Hello everyone!

I have been really busy, and haven't been on in a while. I'll count myself lucky if any of you remember me. Haha. I browsed through some of the recent posts and was happy to recognize some names.

Anyhow, a little while ago I switched the substrate of all my aquariums to pete-moss. I had previously been using aspen. So far, the snakes seem to love it. I put down a pretty thick layer, and there is a lot of tunneling and digging going on(especially my hognose). I now feel comfortable feeding my snakes in their aquariums which is great for some of the pickier ones.

However, I had a bit of a problem. One of my garters, Bizet, developed a swelling on his left upper "lip." The inner part of his mouth jutted out from the side of his head and it became covered in the pete-moss. I immediately isolated him in a separate aquarium with a paper-towel substrate. I also cleaned out the swollen area and applied some Neosporin. The swelling disappeared within a week. I put him back in the aquarium, and the swelling returned in a couple days. I've isolated him again, and he hasn't been back in the aquarium with the pete-moss for a couple months now. I'm now considering returning him to the aquarium, but I'm worried that it may have been the pete-moss causing the problem. I have another snake in the same aquarium though, and he's never had any problems.

The swelling was subtle, and there did not seem to be any discharge, but it was definitely there. He's had a good appetite and didn't seem to bother him, he's always been quite active.

Should I try returning him? Does it look like it could be related to the pete-moss? Has pete-moss ever been known to cause problems? I know that it wasn't very moist, so there shouldn't be much bacterial growth...

I've also heard that the dust from pete-moss can damage the lungs. Is this a something I should be concerned about?

Thank you!