# Building a vivarium moss?



## Hk855 (Dec 13, 2010)

Hello all, I'm building my first dart vivarium and have a ton of temperate climate moss growing in my backyard in nice big patches. I wanted to use some of this in my setup because it looks cool and it's free. Has anyone had a bad experience with this? I assume it dies during the summer due to humidity loss more than temp and that shouldn't be a problem in the viv.
Thanks


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## Mitch (Jun 18, 2010)

Generally temperate moss will not live, as it requires a dry, cooling period (which would be winter). Also its pretty hard to get rid of all the "nasties" on it because they don't fair to well with a bleach dip. I'd try to look for the mosses our sponsors sell to use. Christmas moss, java moss, and riccia also work great too.


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## sktdvs (Nov 1, 2010)

well first off where you located? if youre in florida, i have seen people use that moss because its more of a tropical moss than tmeperate. but if youre northeast and northwest, even here in Cali then like Mitch said, temperate moss doesnt do very well.


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## Hk855 (Dec 13, 2010)

I live in the SF bay area temps here are down to 40 right now and it never freezes. The moss is doing good right now, growing big puffy mats and spreading. It usually almost dies over summer but i think that's more due to dry conditions as in shaded and damp areas it lives. Mitch, any nasties in particular or just the risk? I've had a lot of animals over the years and have learned about quarantine procedures the hard way but I trust my backyard about as much as a distributor. Not saying there bad sources just not "sterile" either. Also wouldn't any microfauna add to the food source? I was also planing on putting some orchids in the setup, wouldn't these add some nasties as well?
Thanks


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## Erikb3113 (Oct 1, 2008)

it's the parasites or diseases the microfauna might carry.


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## DizzyD (Sep 19, 2006)

along w/ the fear of pesticides and/or plant killers, etc, etc. Our little friends are so small that even the tiniest "dose" of something bad could kill them. That's my biggest fear, if I purchased "sick" frogs, or something that happened to be "contaminated", then buyer beware.
But if I ever introduced something potentially toxic to the viv, I'd be beside myself w/ sadness, grief, and ofcourse guilt...


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