General Mushrooms IN cage!

Yuck that's crazy! Maybe it was something in the bedding?
Do you have any pictures of them?

Here's a few pictures. There's 6 mushrooms. 3 of them are about 3" tall and the rest are hard to see in the pictures because they're shorter. Like I said, they're pretty much directly under the water bottle. The hay rack is right next to the water bottle. It's that green thing in the bottom left corner of the first pic. Sorry about the really weird lighting.

wonder if its a mix of the bedding water and hay. I can see how hay might end up with spores.
vinegar should do the trick but dont dilute it with as much water for this clean (maybe use 1/2 the amount of water as normal.) and then wipe it down just plain water after

I remember reading a while back on here that someone else had mushrooms growing in their cage because of the bedding.

https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/18495-I-m-very-embarrassed-to-say?highlight=mushrooms

I think this is the one people are remembering its a few pages I haven't had a chance to go through it but considering the humidity here i will be

daydreamer89 said:

https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/18495-I-m-very-embarrassed-to-say?highlight=mushrooms

I think this is the one people are remembering its a few pages I haven't had a chance to go through it but considering the humidity here i will be

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In that thread, mold was brought up, and my family's house has a history of mold problems. :/ Not just the basement, but the entire house. It's a really old house. I'll be moving out this upcoming summer so hopefully my new place won't have mold problems...yuck.

Do me a favor and get a mold test kit and a humidity monitor, humidity and mold can cause upper respitory infections in guinea pigs, especially babies and old pigs. To be safe guineas should be kept in areas between 40% and 60% humidity.

where do you buy your hay? do you buy it in bales from a farm?
the hay thing has come up a few times in terms of the mushrooms so did moisture getting into the bedding bag and possibly having something to do with it, do you have your cage near open widows? mushroom spores travel through the air i believe. its also very likely that the spores came in through a window and these ones started to grow because of the damp area where the water bottle is.
cleaning out the damp areas daily or even putting some sort of dish under the water bottle (even a slab of slate or a brick if its just a tiny bit of water through the day that drips) would help fix that issue.

I have just realized because of this (so I thank you) my water bottle drips a bit when its bumped or moved slightly so im going to be out looking for stone tonight to boil and add under the water bottle.

Saylavi said:

Do me a favor and get a mold test kit and a humidity monitor, humidity and mold can cause upper respitory infections in guinea pigs, especially babies and old pigs. To be safe guineas should be kept in areas between 40% and 60% humidity.

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wait what??? really? here we have daily humidity levels of 70% - 90%

I only say that because I'm in an apartment with a natural 80% humidity, but my dehumidifier takes it down to 45. Before I got the dehumidifier Andrew (my human mold detector) was sneezing like crazy and the girls had raspy voices. They were even wheezy the day before I finally got the dehumidifier, but since then they've been fine. I base what I say off the research I did then

daydreamer89 said:

where do you buy your hay? do you buy it in bales from a farm?
the hay thing has come up a few times in terms of the mushrooms so did moisture getting into the bedding bag and possibly having something to do with it, do you have your cage near open widows? mushroom spores travel through the air i believe. its also very likely that the spores came in through a window and these ones started to grow because of the damp area where the water bottle is.
cleaning out the damp areas daily or even putting some sort of dish under the water bottle (even a slab of slate or a brick if its just a tiny bit of water through the day that drips) would help fix that issue.

I have just realized because of this (so I thank you) my water bottle drips a bit when its bumped or moved slightly so im going to be out looking for stone tonight to boil and add under the water bottle.

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I buy 40 oz bags of Oxbow hay online. The bedding is from Walmart. No moisture has gotten into either of the bags. I keep them next to the cage.

There is a window above/behind the cage, but it is never opened. Once or twice a year my dad will open the window in the laundry room, but he hasn't done so lately. Nikki was outside for about 20 minutes the other day, so unless the spores got on her then, I'm not sure where they came from.

A brick underneath the water bottle is a good idea. I think I'll do that, because I really never want to have this happen again (obviously).

Saylavi said:

Do me a favor and get a mold test kit and a humidity monitor, humidity and mold can cause upper respitory infections in guinea pigs, especially babies and old pigs. To be safe guineas should be kept in areas between 40% and 60% humidity.

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My parents already tested for mold a while back (I already had all of my pets at this point). There's black mold everywhere in the house. You can't typically see (or smell) it, but it's there. Thankfully I'm moving out when I go to college in the fall and hopefully my new apartment WON'T have these problems. My parents are stuck here until their new home is built.

I had no idea mushrooms could grow this easily. It about scared me to death when I discovered them in the cage. They just popped up overnight while I was sleeping. Thanks, everyone, for the advice. I know nothing about these sorts of things.

