Authored by Jeremy Kosonic
Bio-Active Terrarium Plant Species | Moss
Moss in the Bio-Active Terrarium
When people want lush, tropical vivariums, they tend to want moss— EVERYWHERE. While this may look really nice, moss should be kept on the rocks, sticks, and background. Keep the floor clear for lots of dead leaves, seed pods, fallen branches, etc. This will give the animals places to hide.
When given its minimum requirements, moss can spread quickly, and cover any and all surfaces, including glass. So what does moss need? Well moss needs 3 main things: relatively bright lighting, high humidity/lots of water, and a growing media.
Lighting
In the wild, moss tends to grow in moist, shaded areas away from full sun. People tend to copy this by keeping it in very low light levels inside as well. What they don’t realize, is that what may seem like very little light outside, is actually relatively bright light inside. I find one or two HO T5 lights
Humidity/ Moisture
Most moss likes to stay nice and moist. In vivaria, the easiest way to provide this is to keep the humidity as high as possible and spray it daily to keep it moist. This is more essential at the beginning when the moss is still acclimatizing and establishing. Once it has established and spread, humidity can be dropped somewhat to better accommodate the future inhabitants.
Growing Media
I tend to split mosses into 3 very broad, general categories. Those are mosses that forms clumps, or “hills”; mosses that form sheets, or “hug” the place it’s growing; and aquatic mosses.
Mosses that form clumps or “hills” tend to do better when grown on the ground, or areas with high organic content. These tend to look more like little palm trees, or grow vertically, rather than horizontally. These grow best among the leaf litter or in the soil.
Mosses that forms sheets, mats, or tend to “hug” where it’s growing are usually able to grow anywhere in the vivarium. the “fronds” look more like ferns and Selaginella spp. and grow outward more than upward. These are usually capable of growing anywhere in the vivarium as long as they have moisture and light.
Aquatic mosses can usually grow quite well emersed as long as it is kept wet. In fact, many aquatic mosses are found just above the waterline in the wild. Commonly used aquatic mosses include Java moss (Taxiphyllum barbieri
Acclimatizing Wild Moss
The easiest way to acquire moss for vivs it to collect it from the wild. If you’re in Canada like I am, the only native mosses that tend to do well without some serious trial & error are the sheet-forming species the small vertical, or clumping species don’t do nearly as well in the warmer humid environments of most vivs, and will more often than not die off after only a couple of months. The best way to acclimate moss is to initially soak it in a 5% bleach solution for 5-10 minutes.
Not all mosses will make it through the bleaching, but it ensures there are no bugs or anything detrimental on the moss. Once this is done a quick rinse in distilled water should be done and then placed into a small shoebox with a simple substrate such as coco fiber
“Moss Milkshakes”
A recent trend with hobbyists who want to grow moss over a large area is to create a “moss milkshake”. This entails putting moss in a blender with buttermilk, beer, or polymer water crystals. The theory behind this is that the buttermilk/beer/crystals help hold the moss and provide nutrients which helps it grow. This is absolutely unnecessary, and usually ends up growing more mold than it does actual moss. It also stinks! A much simpler method is to blend the moss with water and spread it on branches, rock, etc. This won’t mold nearly as easily, and what doesn’t end up growing will provide more than enough nutrients for what does. Blending is often not even necessary, and placing small patches of moss around the vivarium and allowing it to establish and spread can be just as, if not more, effective than making the slurry.