Physarum is not difficult to look after but from time to time you might run into some problems. Here's our guide to dealing with them..

• Escapes If your slime is hungry it will explore and they're very good at getting out of containers. It will also try to leave if you forget to change its bedding. Escaping slimes can be coaxed back with fresh food and paper or gently scooped up and put back. Anything left can be wiped up and the stain removed with soap and water.
• Smelly slime and mouldy slime Healthy physarum smells mild and earthy if it starts to pong then you've got contamination. Coax some of the slime onto a fresh piece of paper with some food, move it to a new container and bleach the rest. You can reuse the container as long as you clean it thoroughly.
• My slime's gone brown/grey/runny It's dead Jim! - either it ate something that wasn't good for it or it got contaminated.
• My slime has black spots and isn't moving Physarum exposed to light will move onto the next phase of its life cycle and form black clusters of spores on the top of little stalks. That's pretty much it for your slime - you need to start a fresh culture. If you ask us nicely we might have some spare