Forest Bedding: my crabs and my experience with it

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:44 am

Day 2 with Forest Bedding. Thought I'd share my experience.I put dechlor water in a large pot first and then added the brick to be sure it all got wet. As I push it down, it begins to expand at a rapid rate. Yikes!! I need a bigger pot! #2 was much deeper, not as wide. I made a mess dumping from one to the other. I let it sit for just a few minutes and returned to find..... a VOLCANO! Got a good visual? Until it all gets wet and absorbs all the water, it's got the consistency of liquid mud. It's spewing down the pot sides into the sink so I grabbed handfuls off the top to drop back in pot #1. I got it all over the kitchen sink and counters.My hermies didn't know what to make of it but they were darn funny to watch. Baby Love immediately found a corner where she could burrow with minimal effort. She dug a vertical tunnel against the glass. She'd been sleeping under the food dish when I decided to remodel so she obviously wasn't in the mood to explore. Sammy, the biggest crab I have, sought refuge on top of the hut, walking around on it to get a look from all angles. He finally came down but stopped one step from the substrate and hung sideways, unsure if he wanted to take that last step. Hermie was the most active. She explored the whole tank and all the shells, scampering over dishes and spreading it everywhere but I laughed hardest to see her walk. She tipped her face to the ground and walked on her front claws with her bottom bobbing in the air.This morning, Hermie is 1/2 above. That's about normal for her. BabyLove isn't in the corner and she's not visible under a dish, her favorite spot. I can't find Sammy either so they're both under ground. Two surprises, but Sammy's most of all because he explores and sleeps solely above ground. I've never found him under in the 13 months I've had him. Maybe he likes it after all?Now if I were a crab, (and on those occasions when I'm told I am I smile and gratefully thank the person,) I'm not sure I'd like this stuff. As the human I'm not even sure I do but it's more important that they do. All the shells Hermie inspected are full of fluffy dirt so I imagine shell swapping will become quite a feat unless I grant them a clean second level. The water needs to be changed already and it's all over the hut.My opinions are:1) Before you begin, make sure that you have a resource large enough to hold all the FB once expanded. Can it be made directly in the empty tank?2) One brick for a ten gallon is too much. I used about 3/4 and it's still more than I needed. If I use it again, I might mix with calci-sand. For a 10, maybe 1/2 would be good.3) Consider a second level or limit use to one side of the tank and put shells and dishes on the other. In the absence of a second level, it found it's way into everything.I have a 15 I'm making over next so if the crabs in the 10 appear to like it, I'll use it in a smaller quantity. If not, maybe a mix of play and calci-sand with some coco fibers mixed in.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:11 am

You can, with a hammer and flathead screwdriver or chisel, break apart the dry blocks of EE. 1/2 or so of a block is plenty for a 10 gallon, you'll need even less if you mix it with play sand. You CAN make the stuff up directly in the tank, that's what I do. Put the block in, add half a gallon or so of salt water, wait for 10 mins, add more water... and so forth until the brick has absorbed enough water that I can break it up. From there, I add water as needed to get a damp but not drippy wet texture. I add a gallon or so of half strength salt water once a month or so as the EE dries out, though I'm thinking I'll switch to adding just dechlorinated water, since the salt doesn't go away as the water evaporates.If you're going to mix it with play sand, I'd start with 1/4 to 1/3 of a brick of the EE, wet it as above, mix in the sand, and add water if needed to make it evenly damp. I use pure EE in my tank, and my crabs seem to love the stuff, they dig EVERYWHERE and I'm pretty sure there's an extensive tunnel system under the surface. I've got a second level for them that has damp sphagnum moss and a cocohut for anyone that wants to get away from the EE. One of my crabs seems to have claimed that cocohut for his own and has dragged about half the moss in after him. The biggest problem I have with the EE is crabs dumping loads of it into the water dishes, and that I've at least cut down on by setting the dishes on the surface rather than sinking them so the lip was even with the substrate.

KittyCaller · Post by **KittyCaller** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:24 am

LOL! The first time I mixed it, it was in a coffee pot. WAY too small, LOL! The second time in a two quart pitcher. Boy, was that hour of trying to get it out of there fun! I wised up after that and have been using buckets ever since. Hehe

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:56 am

My darling husband sawed a brick into 3 pieces for me, and I used a 5 gallon bucket to hydrate it. I mixed it with playsand and put a clump of it on one side, and the crabs LOVED it. I love your description of the volcano! It definitely expands, but I kind of had a feeling it would when I felt how dense the brick was. I am glad to see anyone experiment with it. I had my crabs for a year or so before I tried it, and I really like it. Try mixing it with playsand instead of calcisand - it is a good mixture and a lot of people seem to use it.

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 12:00 am

Kittish,How do you add the salt water to your tank as the EE dries out? It seems like a large volume. What tank size do you have? And what about buried or molting crabbies.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 1:30 am

I have a 40 gallon breeder, and I mix up a gallon of the water that I'm going to add, and use a length of aquarium air hose as a siphon and just wet it down. I do try somewhat to avoid putting a lot of water over where I know or suspect a crab is buried, but generally, the method I use initially wets the top inch or so of the EE, and then capillary action carries the water deeper down. I've never had a problem with disturbing a molter by adding water this way, the rate of flow from the airline tubing is fairly slow so there isn't any splashing or anything.

Ren1216 · Post by **Ren1216** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 1:59 am

I added EE to my tank a few weeks ago... fortunately I had read somewhere to hydrate it in a bucket, which I did. Good thing! It made much more than I anticipated. Ive noticed with my recent addition of heat lamps that the EE is begining to dry out. I tried misting but that seems to only be a temporary fix, so thanks Kittish for the idea, thats what I will try today. I know for sure that I had one molt in the EE pretty quickly after adding it to the tank, but the 2 molters that I have down now are both in the sand. To each his own, I guess... probably good to give them the option. I am trying to figure out a new arrangement for my food/water dishes though to cut down on the mess from the EE... hard to move too much with 2 crabbies burried... they should have asked me first!