Reptile & Amphibian Forums

No one around here sells live moss; just dried up junk (Petco.) How safe is it to use wild moss? I'm worried about parasites. I would order the moss online, but I don't have the time to do so. I'm getting my best bud a pacman as a christmas gift.. and making the tank to go with, of course.

And.. UTH or heatbulb? I'm either going to get a UTH (put on side or on bottom of tank?) or a red heat lamp to leave on 24-7. Whats the better choice?

By the dry stuff and moisten it. Or use coconut blocks and moisten them. Don't take stuff from outside because it is sure to be full of all sorts of critters and bacteria and who knows what else. Undertank heaters or bulbs both work fine.

Posted by: devotchka2589 at Fri Dec 15 15:12:56 2006 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

No one around here sells live moss; just dried up junk (Petco.) How safe is it to use wild moss? I'm worried about parasites. I would order the moss online, but I don't have the time to do so. I'm getting my best bud a pacman as a christmas gift.. and making the tank to go with, of course.

And.. UTH or heatbulb? I'm either going to get a UTH (put on side or on bottom of tank?) or a red heat lamp to leave on 24-7. Whats the better choice?

UTH dont raise air temp a single degree so you have 'warm" tank bottom and air they breath isnt (ofcourse that is if room is cool) plus heat from above is natural .
Use night reptile bulbs (black light) you just put the light dome on cheap lamp dimmer and increase/decrease temp . Some of those UTH run insane super hot or not at all and you have no way of knowing .
Granted with bulb you need to mist bit more but no big deal and again overall they seem happier mine does anyway than when I used UTH .