Beginner to Growing

[Samantha]

Hi everyone! I'm so happy there is a community for slime molds, as I was feeling lonely in my social circle. What container should I have slime mold live in and what strain would be good for Michigan fluctuating weather? What kind of stuff do you feed your pets?

[RyChu]

It's quite a wonderful community isn't it?

I'm going to answer under the assumption that you are growing as a hobby.

Slime mold's will grow almost anywhere (and are very good at escaping). I simply place a wet paper towel at the bottom of a plastic container and let the slime mold grow on that. I know a lot of people on SLIMOCO have more advanced setups for display or research if that is what you are going for.

Assuming that you plan on keeping them indoors, the weather shouldn't have that much of an impact. I have only tried Physarum polycephalum so far but there is another forum post discussing other species to try. P polyceph is quite a hardy slime mold and is probably a good starter (I had and am still having lots of fun with it).

They eat the bacteria growing on oats (traditional type I believe). With a little bit of trial and error, you'll figure out how much they need to be fed depending on their size.

Here is a guide written by Ian...it covers almost everything you will need to know: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BYdpvPxnUNgdqqu1ELHTnbWlc0c...

[ian]

Hi

I use petri dishes because I can just grab them from the lab but anything light and watertight is fine. I've accidentally used the inside of my bag on a few occasions ( they get sometimes and end up where they shouldn't ). Pretty much everyone here is keeping Physarum, I've just started distributing what's probably a species of Badhamia found in a friends garden that's just as easy to keep.  I have one physarum strain that can't sporulate so can be kept in the light with no problems. Don't go paying for slime from companies - it's easy enough to get for free

cheers

Ian

[Dzhumhur Gyokchepanar]

Hey Ian, 
I am seeing your posts and replies around the forum and your badhamia and the physarum strain that doesn't sporulate sound super interesting. I am working on a project where the slime is exposed to light so no sporulation would be quite good for my purpose. Can you get in touch when you have time so we can discuss if its possible for you to send me some cultures ? Much appreciate your post !