Lethargic Crabs
Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 4:17 am
Hey guys I upgraded from a 40gal to a 75gal a couple months ago and I wasn’t having any humidity problems until now. When the weather was colder my parents kept our home on heat and now that it’s getting hot my parents cranked the AC down so it’s a lot cooler in the house now. I’ve noticed that my humidity has gone down for about 1-2weeks now. I have always used a day time heat lamp 60w for lighting and heating their crabitat (humidity would read 75% when turned on) and a “moon glow” 40w lamp that produces their night time with heat (humidity would reach 78-80% when turned on). Also purchased a zoo med uvb fluorescent light bar thing that sits on top of the tank a few weeks ago, I don’t know if it makes much of a difference though since it’s on top of glass and i’m not sure if the uvb rays can shine through or not. It just adds more light to the tank when the daytime heat lamp is on as well. Anyway the moon glow bulb stopped working after a few months and they weren’t using a night time lamp at night for nearly a month (still received the same humidity readings 78-80% without it though). I just now bought another night heat lamp 50w for them. But anyway a few weeks ago before my parents cranked the AC down the humidity was fine (also wasn’t using a night heat lamp at that time for nearly a month). It was 78-80% humidity and temperature always sits at 80 degrees. With that being said I have noticed the humidity drop over the last 1-2 weeks. It’s been sitting at 70% humidity with the daytime heat lamp & long skinny uvb fluorescent zoo med light bar when turned on. Then the humidity bumps up to about 72-73% when the night heat lamp is turned on (also was reading about the same humidity % before I bought another night heat lamp). Not sure if it matters but I keep my tank in my bedroom on a desk with a blanket on top of a glass lid/backside of the tank next to my bed and it happens to be underneath my air vent. I ended up closing my air vent in hopes it would make my room warmer for the crabs. The lid is glass and is fully shut as well by the way. I have 3 small UTHs on each side of the tank (I put styrofoam on top of them and taped it down ~ haven’t had any problems). I still plan on adding much larger UTHs that cover the entire walls of the tank.
I know that was a lot of info and i’m sorry if it was confusing but i’m awake at 4am typing this because this has gone on for about a week or two and I believe my crabs are acting lethargic. The crabs were fine until the humidity dropped it seems like. They were always out and about and climbing & more. Now they sit by the heat pads for hours and it makes me sad. I hope they aren’t suffocating or anything because lack of humidity. I haven’t even seen them go in their food bowl for the past 4 days and one of the crabs LOVES to sit and hang in the food bowl, that’s all she does. Now she’s not very active and she’s the most adventurous one out of the group who aren’t molting right now. (P.s the crabs who are burrowed have been making a lot of ruckus all day and night)






my digital acurite reader stopped working unfortunately, I guess it was because I kept it inside the tank. It starts to work barely after being left outside of the tank for hours. I also have a little random digital temperature reader with a probe placed down into the substrate. I know the non digital readers shouldn’t be counted on for accuracy but thats what I have right now.
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I know that was a lot of info and i’m sorry if it was confusing but i’m awake at 4am typing this because this has gone on for about a week or two and I believe my crabs are acting lethargic. The crabs were fine until the humidity dropped it seems like. They were always out and about and climbing & more. Now they sit by the heat pads for hours and it makes me sad. I hope they aren’t suffocating or anything because lack of humidity. I haven’t even seen them go in their food bowl for the past 4 days and one of the crabs LOVES to sit and hang in the food bowl, that’s all she does. Now she’s not very active and she’s the most adventurous one out of the group who aren’t molting right now. (P.s the crabs who are burrowed have been making a lot of ruckus all day and night)







my digital acurite reader stopped working unfortunately, I guess it was because I kept it inside the tank. It starts to work barely after being left outside of the tank for hours. I also have a little random digital temperature reader with a probe placed down into the substrate. I know the non digital readers shouldn’t be counted on for accuracy but thats what I have right now.

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