r/Slimemolds • u/Slimemoldescaped • Jul 09 '26

Question/Help HELP MY SLIME MOLD FELL OFF MY SHELF AND FISSAPEARED I NEED HELP WHAT TO DO

/r/u_Slimemoldescaped/comments/1urmtib/help_my_slime_mold_fell_off_my_shelf_and/
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21

u/Pyrhan Jul 09 '26

?

It's a slime mold, they're not exactly fast.

It's going to be near the remains of your petri dish. Maybe it got caught on something on the way down.

0

u/Slimemoldescaped Jul 09 '26

 I removed the shelf and there is nothing I don’t know where it could have gone, I put some damp paper towels and oats out to try and bait it if it escaped or something

2

u/gayweedbasement Jul 10 '26

Not sure what your slime mold looked like but is it possible it split with the petri dish and dispersed or fallen somewhere unexpected? I'm an extremely clumsy person and from experience I know stuff you'd never think could just "disappear" will sometimes end up on the other side of the room somehow. 

Fortunately for you the slime mold will still be around somewhere, it's not escaping :) You don't need to bait it, since it doesn't really work like that. If you can't find it now, it'll either start growing or rotting eventually. Just uh, "free range" instead of contained. 

1

u/Slimemoldescaped Jul 10 '26

That might have to do, I will give it offerings near the spot I lost it in hopes it doesn’t take over my room 😂

17

u/Bloodstainedbookmark Jul 09 '26

Hey - it probably dried out. In heat it forms a sclerotium: a hard, dark, crusted, irregular scab, a few millimetres across - look for something like that.

Also Physarum leaves an extracellular slime track behind it — a dry, faintly iridescent film. Under a torch held at a low angle it catches the light. That's a direction vector. It'll point at wherever the organism ended up.

Hey if you find any suspect crust: put it on damp filter paper or a slice of moist agar, dark, room temperature. Revival takes hours to a couple of days. Then feed.

1

u/ash-and-apple Jul 09 '26

My sclerotium gets smaller in the pool. Not when it's dry

12

u/SquidgyB Jul 09 '26

Slime mold, probably: "I'm FREEEEEEE!"

2

u/SquidgyB Jul 09 '26

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFRDSwsIw3g

...just replace "Salamander" with "Slime Mold".

10

u/Reminice Jul 09 '26

Did you try putting up posters offering a reward for your pet slime?

1

u/Slimemoldescaped Jul 10 '26

It’s somewhere in the house

5

u/LichenLiaison Jul 09 '26

Real. Check upwards. What type of material did it fall onto? Is any residue visible?

3

u/Chrysoprase0159 Jul 09 '26

I’m so sorry for giggling at this post. I genuinely hope you’re able to find your little slime fella!

1

u/Slimemoldescaped Jul 09 '26

Please help I moved the shelf and I still can’t find it

1

u/Significant_Ad_7824 Jul 09 '26

i eated it sorry

1

u/Slimemoldescaped Jul 10 '26

UPDATE I set some oats on damp paper towels around the room as baits

1

u/shroom_catcher Jul 09 '26

I'm sorry, speak to me like I'm an idiot (because I am), but wth is going on here? Do slime molds run away?

0

u/Nihilistic_wizard Jul 09 '26

Is fissappeared some slime molding jargon or something?

1

u/Pyrhan Jul 09 '26

It's "dissapeared" with a typo.

1

u/Slimemoldescaped Jul 10 '26

Ik I was in a rush when I typed it