HCA: Hermit Crab Association

i got my tank almost set up so i put my hermies in, still no substrate but there a load of vines on the floor and hanging and i was transporting the salt and oops! i dropped my last salt in the drain can the hermies have some time without water wile i buy the salt .

Just make sure they have freshwater with them and they should be fine (considering they aren't strawberrys). And whats up with the substrate? Why dont you have it in yet?

my mom was too busy and she can't take me and she said if i ask for 1 more thing she will throw away all of my pets! :dunno:

Oh, yeah, ive heard that one many times by my parents. Luckily I finally can drive.

so what do i do my sis is ready to pop any time(baby,it's fun cause she has a daughter who likes to play with me ) my dad is to busy, out tia left,and i usually don't see my bro.If my bro is not busy he could and will take me but i don't see him regularly and my mom has my mone and she said no more money on the crabs

wait... what? No substrate OR saltwater? Am I reading this correctly?

yes u are but don't worry about the substrate their are loads of vines that the can dig threw or move the vines but my real concern is the saltwater.

Seriously tho, substrate is WAY more important than salt water. If you can't take care of them the way they should be, (since your mom won't let you spend money on them) then maybe you could adopt them out to a fellow HCA member.

i'll try to find my bro or convin..never mind that i'll try to sneak the money and find my bro if not i'll put them up for adoption and leave this site.

do you have a home and garden centre somewhere near? or a hardware store, or some such thing? what i'm getting at is they sell bags of play sand for about $3-6, depending on the size of your tank it could do for awhile. my 20G tall uses about a bag to a bag and a half, and that works for my crabbies, as the largest is a medium size. $3 isn't to hard to come up with, (couch cushions are great for change lol) and if the store is within walking distance you could always grab a wagon and hoof it.
no one wants to see you leave, all we want to see is both you and your crabbies happy. in a pinch, if you have a playground near with sand in it.... (i'll probably get roasted for this ) you could take said wagon and yoink a bit of sand (just make sure to bake it first!!) and be sure it's clean.
hope this helps!
just a thought too...maybe you could ask your mom if there are any chores you could do to earn the money, as i'm sure she will appreciate the maturity of this (i'm a mom too, i know how it is ). I'm sure she doesn't want your pets to suffer. if you show her that you are willing to work for the care of your crabbies she may relent.

Well I don't know what part of texas you are in, but a lot of texas has very sandy soil. Simply bake the soil in the oven at 400 for 20 min or so and that would work for the time being.

o.k thanks i'm going to the park

If your going to nab park play sand, please wash it. In a bucket or something run the garden hose through it and push out all the garbage thats in it, then soak it in some dechlorinated water for a day and then you can drain out the water and bake it (or just set it out in the sun for a day).

Another concern about park sand and outside soil in general, especially when its not from YOUR yard is the pesticide and fertilizer runoff that you are most likely going to be getting. Most parks use fertilizers and such on their grass and in the flowers, some even spray trees with pesticides...what happens when it rains, they run off into lower ground or into things that can absorb moisture...like dry sand. So just be careful in your choice of substrate.

o.k thank for the information i went under the couches and beds and i found about 3$ and i might get playsand

oh geez i didn't even think about pesticides and fertilizer!! my town has no spray zones throughout schoolyards and playgrounds, they may get a little patchy and such but there was a lot of concern some time ago about the fact that our children play there, so why would we put chemicals and possibly dangerous fertilzers on the ground they play in? i forget its not the same everywhere...