I have a 40 gal and 18 crabs

This is where you discuss the conditions of your crabitat -- temperature, humidity, substrate, decorating, etc.
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hermitsrus1966
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I have a 40 gal and 18 crabs

Post by hermitsrus1966 » Tue Feb 25, 2020 12:38 pm

Hello! I have a 40 gal tote right now with 18 crabs. I know you are supposed to have 5 to 10 gallons for each crab but I haven't had any issues with my crabs. They actually seem a lot more active. I have two large crabs (I am not sure how big they would be considered on the chart) and the rest are like medium sized to the size of like two thumbs put together. They all seem to get along, there are plenty of shells and lots of food and water. I am looking to upgrade soon as well. I will also be giving my cousins 4 but it will be awhile as they still don't have everything they need to take care of them. Plus this March 7th i will be giving 2 to 4 away to good homes (as people have come to me wanting them). They are all PPs, I have had two deaths one was due to the store not taking care of the crab and the other I am not sure why he died.

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Links
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Re: I have a 40 gal and 18 crabs

Post by Links » Wed Feb 26, 2020 11:53 am

wow! how long have they been in the tote? How do they get light? How do you heat? whats the temp and humidity? and whats your upgrade plan?

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hermitsrus1966
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Re: I have a 40 gal and 18 crabs

Post by hermitsrus1966 » Wed Feb 26, 2020 2:57 pm

Links wrote:
Wed Feb 26, 2020 11:53 am
wow! how long have they been in the tote? How do they get light? How do you heat? whats the temp and humidity? and whats your upgrade plan?
Months not sure how many to be specific. I have an Led light and natural light hits them as well. I have a not very strong heater in the clear tote. The temp stays around 75 degrees though I have another heater on the way. The humidity is 90 percent or higher. My upgrade plan is a acrylic or glass 100 gal tank or up. I really wanna give them as much room as possible. Though like I said even though they are in a smaller tote for how many I have they seem so much happier with all the friends. Right now they have been digging holes all over (they did this last year too) and been molting. Most already molted just a couple others need to yet, otherwise they really active. I also have two small little gardens growing in the crabitat. One has micro greens the other has chia sprouts. I do have wheat grass seeds but had molding issues with it so I am gonna wait on planting them. The little gardens are basically small clear plastic containers that are like and inch deep this way if I ever need to water them I dont need to worry about flooding or molters somehow getting tangled in the roots. The crabs also like to dig and wreck the sprouts so whenever that happens I take the plastic container out pull the sprouts with their roots take the top layer of dirt off and plant new.

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Re: I have a 40 gal and 18 crabs

Post by Links » Thu Feb 27, 2020 9:30 am

Great idea on the gardens ! I may do that as well.

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hermitsrus1966
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Re: I have a 40 gal and 18 crabs

Post by hermitsrus1966 » Thu Feb 27, 2020 1:11 pm

Links wrote:
Thu Feb 27, 2020 9:30 am
Great idea on the gardens ! I may do that as well.
Thanks! For some reason they have not munched on them the way I thought they would. I have no idea why. They are perfectly fine sprouts, maybe I feed them so much they don't have any need to munch on the sprouts as much.

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Re: I have a 40 gal and 18 crabs

Post by Links » Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:16 pm

Are you ready to fall asleep? Ok here goes.
Crabitats are almost like petri dishes. Anything that can be a host for damping off will get it. Damping off (type of pythium) is a fungus that attacks seedlings. The wheat that I know is more of a cool season plat therefore it cannot fight it off in a warm humid condition without the application of a fungicide which you definitely don’t want to do around crabs. There are some grasses that love warm humid weather like Bermuda grass and zoysia grass. There are many more. Hmmmm crab grass? Actually likes hot lol. You can probably get anything to sprout but all grasses do best in full sun. And I don’t know what grasses are safe in an enclosure with crabs.

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hermitsrus1966
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Re: I have a 40 gal and 18 crabs

Post by hermitsrus1966 » Fri Feb 28, 2020 9:23 am

Links wrote:
Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:16 pm
Are you ready to fall asleep? Ok here goes.
Crabitats are almost like petri dishes. Anything that can be a host for damping off will get it. Damping off (type of pythium) is a fungus that attacks seedlings. The wheat that I know is more of a cool season plat therefore it cannot fight it off in a warm humid condition without the application of a fungicide which you definitely don’t want to do around crabs. There are some grasses that love warm humid weather like Bermuda grass and zoysia grass. There are many more. Hmmmm crab grass? Actually likes hot lol. You can probably get anything to sprout but all grasses do best in full sun. And I don’t know what grasses are safe in an enclosure with crabs.
Thank you. I will be more careful next time. Uh crabs these days they are so much work! Lol. :D

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Re: I have a 40 gal and 18 crabs

Post by Links » Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:49 pm

I don’t think your hurting anything. I was just wondering what grasses can be added to a crabitat. Growing any seems dismal without bright light but if it can be done I wonder what would be safe.

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Re: I have a 40 gal and 18 crabs

Post by hermitsrus1966 » Fri Feb 28, 2020 4:29 pm

Links wrote:
Fri Feb 28, 2020 3:49 pm
I don’t think your hurting anything. I was just wondering what grasses can be added to a crabitat. Growing any seems dismal without bright light but if it can be done I wonder what would be safe.
I think if you searched around the safe foods list and ask around you might be able to find answers. I just know that wheat grass is safe for hermit crabs. I know that the micro greens grow fantastic in the crabitat, the chia seeds do alright but not nearly as well as the micro greens.

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