HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm moving my crabs to the new crabitat. From the fiber bedding to sand. Only 3 of the 7 got moved because the other 4 are down. The walked all around on the sand and for the last 4 hours they've been sitting on the driftwood. This isn't like them. They usually hide in the coconut hut or under the driftwood. I'm afraid that they hate the sand and refuse to go and sit in it.

How paranoid am I?

Michelle

*edit title topic specific only-CM

They will probably like it. They might just want to sit onthe driftwood for the moment..who knows,can't read thier minds...Give it awhile...mine love the playsand.

That's the reason I split my tanks into two sections - EE and sand - since the crabs seem to differ in what they prefer (tho most molt in the EE). It's easy to split into sections - I used a Lego wall in one tank, and a plastic "bamboo fence" from the aquarium section in another. I keep the substrate level slightly lower than the wall to prevent a lot of "tracking" between substrates. HTH!

Give them some time to get used to it - whenever you change bedding/substrate for an animal they'll almost always be hesitant about it at first. The sand probably feels very strange underfoot to them...

When I got my first PP's they had been kept on coconut fibre. I put them into a tank with a 3:2:1:1 mix of sand, coconut fibre, gravel and moss as the substrate and they loved it. So did the E's who had only been kept on sand before. In hindsight I think I was lucky to get laid back crabs who were happy to compromise They'll adjust, it just takes a little time for them to get used to the new stuff...

I have play sand in mine, and they seem to like it better than the stupid gravel I had in the first tank. I'm taking the gravel out and putting something else in.. ... where do I get the coconut substrate stuff?? and if someone could please tell me what its called. They were using it at Petco and they loved it there......

that's what I had been using but I really didn't like it. I wanted to switch to sand.

I just switched from pure Cali-sand to a combo of play sand, with some calcisand mixed in. My crew seem to LOVE the playsand...I have three that are under right now, not sure if they waited to molt until they liked the conditions, or if they are just playing hide & seek. I can't even ISO them, because I am not sure where they went down. :roll:

I bought my first hermies about 6 weeks ago, and by following the advice of the petstore clerk, they lived in rough gravel for the first week or so. (it wasn't even smooth fish tank gravel!) Now they seem to be "as happy as a crab in sand!" [smilie=banana.gif] [smilie=clap.gif]

If after a day or so they're still hesitant about the sand, try dampening it to sand-castle consistency if it's dry. That may encourage them.