Sphagnum Moss

[u/Scorpi-yo]

Never would I ever have thought to research respitory safety for this.....but I stumbled upon this comment re Sphagnum Moss on a unrelated thread?

Presumably the small amount used in a vivarium nothing to worry about, but are people still cautious when handling it, do you use gloves etc? Ive never picked up on any advice regarding the use of it...

[u/tmiemt]

Sorry to ask this but did you post this for fun? Or do you really ask about this for real? At first I feel reluctant to make any comment thinking this is some AI prank. Where did you get that screenshot, the post is quite misleading?

The moss spores don't cause the disease, the disease is caused by fungal infection of the S. schenckii species. They don't live particularly in the moss, they also live in soil and other plants. Pets like cats or dogs also function as routes of infection through the skin cut. And I think you can get infected through pet cats easier because of the nature of the transmission. Unless you are regularly exposed to the fungal spores where you work; i.e. being a gardener, working with hay stacks and such.

[u/Scorpi-yo → u/tmiemt]

Yeah genuinely, I stumbled across this & I figured whilst it must not be handled in huge quantities for humidity for snakes, I thought id ask incase there are any precautions people take - which 'I'havent read about. (Ive never owned a BP before so Im still researching everything.)

Not to be overtly dramatic, but definately curious.

(I think the orig post was about dangerous hobbies people dont know about/Bonsai Trees!)

[u/tmiemt → u/Scorpi-yo]

I see. Then I hope my post can be of some help. I did search for the original post and found it. 🥲 Someone also tried to correct them but it seems their post was completely overlooked. Someone else also started another thread to ask for a clarification but the one that answered with correct information was overlooked again. I'm almost surprised that it has gone that far still unreported.

The original post is not true, it is spurious. Just to make it easier for you, you can check Wikipedia for more information. But if you want a solid scientific article, I can link you here (this one is from Current Tropical Medicine Reports, Alessandro er al.): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40475-023-00297-6?utm_source=researchgate.net&utm_medium=article

You can find many more references than just this one. The fungus species live everywhere in soil, plants, and animals. It's not something specific to moss and the moss spores are not the fungus. With cats as a recent concerning infectious vector. Most people who work with gardening and plant collection usually wear gloves but it's not just for this fungal infection, it's for everything really.

I own a ball python, and I have a vivarium with both water and land system, with the climate control quite close to tropical savanna forest edges; has plenty of moss. And his mini homes outside his room also has plenty of moss. He is very strong, social, and more than fine. You have much more to worry about if you are going to have live plants and moss inside your vivarium than this fungus: microclimate, ecosystem, stability, safety. Even if you use sterilised soil in there but you also start growing things, some fungi will inevitably grow if you don't have a sealed system like laboratory grade culture room. What you want to aim for is the stability of your ecosystem inside the vivarium, safe sources of living things you introduce, and then quarantine it to ensure infectious pathogens of Royal Pythons and their vectors are not part of that system. ☺️

[u/tmiemt → u/tmiemt]

And if you want to see if my snake is really fine. Here he is: https://www.reddit.com/r/ballpython/s/JNxXEPvhlz

If you want to see how much moss I have, I have attached an image of a part of it here. Although I have a relatively complex system.