much like a normal mushroom i'd eat!

i hope he's ok!

*hugs*

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

But I know a lot of mushrooms look perfectly harmless and are in fact deadly poisonous! ;_;

[kmazzy.livejournal.com]

it's true. but as long as you keep an eye on him there's really nothing else you can do now. but it must be very worrying. not knowing things is sometimes worse than knowing bad news.

i think poisonous mushrooms are sort of rare outside forests though?

[vampiresetsuna.livejournal.com]

it also doesn't look like he ate that much of it- so I would watch him for signs of poinening- vomiting, direhea, any sluggishness or hyperactivity. Also, give your vet a call. =P It looks like a garden variety mushroom, but I know that there are a couple that look edible, but in fact, arn't.

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

That's why I'm a little worried... he seems rather sluggish lately... But it could also be because he's getting mentally ready for hibernation again... *whimper* Hard to tell if he's got diarrhea since turtle poo is liquid to begin with! LOL

[no-ron.livejournal.com]

i doubt very much it would be poisonous.
i didn't find an exact match for it in the books available, but it mostly resembles this (http://www.bluewillowpages.com/mushroomexpert/psathyrella_candolleana.html), though i think it's something else.. (yeah, that was very smart :p )

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Lol... well I only find somewhat matches in the book I have myself... so I'm not too happy with it. I just know that a lot of mushrooms have poisonous twins ;_;. And somehow I don't trust Siggy to know what he can eat and what he can't eat...

[ladycoreopsis.livejournal.com]

It's really difficult to tell from the picture because unfortunately your thumb covers up some of the stem, which could help ID it from the picture. There's so many things needed to properly ID a mushroom. But even WITH some of that info it would be hard for me to ID it since I'm not familiar with UK mushrooms.

Looking at the picture, I can tell you it's not a death cap or related mushroo, however. It has dark gills and the bottom of the stem doesn't seem to have the tell-tale "cup" that the death caps have. Hopefully that can put you at ease a little bit.

I'd guess it is some sort of Agaricus species, which are normally edible or harmless, but again, it's hard to be certain from the picture alone.

In the future, if you are ever unsure of a mushroom consumed by your pet, it might be a good idea to call a vet or your poisioning helpline. You might want to soncider taking him to the vet anyway, just to be sure (and take a fresher mushroom with you, if possible, so you can show the vet what it ate). I hope that your little friend is ok, and sorry I couldn't be of much help!

Incidentally, mushrooms are high in vitamins and minerals. This is entirely speculation here, but I wonder if your turtle might have eaten it as an instinct kind of thing--perhaps his body needed some nutrients that mushrooms provide. If he's sluggish still after a few days, but otherwise seems alright, might want to consider seeing if there's any vitamin forumlas for turtles.

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Ack, sorry... I didn't think the stem was all that important. But I can tell you it didn't have anything on it, like a cuff, or gills, or ring, or whatever. It was pretty much plain.

Hm... it's really hard to judge whether he's getting ready for hibernation or whether he's feeling bad. But the vitamin thing is a very good idea. I will check that and see if he's perhaps missing some food. I offer him fresh vegetables he likes every day and he grabs all the herbs and slugs he likes, so I figured he'd be okay. I never even considered the danger of him munching some mushroom...

I was hoping maybe it's some common form of champignon or so. I was leafing through a book of local mushrooms we have but I couldn't find any matches. I don't think it's a death cap, but I really wouldn't know the difference in all honesty... and I can't judge how common poisonous mushrooms are in normal garden areas...

But thank you for your help. I guess my best bet is to watch him closely and see if he seems sick... I'm going to check with my vet, too.