They pop up over night outside here so that not abnormal just try clean out any wet spots daily and try the brick thing. its very likely it got brought in from outside the other day.

as for the mold in the house thats a big health issue not only for the pets but for you and your parents as well... you all need to be very very careful esp. if you end up getting purple mold
as a teen I had a ton of health problems and we couldnt figure out what it was, I missed 60% of the school year because i was constantly out sick, and i was always on antibiotics so much so that my body is now immune to 2 types... this all happened over 2 years... eventually our basement (where my bedroom was) flooded and the mold was found we had to leave for a few weeks and it was so bad at that point that the cleaners couldnt enter the house without hazmat suits.... im now very very sensitive to any molds all it takes is 20 mins around it and im so sick i need to spend the next 24 hours in bed.
so please please be very very careful mold can go from livable to very dangerous in a matter of months

How big is your cage? How often are you changing the bedding and do you completely clean the inside every time you clean it? I'd completely disinfect the cage with bleach and really rinse it well. If you have mushrooms in your lawn, I wouldn't let her out there in case they're poisonous.

Do you have somewhere to temporarily to put the pigs so you can make sure they won't eat them? I'm pretty sure you thought of that, but I'm just making sure. I would also watch their eating and stuff (sorry couldn't think of the word) to see if they possibly ate any of it. Check the hay as well just to make sure there's nothing in that.

pinky said:

How big is your cage? How often are you changing the bedding and do you completely clean the inside every time you clean it? I'd completely disinfect the cage with bleach and really rinse it well. If you have mushrooms in your lawn, I wouldn't let her out there in case they're poisonous.

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2x3, 1 pig. I'll be getting another pig and bigger cage once I move out and take her with me, but it's not my say right now. Nikki's technically my parents' pig, but they don't want anything to do with her. Actually, my mom hates her and claims she's "mean", so she's basically refused to do anything for her anymore, but that's another story. Because they don't want her, they refuse to get her a buddy (even if they don't have to pay for her).

I completely change the bedding once a week, and wipe down the entire inside of the cage with vinegar and water when I do. I also wash the water bottle and food dish at that time, and her hidey house if it's gotten poop stuck to it, which it usually has. I used to use fleece but in a 2x3 it was getting pretty gross within a week, even with spot cleaning the poop. I should probably start cleaning the cage every 4 or 5 days.

When I let her outside, I keep her confined to a small area. I don't let her near anything that's not grass, so she can't eat the mushrooms.

I cleaned the cage and everything inside of it thoroughly and moved the hay rack away from the water bottle. I also gave Nikki a quick bath and made sure to wash her toes in case she had anything stuck to her fur or feet, especially because the mushrooms were right in her hay and water area.

PeanutnCookie said:

Do you have somewhere to temporarily to put the pigs so you can make sure they won't eat them? I'm pretty sure you thought of that, but I'm just making sure. I would also watch their eating and stuff (sorry couldn't think of the word) to see if they possibly ate any of it. Check the hay as well just to make sure there's nothing in that.

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As soon as I found the mushrooms I took Nikki out of the cage and put her in the bin I keep her in while I clean her cage. I kept her in there until everything was cleaned. The mushrooms didn't look like they were nibbled on, thankfully, and she's acting and eating/drinking as usual. I also went through her hay (in the rack and in the bag) and that looked fine, too.

Nikkipig said:

2x3, 1 pig. I'll be getting another pig and bigger cage once I move out and take her with me, but it's not my say right now. Nikki's technically my parents' pig, but they don't want anything to do with her. Actually, my mom hates her and claims she's "mean", so she's basically refused to do anything for her anymore, but that's another story. Because they don't want her, they refuse to get her a buddy (even if they don't have to pay for her).

I completely change the bedding once a week, and wipe down the entire inside of the cage with vinegar and water when I do. I also wash the water bottle and food dish at that time, and her hidey house if it's gotten poop stuck to it, which it usually has. I used to use fleece but in a 2x3 it was getting pretty gross within a week, even with spot cleaning the poop. I should probably start cleaning the cage every 4 or 5 days.

When I let her outside, I keep her confined to a small area. I don't let her near anything that's not grass, so she can't eat the mushrooms.

I cleaned the cage and everything inside of it thoroughly and moved the hay rack away from the water bottle. I also gave Nikki a quick bath and made sure to wash her toes in case she had anything stuck to her fur or feet, especially because the mushrooms were right in her hay and water area.

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Is the plastic tray in the photo attached to a cage? I questioned the size because it looks like a Super Pet My First Home cage.

PeanutnCookie said:

Do you have somewhere to temporarily to put the pigs so you can make sure they won't eat them? I'm pretty sure you thought of that, but I'm just making sure. I would also watch their eating and stuff (sorry couldn't think of the word) to see if they possibly ate any of it. Check the hay as well just to make sure there's nothing in that.

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As soon as I found the mushrooms, I put her in the bin I keep her in while I clean her cage. I washed her water bottle right away and clipped it to the bin so that she could drink while I was getting everything else cleaned.
She's acting and eating/drinking okay, and the mushrooms didn't look nibbled on. I also went through her hay and didn't find anything in there.

pinky said:

Is the plastic tray in the photo attached to a cage? I questioned the size because it looks like a Super Pet My First Home cage.

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Yup. It's the bottom to an old cage my parents used about 10 years ago. It used to have a white top with these weird shelf things clipped to the side and ramps would go up them.

Nikkipig said:

Yup. It's the bottom to an old cage my parents used about 10 years ago. It used to have a white top with these weird shelf things clipped to the side and ramps would go up them.

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Part of the problem might be that your bottle leaks and that small area is getting saturated with water and urine. What size is the other section? Is that a C&C attached to this one or is this one inside a larger area?