Double Decker Crabitat

[CRAIGARRR]

I have a long but short vertical crabitat for my 3 hermies. I want to put another same size aquarium on top and use driftwood for them to climb up to the second level which will be used for food and water and climbing, hopefully they will use the bottom for sleeping hiding and hibernating and molting.
Leads me to this question I have had for the past year with the other tank just sitting in front of their crabitat empty.
How do I cut 2 holes in the bottom of the aquarium 4 inch by 6 inch for the hermit crabs to have access to the top tank?
It is not as simple as it sounds, you cant just take a glass cutter and score 4 lines and expect to pop a "hole" through. I have watched people take diamond encrusted hole saws and have success for filter holes. These round hole saws are expensive to use just once and a 6 inch diameter hole saw for glass would be very expensive! I have watched youtube videos where people have painstakingly cut thru the silicone and replaced the entire sheet of glass on the bottom of the aquarium using razor blades. a very timely exercise!
I have thought about using a dremel tool with a diamond coated disk and scoring 4 lines and working at it until the disk goes thru the glass and work it along the 4 X 6 inch rectangle. I have thought of just smashing the bottom out (from the inside, the glass is on top of all the 4 sides , so I don't damage the side glass) And just replacing the bottom with plywood with the 4X6 inch cut out of the plywood. I am not sure what to do!
Is there anybody in here that has done what I want to do? (pictures?) Can someone help me think outside the box to solve my problem?
My crabbies are going on 6 years now, I want them to be able to have more space , provide them with an even better quality of life. Who knew they would last so long! I love it!! Please help.

[Brian_T]

I can't comment on the feasibility of a double decker tank, but if i needed to cut a rectangularish hole in glass, i would drill out the four corners with a 1 inch or so bit and play connect the dots with an appropriate glass cutter. You don't want a sharp corner in glass, or most other materials for that matter. Drilling out the corners will give you nice rounded corners which won't crack as easily.

Have you considered removing
the glass bottom amd replacing with something easier to cut? Most tanks are held together with silicone caulk, so there not terribly hard to remove the pane.

Maybe use plexiglass, or stainless steel mesh, if you're not planning having alot of substrate.

Then again, maybe getting a bigger tank at rhe next dollar per gallon sale might be worth avoiding all the trouble to begin with.

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[KTM200xc]

I don't know about cutting glass. But I once had a smaller tank on a larger one. I put the smaller one upside down and had an opening on the led of the larger for them to get up there. Would that be possible? What kind of led do you have on the tank they are in?

[GotButterflies]

Just out of curiosity, have you considered just taking it to a window/glass shop and asking them to do it for you? It would probably be a quick/easy/cheap job for them.

I can't quite picture what you have in mind, but I have seen people flip their tanks upside down like KTM200xc mentioned.

[CRAIGARRR]

Thanks all for your replies.. I looked and looked on the internet and youtube how to seperate the bottom of a fish tank glass and they all made it look so easy.. It might be sometimes, other times the glass is mashed so close together I thought they used epoxy or glue to bind the glass together. I tried all different types of razor blades and even an exacto knife and then the last resort before just crossing fingers and smashing it out I bought some of those old school double razor blades.. Super thin! I clamped just a little corner with vice grips and started scoring the line and after an hour of struggling I finally got the bottom of the fishtank glass off in one piece!! Just got back from Home depot and bought some MDF board and a peice of plexi glass to cover that for moisture. Top level is going to be for bathing and eating and drinking, Below is where they can molt and sleep and hide.. Although the top layer will have a hut and some more climbing rigs. The top will have more room actually because I wont put nearly as much coconut fiber down.. I have a big zoomed flat heater that will go on one long side of the upper tank to keep that warm.. With the bottom mostly covered it will be plenty humid enough for the hermies and they can trash it all they want .. I will post some pics as soon as I get it set up.. Thanks again everybody that responded!

[agentcrabby]

Can't wait to see the pics!

Sent from The South Florida Kingdom of Hermies

[KTM200xc]

Sounds awesome.

[GotButterflies]

So glad it worked out for you!

[Kermie16]

Cool! Can't wait to see the pics!!


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[Rawrgeous]

Cool! Can't wait to see the pics!!


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Ditto!

[CRAIGARRR]

To see the pictures just click on the url and it will take you there.. Use the "back" button to get you back to this thread.

Just the basic setup just to see if it worked and to see if any of my 3 crabbies will venture up one of the vines I have linking the bottom top of a turtle float on dowels as a platform thru the holes in the bottom of the top 20 gallon tank https://www.dropbox.com/s/a83l3mwlh6ihy78/1.jpg?dl=0 Going to have a fresh water and a salt water "lagoon" It's pretty cool they are flush with the substrate but they are actually 3 inches deep.. Another picture of the top level with water and food just waiting to be trashed https://www.dropbox.com/s/05ctz0kxcdc20hs/2.jpg?dl=0 My bigest hermie was the first one up and he certainly trashed the top hahaha He totally drained all the water out of that lagoon and went to the corner and dumped it out of his shell.. LMAO! I think he must have done this 3 or 4 times.. in the far right corner, there is no substrate, he pushed it to the tank below and there is a giant slick in the corner. I need to build barriers around 3 sides of the rectangular openings in the floor.https://www.dropbox.com/s/vjkimt8xj3fc40i/3.jpg?dl=0
If you look in this next picture you can see all the coconut fiber just totally trashed and covered the turtle floats and even the vines that go thru the floors.. It's ok, this is just a test run.. I need to get more climbing stuff on the top deck and a few mods to the upper deck. In a couple months I will replace all the substrate in the bottom and clean it all out and just let them trash the bottom because I wont have access to it unless I really need to. Hopefully the other 2 crabbies get to climbing to the upper deck because that is where all the food and water will be.. Surprising how much damage one hermie can do in 10 hours..
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bdcty7lr5z65h2x/4.jpg?dl=0
Thanks for your comments.. I will post more pics as the upper deck progresses.
Stay tuned.

[daws409]

Pics not working for me

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[CRAIGARRR]

[daws409]

Pics not working for me

Sent from my HTC6515LVW using Tapatalk

Try right clicking and open in new tab
I thought using the Img was how you hot linked the pictures embedded in your post..
when I right click it takes me to dropbox and it opens the pictures in dropbox...
Sorry I am new to posting pictures.. if someone can PM me or explain a better way or a better picture host I will use it.. Please do,I want to embed the pictures in my post

Okay. I still can't get them to work. Maybe its just me. Can you view them when clicked?? An easier way to upload pics/videos is to download tapatalk app on tablet or smartphone. Then search for hermit crab association.

[CRAIGARRR]

Pics not working for me

Sent from my HTC6515LVW using Tapatalk

Try right clicking and open in new tab
I thought using the Img was how you hot linked the pictures embedded in your post..
when I right click it takes me to dropbox and it opens the pictures in dropbox...
Sorry I am new to posting pictures.. if someone can PM me or explain a better way or a better picture host I will use it.. Please do,I want to embed the pictures in my post

Okay. I still can't get them to work. Maybe its just me. Can you view them when clicked?? An easier way to upload pics/videos is to download tapatalk app on tablet or smartphone. Then search for hermit crab association.

TRY IT AGAIN I just edited it so if you click on the hyperlink it brings you to DROPBOX to see the picture.. Make sure you just hit the back button to get back to this thread