Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I found a really nice soft feathery moss in a local creek here, and I keep local froggys Green Tree Frogs. I was told I could grow the moss quickly by blending it with beer, or yogurt and painting it all over what I wanted to grow it on. I'd love to give my little err well rather they are huge (bout a 3.5inch greens) some nice soft moisture holding moss but I did not know if the beer or yogurt in thier tank would hurt them?

Anyone know if the concoction would harm the frogs or know of any other way of seeding my tank with this nice moss. I've foudn the frogs dont liek peat or cocnut bark they are constantly trying to remove it from themselves even when i keep it nice and damp, so I was thinking moss would be great to cover the cage in and have grow over thier branches and rocks.

I was hoping to make a more natural looking tank since the tree's here are mossy as well to encourage squeaker(my little male) to get them girlys down to the pond. He already trys hard enough as is.

Thanks ahead of time
Thronde n desperate squeaker

sounds like a pretty cool cage you've been work'n on. I've been looking for some ground cover as well. Both the beer and yogurt should be fine if the cage is vacated of all amphibians for several days. Please note that I am NOT a proffesional, however I do have over 13yrs of amphib. experience. Avoid direct contact onto the herps, and the less used the better. Allow for the moss to grow. With the yogurt, and possibly the beer, other organisms like fungus and bacterial colonies may fill in. Use a large moss to yogurt ratio to ensure that the moss is the largest competitor.
Best yet, would probably be to not use anything, and just be patient waiting for the moss to grow and spread.
Other considerations about introducing moss from outside is the introduction of parasites and or disease. Trying to find the same moss in a terrerium or plant store may reduce this risk. Also rinse it off well with luke warm water. Assuming that your frogs are wild caught, they may already have an immune system which is disease resistent to pathogens near to where they were caught.

I did put the moss in a seperate tank with some UV lighting to see if it would grow naturally, so far it hasnt really done anything. It hasnt died but it hasnt grown, I hand picked through it removing a few bug eggs I found and washed all the dirt away from the roots. before putting it in some coconut bark and peat misture for growing.

I did put a small patch of it in the frog tank and they spend all thier time lounging on it. So i think i may do the beer and yogurt but in a seperate tank see how fast it grows and then liek sod bust it up and transplant it if it takes off.

I'll keep yah guys updated on how it goes, I just think wet moss would be a godsend for allot of frogs out there