Do the food particles from the food at the “finish point” leach into the agar and create a trail for the mold to follow? If not, and if the agar in the maze is not contaminated with food, then how do slime molds choose to extend themselves continuously to the finish point and kill off other branches? How are they they “smelling” the food exactly?

I'm trying to establish a few healthy specimen of Physarum polycephalum. They are in Petri dishes with Agar substrate. They seem quite active, but one thing puzzles me. When I feed them an oat, they immediately (sort of) colonize it and, I assume, eat it. But after a few hours they abandon the oat, leaving it almost intact and covered in slime. And they don't touch it anymore.
What's happening here? Don't they actually eat it? Is there something wrong with the oats, and should I just remove the abandoned ones? I thought it would actually consume the oats...
The specimen do grow, but not very much. They are active but I expected them to grow, providing there's food available, to fill the Petri...

hey ppl sharing now this vid couldnt upload in my last post.. see here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Slimemolds/comments/1h4a3qs/comment/m0nwvh4/?context=3

here the vid.. this litle fellas after grouping they started to form those spherical structures never saw an moveing organism do something like that any ideas..

https://youtube.com/shorts/1FLSuYo5Cm0?si=06kzSgTdnXqM0dC2

Found in the PNW, seems to be enjoying all the wood chips and dead leaves :)

Anyone know where to get some different species? Things besides physarum. Blobshop had some they called Luna, rosea, and Wonka but they dropped off the face of the earth. Anyone know what happened to them as well?

Hi there, I am Jos Richters, located in the Netherlands. I am an enthusiastic 3D developer and I took an interest in Physarum polycephalum.

I want to create specific mazes with 3D printing for Physarum polycephalum in order to experiment on their ability to figure out some shortest way to food or exit ;).

So my question: Are there standard sized measurements for any type of maze like square lengt or travel distance, or can I use any size or form I want? It may be possible that there are standards for these experiments, so if somebody wants me to print a maze for own use I want to deliver in predefined measures rather than any self created standard....

In return for a living Physarum polycephalum I would happily send you a maze..... Just let me know what you need and respond to this post.

I will post photographs of mazes as soon as I have created them..... I still have to make a start to do so, please be patient....

Thanks,

Jos.

As a Christmas gift to my microbiologist brother I want to surprise him with his favourite slime mold as a pet. I've been trying to find a distributor in the EU for Physarum Polycephalum in their eating phase. There is the Carolina US company, but I've contacted their distributors here and they said that they can't deliver anymore in EU because of new restrictions.

Any clues of where I could find it?

P.S. I got told that I could collect it in nature on my own, but I don't know if it's feasible right now in the Swedish winter

Growing slime molds for the very first time and I'm using Petri dishes since I'm going to be doing a small study for school but my practice one is growing outside in just a few days, I kept getting the impression that they wouldn't climb out unless they're desperate but is the only way to stop them to just trim the edges?

Can anyone recommend any books (preferably) or other resources to learn about slime molds from? I really want to learn more about them (I don’t know much about them at all but I was a 1st year zoology student at university before I had to drop out due to illness, to give an idea of my level of knowledge).

im unfamiliar with how grow slime mold, and i have a few questions

would it be possible to grow them in an empty fish tank? where could i order agar paper?

any help would be appreciated, thank you!

Hi all! I just found this little guy in the corner of my bedroom. I live in a granny-flat inside a stable block, so although I try to keep my house clean the actual construction is shoddy and was done haphazardly. This corner has a perpetual damp spot, although it's not usually damp to the touch you can see the patch is darker than the rest of the floor.

I am only going to be here another few months, and just want to know A) is this dangerous to my health? B) how best to remove it.

I can't get into the floor to deal with residual moisture, and I just want to bandaid it until I leave really. Thanks so much! Sincerely, someone trying not to freak out about breathing in spores or something 😅😅

I assume agar in a petri dish is the most "comfortable" for it, but does it matter as long as there's humidity and oats to keep it preoccupied in a small cardboard box? I have no intention to be inhumane. Inslimemane? Is there a good resource for care?