HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hey there, I'm not sure if anyone else has tried this but I just did it and loved it.
You will need: Plastic croquet canvas from micheals, 50 cents to a dollar







Plastic lunch container from a dollar store
A lighter
Cut out the plastic canvas so that it touches the top and bottom of your lunch container, hold it in and with the lighter melt the top of the canvas thats touching the opening of the container. Hold it for awhile to make sure its completely fused together, and voila!




Let it sit for awhile after you melt them together, I'm a little concerned about the melting plastic fumes entering the tank

Good idea!

Sweet!!!

Wow, that is so easy. Right now I am using disposable plastic paint trays that my son and I made up. We used silicone to put shells on the ramp. But I notice that it is thin plastic and the top edges are starting to crack. This would be a great way to make new pools, is it deep enough to put in bubble stone?

It depends on what kind of container you use and the length of your canvas, but you certainly could! Thanks guys

Oh my duh.... *facepalm*

MELT IT WITH FIRE!!!!

That's going to make life so much easier from now on. Thank you!!!!!

I hadn't thought of using it on the inside of my water dishes. I have a little piece on the outside of my shell shop as a ramp, and a big piece on the back of my tank as a climbing wall.

Thanks for the idea!

Thats a really good idea! Seems like it would be easy to pull out and clean, too.

wodesorel wrote:Oh my duh.... *facepalm*

MELT IT WITH FIRE!!!!

That's going to make life so much easier from now on. Thank you!!!!!

and I was worried that people were going to bash me for giving out an 'idea' that everyone knows
It's super easy to wash, just rinse it out in the sink and bam, all clean (It's a little harder to dry though because the ramp is in the way, but I dry it with a hairdryer because I'm impatient
Just a quick update, I originally had just a piece of canvas in my bowl for my three teenies, but it always got knocked into the water and floated around, I was terrified they might drown in there, but this morning I check in my tat and the ramps have held up against Draco and Jeramy, and I can even see Elmo having a snooze on the part thats not in the water It's a crabby success

oh my god fire.....i just...never ever thought of that...i just...

And the crabbers discover fire...

*scratches armpit* ooh, ooh!
But seriously, next up: the wheel

I used a mini-blowtorch to bend the plexi for my fid tank, but it never crossed my mind to fuse things together with it!

I was going to try it today, but hubby seems to have hidden the torch from me again....

Wodesorel, I just used a little hand lighter, it took longer I'm sure but got the job done
I'm starting to wonder about all the uses for melted plastic, you could use it to glue things together cheaply and hermie safely, maybe even close up a hole in a shell? Or cover up a crack in a tank.. the list goes on since plastic is safe for them to be around and when you start to melt the canvas, it melts fast and drips, so you could melt the canvas over something ie. all the stuff above I mentioned hmmmmmm *looks thoughtful*

One thing about melting plastic; IT"S DANGEROUS! Sorry but the fumes that melting plastic create when when melted are toxic I guess.
I've been threw countless lectures with my Dad about melting plastic and all that.
Anyway, as we are on the toppic of melting plastic \plastic+fire, an easy way to kill a camp fire is to put a plastic bottle with a lid tightly secured onto the bottle, ten place in fire, and POP! The fire i out (don't try it)