The Study of Moss

[bshmerlie]

I've been talking about doing a study on some different types of moss so here it is. I have it in a 20 gallon tank. I have a clay background on the sides and soil on the bottom. I am using to Exo Terra 2.0 repti glow bulbs. Right now the lighting is on for 12 hours a day. I have three different types of mosses going right now. These three mosses were supplied by Joshs Frogs. Please check his website for pricing and availability. I am going to say up front I am not an expert on Moss or its care so I would appreciate any advice or instructions from those who have successfully kept it. All to often I hear about people killing their moss or it turns brown and they replace it. I have the tank with just the moss right now so it will have full access to light. At somepoint if it all still looks good I am going to create shaded areas and see how that is going to affect the moss under it. I am also going to be giving my opinions of how it feels and moisture retention. These will just be my opinions and you can take them as you will. I will also take some of each moss and secure it to some wood so see if it grows. So here we go:

The Moss on the left is GREEN TREE MOSS (shag moss)- As you can tell Josh gives you a lot of it. I doesn't stick as well to the clay as the other moss because it is more stringy and doesn have a backing. It is also browner than the other moss. To me it would be a better ground cover although crickets can get lost in it. It retains moisture very well.

The Moss on the right side and back right is SHEET MOSS- Is has a thin backing of dirt and is very green. Josh also gives you a lot of it. It sticks very well to the clay and also looks great on the soil. This is so far my prefered moss out of the three. It is easier to lay out than the other one and has a lot of different textures to it. It is more secured so the frogs would have less risk of swollowing it when going for food. The crickets also don't seem to get lost in it as well. Even the fruit flies seem to come back up to the top for the frogs to get to. I LIKE it. I have it on the bottom floor on the right and on the back wall on the right. It's been in the tank a little over a week and it already has some different stuff growning out of it. Again it sticks great to the clay.

The last on the right wall and a little on the right side bottom edge is the LIVE MOOD moss. It comes in rounded clumps circles with this layer of soil on the bottom of it. It is a LOT thicker than that other two. Becuase of that you don't get as much square footage to cover the tank. But it is real plush and looks very uniform. It is the cleanest looking of the moss and if it were all butted up next to each other would be a perfect choice if you were afraid of crickets getting lost in it. The tree frogs would also NOT be at risk of ingesting it.

As I said I going to grow these for awhile and I will post some pictures every couple of weeks so you can see how it holds up. Right now I am misting it twice a day to keep it moist. At some point I am going to increase the water and see at what point that affects it. I think I have watered my moss in the past too much and it browns. So I am going to go easy this time around. I am taking a picture of it every two days so I will have a gauge of it. If anyone has any helpful hints on care please speak up. The first picture is of the whole tank and the following three are the moss from left to right.

Again I want to thank JOSHS FROGS for his help with this project. If anyone wants to add to this thread with a study of a different moss feel free to add. Post some pictures and tell us what type you are working with it and its success under different condtions.