Sphagnum moss?

[Alfonzo]

Is it ok to use sphagnum moss that is marketed as a hanging basket liner? My parents, keen gardeners that they are, buy it from garden centers and it costs a fraction of the price that the stuuf that comes in a bag saying 'for reptiles' costs...

[jakk]

thats what im using havnt had any problems =]
prices online ares silly £10 when you add postage on some sites!

[hermanlover]

ye, i bought mine from a garden centre. i just microwaved it for a few minutes to keep nasties off

[ratboy]

Originally Posted by Alfonzo

Is it ok to use sphagnum moss that is marketed as a hanging basket liner? My parents, keen gardeners that they are, buy it from garden centers and it costs a fraction of the price that the stuuf that comes in a bag saying 'for reptiles' costs...

Yup.. Same stuff.

I tend to put mine in boiling water first though as I'm never sure what chemicals it has been treated with... if anything. Can't be too careful though eh

[jakk]

yeah good point about chemicals,
but all this boiling branches stuff and cage decor. i dout very much in the wild a nake would come across a boild, forzen, bark stripped log to sit on lol

[Young_Gun]

Originally Posted by jakk

yeah good point about chemicals,
but all this boiling branches stuff and cage decor. i dout very much in the wild a nake would come across a boild, forzen, bark stripped log to sit on lol

I doubt very much it would be in a cage, or electronically heated, or fed every 5-7 days, or have aspen or paper towel on the floor.

The snakes aren't wild, they have no antibodies to combat wild germs etc like wild snakes will have, so you boil, freeze and strip the bark to protect your non wild snake

I use sphagnum from wherever I can get hold of enough of it, boil it the microwave it and not had any problems.

[stevemartin]

In the wild a snake won't be confined to a 4x2 foot box either, so why not make sure you kill off as many potential parasites as you can? No point putting the snake in a potentially health damaging situation when there's no need.......prevention is better than cure.

[stevemartin]

you got there before me....

[Alfonzo]

Cheers guys, I thought it would be alright. It's amazing how as soon as something becomes 'for use with reptiles' the price rockets isn't it?

[JonnyEmm]

Originally Posted by californiankinglover

ye, i bought mine from a garden centre. i just microwaved it for a few minutes to keep nasties off

Hi,

Appologies as this is a bit of a thread hijack, I use orchid bark as my substrate and was wondering if microwaving it inside a plastic bag would be sufficient to kill beasties or whether I would be better off freezing it.

Appologies Again,

Jonny.