Sterilization

[Bjorgly]

Hi all, i just bought a small bag of sphagnum moss from my petstore to make my t's cages a little more interesting. I do not trust it as it was from my pet store and was not factory packed, the petstore surely did it. I was wondering how i should go about sterilizing it, of if that is even necessary?

also i bought some fake reptile leafy plants to add to the enclosures, they are silk, and I was wondering if they are worth sterilizing also?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[JacenBeers]

Put it in the microwave for 15 seconds.

 

[Immortal_sin]

I may not be doing things right... but I don't actually sterilize anything. I just wash in warm water and soap, and rinse thoroughly. I don't do anything but use the moss, it's been in alot of my cages for months with no icky bugs, or critters on them.
Maybe someone else will recommend something different though

 

[Code Monkey]

I doubt very much that sterilisation is necessary. If it is, there are two (three) routes you can go. One is to wet it it and microwave it for around three minutes. Not really sterilised but would kill most mites, etc. Two is pressure cook the stuff for 45 minutes at 15 PSI, that actually will sterilise it but unless you're doing commercial grade mushroom horticulture, probably not necessary (and not even then in all cases since certain mushrooms, like the common button mushroom, NEED some of the contaminating fungi and bacteria in the casing layer of peat to fruit optimally - I know completely more info than you needed ). Third way to sterilise peat is to basically steam it in your oven - get a bunch of deep baking pans, load it up and soak it and cook it at about 250 degrees for a few hours - not sterile again, but a better job and probably less mess than a good microwave "sterilisation" job will get you.

But, really, it's probably unnecessary unless you suspect your petstore of having peat preloaded with parasitic mites.

 

[Bjorgly]

Thanks alot everyone, i think i will just let it go, and the moss is real easy to remove and replace if i notice any problems.

Mark