Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Anyone use bed a beast or eco earth for viv's and then added moss? Does the moss stay alive as long as you moistion it well? Wondering if the properties are the same as soil and all it keep moss alive.guess its a trya nd see in a smaller container first eh?
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My roomates are 1BP,1BCI2corns,Rotti,3cats,desert scorpions, and snake food AKA the food chain. See my kids at: http://community.webshots.com/user/diggy415

I have used the eco earth and placed the moss on top. Unfortunately I have not succeeded in keeping the moss alive. It last for a while but I end up replacing it every month or so. I have better luck with the spanish moss hanging around the tank it seems to stay alive.

I dont use moss in my tank, but I did notice that Bed A Beast is partly compost (small print on label). I would assume that that would make it better than EcoEarth (just coconut husk, I think) for growing stuff. I keep my bed a beast really wet (JOKE HERE)for my painted chubby frog (JOKE HERE) and sometimes something will start to sprout (ahem).

In my experience Java Moss, which grows either aquatically or on land, does very well on Bed-a-beast or even plain cocoanut fiber substrate as long as it's rather wet. In fact, in some of my newer vivariums, I've used only Bed-a-beast as a substrate for the terrarium plants and most do quite well in it. I've never had any luck with the tropical sheet mosses, which tend to die off unless conditions are just right, no matter what the substrate. I keep Java moss growing in a fish tank/paludarium and just clip off a hunk of it whenever I need it for a new vivarium, then just spread it around. If you have frogs that won't tolerate a constantly wet substrate and high humidity, however, the Java moss might not be the answer, either.

There's a potential problem with Spanish Moss, (although I do use it in certain places) that your frogs might get tangled up in it. It's pretty tough stuff, like rope. I've seen photos and read of incidents that frogs have gotten in wrapped around limbs to cut of ciruculation, or have become caught in it. While this has never happened in my vivariums, after I read and saw this, I became more judicious about its use.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis (new froglets)

I forgot to comment that Spanish moss isn't a moss at all. It is a Tillandsia usnesoides--an epiphytic bromeliad--totally unrelated to the mosses and nothing like them in appearance or use.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis (new froglets)

If you're using sphagnum moss, you need to keep it moist--not sopping wet. It's reccommended that you put it over a layer of baked clay rocks, similar or the same as the rocks used in growing orchids because the stones are very absorbent and sponge the excess water. Also, the clay stones don't decompose and aren't sharp like lava rocks.