Moss + Grandis yes or no

[KingOfTheNorth]

Hi I won some exo terra forest moss today and I'm going to clean out my tanks and replace the coconut fiber subrate. Since I have this moss now I was thinking about putting it on top of the coco fiber. Is moss okay with grandis? I know it'll raise the humidity and stuff (which I already have at a permanent 60 for the most part). But they can possibly swallow and ingest it. Is moss a good idea?

edit: An hour after writing this I watched my new grandis battle with a piece of moss for 10 minutes. She was able to spit it out..but thankfully that piece was too big for her to swallow. It made me worry that they might not always spit the moss out..

Here's a picture of her..and her injury. The guy I purchased her from grabbed her. =[

 

[ranger519]

I too tried the moss and found it would grow mold. I was also concerned about them eating it. I ended up taking it out and planted a few small ferns to give some color to the bottom of the terrarium. I like these better and they seem to be doing well.

 

[ranger519]

Here is a pic of the ferns i used. Not the best pic but im at work and had this on my phone.

 

[DragonsMaelstrom]

Ranger, if your moss (I assume it was live moss?) grew mold, then it is likely you did not have sufficient air circulaton.

 

[ranger519]

No it was not live moss, it was the kind that is compressed in a brick and add water and expands. Live moss should not be a problem.

 

[KingOfTheNorth]

Ah yeah mold might be a factor too. I do have springtails in my terrariums so they might be able to handle the mold if it does grow. The ferns are a good idea and I'll definitely be using them if I see any mold growing from the moss. Nice set up by the way, ranger.

 

[lauraleellbp]

I'm going with dead leaves and ferns in the bottom of mine. Leaves would be better for springtails than moss, anyways.

 

[KingOfTheNorth]

I'm going with dead leaves and ferns in the bottom of mine. Leaves would be better for springtails than moss, anyways.

Do you think the moss would be okay for a while though? I've only got it in 1 of my terrariums so far, I just don't want them to ingest any of it on accident.

Also, where did you get the dead leaves? I think joshsfrogs has them if I remember correctly.

 

[lauraleellbp]

I had my aunt collect a bunch of oak leaves from off of her property for me- she lives in a rural part of Savannah and doesn't use pesticides on her property.

As far as urgency on removing the moss that's in there... it's entirely a judgment call, but you've already seen her get some in her mouth, so I personally would be getting it out. Especially if you feed live bugs in the enclosure.

 

[KingOfTheNorth]

I had my aunt collect a bunch of oak leaves from off of her property for me- she lives in a rural part of Savannah and doesn't use pesticides on her property.

As far as urgency on removing the moss that's in there... it's entirely a judgment call, but you've already seen her get some in her mouth, so I personally would be getting it out. Especially if you feed live bugs in the enclosure.

Ah I'll have to buy leaves somewhere then.

And yeah I'll probably be removing the moss before the next feeding. Shame it looked cool too.

 

[mcadoo]

I just started collecting phelsuma a little while back, but have my 3 pair in fully planted vivariums. I have had dart frogs for years in planted tanks and use oak leaves as leaf litter, purchased from a vendor (disinfected), in all of my phelsuma and frog tanks.

It's natural, completely breaks down and will keep a thriving springtail population going. I would ditch that moss if your gecko is ingesting it. I've had various natural mosses and they are not easy to keep going, especially in a gecko environment with more waste, animal movement and lower humidity than frogs.

Be careful just collecting wild leaves as hitchhikers could destroy your tank or at least make eggs a target.

 

[KingOfTheNorth]

I just started collecting phelsuma a little while back, but have my 3 pair in fully planted vivariums. I have had dart frogs for years in planted tanks and use oak leaves as leaf litter, purchased from a vendor (disinfected), in all of my phelsuma and frog tanks.

It's natural, completely breaks down and will keep a thriving springtail population going. I would ditch that moss if your gecko is ingesting it. I've had various natural mosses and they are not easy to keep going, especially in a gecko environment with more waste, animal movement and lower humidity than frogs.

Be careful just collecting wild leaves as hitchhikers could destroy your tank or at least make eggs a target.

Ah yeah I was definitely going to buy the leaves, don't wanna deal with an infestation of anything. And I just removed the moss today after I noticed a moldy smell and I had to pull a piece of moss out of one of my gecko's mouth as he was trying to swallow it while eating a cricket. In a lot of care sheets for grandis I see 'moss - great substrate.' I definitely don't think so.

 

[Kevin McRae]

I used dead moss in my enclosure and now have tons of fruit flies. I finally decided to throw the moss in the garbage, hopefully the flies clear out soon.

I wouldn't be worried about the geckos ingesting moss/peat/soil/coco fibre etc. It happens in the wild, geckos can pass these substrates in small amounts. I often see coco fibres in my AFT's feces. I would be much more worried about small pebbles or non organic materials.

 

[KingOfTheNorth]

I used dead moss in my enclosure and now have tons of fruit flies. I finally decided to throw the moss in the garbage, hopefully the flies clear out soon.

I wouldn't be worried about the geckos ingesting moss/peat/soil/coco fibre etc. It happens in the wild, geckos can pass these substrates in small amounts. I often see coco fibres in my AFT's feces. I would be much more worried about small pebbles or non organic materials.

Ah I see, yeah I was really worried about the moss being ingested but I guess it turned out okay. I see coco fiber get ingested sometimes with a cricket with no side effects.

 

[PiTi]

Why don't you put insects in the bowl? It will prevent your gecko from eating moss/fiber accidentally, plus give you a control about how much it eats. Simple as that.