New Crabs and New Crab Owner

[Westphalian87]

Hello all! I'm just posting here for my wife and myself. We jist set up a 10 gallon crabitat with sand substrate, fresh and salt water dishes, undertank heater, vented plexiglass lid, and three purpleclaws: Cake, Dip, and Roll.

Temp and Humidity hold around 78F-82F and 75%-88% respectively. We got FMR as our baseline food, but are still exploring what other foods they show interest in.

[curlysister]

Welcome to crabbing! They are interesting little creatures, that's for sure!
To clarify, your heater is on the back or side of the tank?

The care sheets are a great source of information about pretty much everything crab related!
Feel free to ask any questions you might have, people on thie site are very helpful.

[Westphalian87]

The 10gal heater is on the bottom of the tank. It was an old herp set up that I had. With aboit 1.5"-2" of sand it will maintain about 78F consistently when the room's windows and doors are open to the outdoors (Upper Peninsula of Michigan)

[Hermiesguardian]

The 10gal heater is on the bottom of the tank. It was an old herp set up that I had. With aboit 1.5"-2" of sand it will maintain about 78F consistently when the room's windows and doors are open to the outdoors (Upper Peninsula of Michigan)

The heat pad needs to be removed asap. This will cook your crabs. It needs to be put on the back or side of the tank above the substrate line, (you want to heat the air, not the substrate) which should be a minimum of 6 inches or 3 times the height of your largest crab. Whichever is deeper. If the heat pad is self stick it cannot be reused. Most of us use a mix of playsand and eco earth for substrate. It has to be mixed with dechlorinated water to sandcastle consistancy so it holds its shape.