Moss

[endoflove]

well i just colected a bunch of live moss from a little forest, upon investigation there are lots of little cridders in it, little 1/20 -2/10 white bugs crawling around ( look kinda like the spring tails on ROBC's post) im wondering if its safe to use

 

[endoflove]

and what is the best temp lighting and ect to keep moss alive (wisconsion

 

[Xian]

I personally wouldn't put anything that you gathered outside in your tarantula enclosure. That's just my opinion.

 

[codykrr]

to get rid of all the bugs. let it dry out naturally for about a week. once it is in its "dormant state" leave it be for about another week, then start it on a 1 inch layer of peat that is dampened i usually do this in a small shoebox. give it lots of light, and keep it watered just enough to grow. then after about a month, you can cut sections out and put the "plugs" into various locations in the tank you want to use it in.

i know it sounds like alot of work, and you dont HAVE to do this, but i prefer to just incase pesticides, or mites, pseudoscorpions, springtails and other micro organisms are in it. good luck

 

[endoflove]

ok so dry it out? lol i just watered it hahahah! lol ok if its cold 45 will the moss be ok?

 

[endoflove]

to get rid of all the bugs. let it dry out naturally for about a week. once it is in its "dormant state" leave it be for about another week, then start it on a 1 inch layer of peat that is dampened i usually do this in a small shoebox. give it lots of light, and keep it watered just enough to grow. then after about a month, you can cut sections out and put the "plugs" into various locations in the tank you want to use it in.

i know it sounds like alot of work, and you dont HAVE to do this, but i prefer to just incase pesticides, or mites, pseudoscorpions, springtails and other micro organisms are in it. good luck

and thanks mucho thank will do im in no hurry if its alot i have its time!

 

[hellraizor]

I put all of mine in the freezer. It kills all of the bugs but not the moss. Moss can survive the entire winter under snow. You can even roll giant snow balls like when your making a snowman, and collect the live moss underneath it. Anyways, toss it in the freezer for a few days and then take it out and run it under warm water to thaw it out.

 

[codykrr]

or another option is too.

make a bleach solution of 10 to 15% and soak it for 3 min, then rinse and rinse some more. or the no chemical at all aproach is too.

get a small chunk of dry ice. and make a gas chamber..a shoe box and a buttler bowl and a little aquarium tubing will do put the moss in the shoebox, poke a small hole in the lid, run the tubing from the hole into the butterbowl lid(also needs a hole poked in it) fill the butter bowl with hot water and drop the dry ice in it. cover with the lid.

this will fill the soebox with moss in it full of Co2 and if done for about 5 minutes will kill al little bugs.

 

[codykrr]

I put all of mine in the freezer. It kills all of the bugs but not the moss. Moss can survive the entire winter under snow. You can even roll giant snow balls like when your making a snowman, and collect the live moss underneath it. Anyways, toss it in the freezer for a few days and then take it out and run it under warm water to thaw it out.

this would only work for temporate mosses. some species found in north america cannot tollerate the cold, even though they live where harsh winters happen.

most likely though you did find a temporate moss sp. in which case this could be done. also it may be said that since it probly is a temporate moss sp. it will HAVE to have a dormant period once a year or it will stop reproducing and die off.

 

[hellraizor]

im not a rocket scientist and i dont have a lab on the moon, so I just stick with putting it in the freezer.
And doesnt bleach take some of the greeness out of the moss?

 

[TalonAWD]

I found this info on another forum. (Dendroboard) they are experts on plants and vivariums.

Reference http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/plants/43937-moss-experiments-round-2-a.html

Original "Moss Experiments" thread: http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/plants/33923-moss-experiments.html

I did another couple moss sanitizing experiments. We had feather moss, riccia, tropical moss, and spanish moss laying around - so we did our normal processing (found in the "moss" section of our website) to each.

1) Feather Moss is 100% successful in using 10% solution for 3-4 minutes. VERY mild color loss. We have only a little in stock - we plan on stocking this soon with our normal tropical moss.

2) Riccia - I tried this at 10% and it was fine. It lost color for a bit - but within 7 days it returned back to normal. We do not plan to market riccia yet because it seems that snails are to riccia as fish are to water. Naturally snails in a vivarium are VERY bad for plants - so 'till we find a way to guarantee against snails - we won't be selling riccia for vivariums.

2.1) Riccia Again - If you are an idiot like me - you experiment a bit too much. We tried 20% bleach with riccia and we planned on trying it for 3 minutes. I've read that riccia is "super sensitive" to bleach on other threads - and I had my doubts. Well. As soon as I started this - we had a LG hatch. Without going on too long about it - it was a VERY strange/unexpected morph - and I got very excited. I completely forgot about the riccia 'till the FOLLOWING MORNING! 20% Bleach. 11 hours. Stupid. The riccia was borderline WHITE when I woke up. I dumped out the bleach and rinsed out the riccia as best as I could. Now - much to my surprise 12 days later - the riccia is 100% BACK to it's full color - and flourishing. Somehow the snails are slowly making a comeback too.

3) Tropical moss - 10% for 3 minutes is cake. It looses a bit of color - but it returns within a week or so. We've extended bleaching for 5 minutes - but that makes it loose a bit more color and take about 14 days to return to full green color. Either one is safe for the moss - either one should help eliminate micro fauna.

4) Spanish moss - 10% for 3 minutes worked fine. It takes a bit to get it to green back up - but in my opinion - the benefits outweigh the risks.

Hope this helps people who are wondering about processing plants/moss before introducing it to their vivariums. It may not kill every living organism - but this sure should help fight against any bad bacteria, unwanted mites, etc that can be found in just about any plant today. *especially wild collected stuff*

Anyone who has anything to contribute - feel free.

-Mike

New England Herpetoculture - Home

 

[joshuai]

So who wants to send me some nice non-arctic moss for my tanks??? the stuff here dies in a warm environment.

 

[Xian]

So who wants to send me some nice non-arctic moss for my tanks??? the stuff here dies in a warm environment.

How much do you want?

 

[endoflove]

so even if its frozen solid it wont die?

 

[Xian]

What excites Hoover most about the search for ice-bound microbes, he said, is the possibility of finding viable ancient organisms in deep freeze. Vorobyova and her colleague David Gilichinsky previously discovered a moss that had remained alive but dormant for 40,000 years in the permafrost of northeastern Siberia, according to NASA.


That came from this site, so ya!

http://www.space.com/searchforlife/permafrost.html

 

[Xian]

I think it's alot like grass that way, it may go dormant but does not die. I grew up in Iowa, and on the north side of our house in the garden, the moss grew. It came back every year, only grew and spred out more each year.

 

[hellraizor]

so even if its frozen solid it wont die?

nope. I sometimes leave trash bags of moss in the freezer for months at a time. When I need it, I take it out, thaw it, and its still live and green. And it even grows with no problems.

 

[joshuai]

How much do you want?

about 2 or 3 square feet or so enough for a couple ten gallon enclosures. ive tried the moss up here it does not do good at higher temps.

 

[OxDionysus]

I could go out and get you some for free..just pay shipping. I have this stuff all over my backyard. Let me know!

 

[hellraizor]

I was going to say the same thing. Ive got it all over my yard too. Gotta love Michigan! HEY JOSHUAI, I sent a PM. We still on for tomorrow?