Human fetishes are always strange and varied, and this is no exception when it comes to keeping pets.
While the whole world falls into the gentle trap of cats and dogs domesticating upright apes, true Pokémon masters have long taken a different path, focusing their attention on more niche creatures.
I consider myself a "master surfer" of the short-video pet section, thinking I had seen it all when it came to exotic pets—whether it was cold-blooded reptiles, creepy arthropods, or mammals not commonly kept as pets. While these creatures aren't common, they do have their unique charms, so it's not hard to understand why some people keep them as pets.
A relatively cute niche reptile pet—the Miyamori
But seeing someone ignore "Hajimi" (cats) and "Big Dog.exe Barks" (dogs), choosing instead to keep "SCOBYs" as pets, I suddenly realized that human imagination in pet-keeping can be so unconstrained; my previous definition of pets was too narrow—pets can run on the ground, fly in the sky, or even spoil in water.
Yes, the so-called "tea fungus" refers to the spherical microbial colony that grows inside bottled tea beverages after they've been opened, consumed partially, and left for a period of time.
When you were a student, you might have discovered these fuzzy little magical orbs in drinks forgotten in your drawer for days. Let's just say, having sharp eyesight is a blessing—I once accidentally consumed one of these orbs from a bottle due to my nearsightedness, and spent a night intimately bonded with the toilet in the bathroom.
Therefore, for some people, its fuzzy appearance doesn't mean cuteness; it might even cause disgust. Just hearing that someone keeps it as a pet makes them question the mental state of post-modern youth.
At this point, you might still wonder if keeping something associated with negative impressions like "mold" and "diarrhea" is just a quirky stunt by a few eccentric individuals. However, the reality is quite the opposite—this very culprit that causes beverages to spoil and gives tea drinkers upset stomachs has recently transformed into a top-tier pet that many netizens are obsessed with raising. Nowadays, on many social media platforms, you can see people sharing their cultivated SCOBYs and exchanging tips on their pet-raising experiences, forming a substantial community for these "fur babies"—except this "fur" refers to "mold."
Many outsiders who stumble into this community get caught up in the SCOBY-raising trend too, actively seeking guides for raising their "fur babies" in the comments, eager to experience the joy of becoming microbial parents themselves.
Where there's demand, there's a market. Faced with an increasing number of comments asking for tutorials, some people simply started dedicated threads to share their secrets for cultivating kombucha SCOBYs in detail—listing Everythinggj from which brand of Oriental Leaf tea to use, to the specific environmental conditions after opening the cap, and even the growth cycle of the SCOBY.
As for why choose "Oriental Leaf" instead of the more widely praised "Ice Tea"?
There's a metaphysical belief that Oriental Leaf easily cultivates SCOBYs, especially the Oolong tea flavor.
From another perspective, the surface of the Oriental Leaf bottle is relatively smooth, without excessive ridges or textures, making the contents clearly visible. This allows for eye contact with your cultivated SCOBY without feeling like you're visiting a prisoner through iron bars.
So, if one day your friend suddenly skips the 4-yuan value king, the "1L Ice Tea," and switches to the 5-yuan symbol of old money, "Oriental Leaf," don't immediately suspect they won the lottery and are engaging in revenge spending, or stole your ID to take out a loan—they might simply want to jump on this online trend and raise their own fur baby.
Upon further investigation, I discovered that "raising fungi" isn't actually anything new—the SCOBYs that have recently become popular online are merely newcomers in the "fungal pet" community. Before them, there were already many seasoned veterans.
For example, there's the "Dough Gu" in the fungal pet world, which moves relatively quickly and vigorously—it's a personified term for the product of yeast fermenting dough. It only requires regular "feeding" of flour and water to maintain its "vital signs." When you stir the "Dough Gu" with a spoon, the dense bubbles produced by fermentation burst rapidly, and amidst the bubbling surge, the "Dough Gu" as a whole seems to truly become a living creature.
Another regular in the fungal pet circle, "slime mold," is the artist among fungi. Although it's a single-celled organism without a brain, it can solve complex pathfinding problems. By setting up "food points" with organic matter during cultivation, the slime mold gradually extends its vein-like network, eventually connecting all food points via the shortest path. This characteristic has even spawned a gameplay similar to "cricket fighting" called "fungus fighting," where multiple slime molds compete for nutrients in the same petri dish to see who wins this battle royale.
Having said all that, can the joy of raising fungi really compare to traditional pets like cats and dogs?
In terms of interactivity, although "fungal pets" like SCOBYs are raised, the actual interaction owners can have with them is very limited compared to traditional pets—mostly just regularly observing their growth status, adding nutrients appropriately, or changing the cultivation environment. In fact, precisely because they require minimal interaction and have low maintenance costs, they have been chosen as emotional anchors for young people—
When you're stuck in the daily commute between work and home, barely having time to take a walk yourself, you expect me to walk a Dog.exe?
When you're eating budget meal combos for every meal, you expect me to feed "Hajimi" premium canned cat food?
In comparison, "fungal pets" offer exceptionally high value. They don't require you to take them out for walks at fixed times every day, nor do they throw tantrums if you fail to prepare delicious meals on time. For the most part, the owner's role is simply one-way observation and recording, yet it provides a subtle sense of companionship from a living being.
Nowadays, using Oriental Leaf to cultivate SCOBYs offers even better value than other fungal pets, roughly equivalent to forgetting to drink a bottle of spoiled Oriental Leaf.
Following this trend, perhaps for every worker beaten down by life, the ultimate pet suitable for raising will gradually evolve into silicon-based creatures that require no feeding, no care, and little attention—namely, rocks.