Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What have your guys' preference on moss been. I'm looking at the 2 kinds at blackforest.com, neither one is a really good picture of how it will look in the terrarium. Where did you get yours and what kind did you get?

I have had great luck with Java Moss, but it does need strong lights. The moss i have had the most luck with was localy collected moss that was found in very shady areas. I washed it in a weak bleach solution and the I kept it in sterlite shoe box for a couple of weeks to make sure there was no critters in it. After that i put it in the tank and it has florished with only a single aquarium lightstrip.

what do you think of the "gold tips"? I'm nervous using wild moss, I don't want to introduce anything into the vivarium.

I like the Java moss. It grows both in water and on damp substrate, will climb up wet backgrounds and waterfalls. You can get a start of it from Black Jungle. I've never had much luck with the tropical sheet mosses and have never tried collecting termperate zone seasonal mosses.

I have Java moss in the aquarium portion of my paludarium as well. This is a good place to harvest starts for new viviariums. All you have to do is spread it around and it takes hold. It's a rather stingy moss rather than one that forms a dense "golf course" type carpet over soil. In my experience, it grows anywhere that a moderate amount of light reaches, and is relatively resistant to trampling by the larger frogs. (If you have both waterways and land with a pump in a false bottom, it can grow down into the water and clog the pump, but this is easy to remove.)
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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
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus