Galapagos (05180 Reindeer Moss, Natural, 150in3 Header Bag

The way it's packaged, there's a few holes (by design) in the plastic bag containing the moss to let water out/air in. That was inside a bubble-wrap-lined manilla envelope, and that envelope was actually stained with what I assume was basically pond-water... The package stunk pretty significantly when I retrieved it from the mail room in my apartment so I felt bad it had been there a day; couldn't say if it was from the moss itself or if it got splashed by something else after it was packaged, but I kind of assumed it was the moss. I was actually getting it for a succulent terrarium, not an amphibian, so perhaps I'm just new to the pet supplies thing and should have expected that smell/stain from untreated moss? It came a week earlier than I expected which was nice; I chose the "no rush/whenever" option since it was out of stock until the day after I'd be out of town a few days, but it actually arrived the day before I left (a day before the earliest they said it would get mailed, too) which was a miracle because I could sort out the smell situation.Regarding the moss itself, it appears to mostly be good condition reindeer moss and I'm happy with the quality and think it looks great. There was actually a fair amount more of it in the package than I had expected, and it's in pretty big pieces which I think is nice for aesthetic reasons and will make it easier to work with. It does have some branches/twigs/thorns in it, but I think that's actually what you want/would expect with this type of moss for most intended purposes and it gives it some "scaffolding" to hold on to (I found it very easy to separate them out without poking myself). Most of it was kind of cream colored, though there were bits that were more of a grey color which seemed like they'd maybe died off/rotted a tiny bit, though it wasn't anything outside of what I expected from a non-preserved moss. Due to the smell, I soaked it for about a half an hour in clean water (and squeezed water out/refreshed it a few times) before using any in my terrariums. It definitely does its job of holding on to water, and it's the texture I was hoping for. Doesn't seem to smell after the soaking.I imagine I would probably be super happy with it and buy it again if it were for amphibian reasons, but to be honest I might go with some of the preserved stuff I was avoiding for an actual terrarium (mainly b/c of the dyes; was scared they could stain stuff and would look tacky) due to the smell/color of this stuff. But I'll see how this holds up long-term!

Our bearded dragon can't sleep without them, these are his "pillows." They stay soft for quite a while, will definitely order again.

It smells

Product as it says