smell of plastic and rotten cholla wood

[robertvan20]

hello guys. im a new crabber here from Indonesia. i wanna ask you something.
how do i get rid of the smell of plastic from fake plants ?
i bought some fake plastic plants for aquarium, but when i opened them, it reeks the smell of plastic. is it safe for hermit crab ? i tried to wash it once but the smell is still there.
is there anything i can do to get rid of the smell ?
oh yeah and one more, i m getting some cholla wood for my crabitat but ive read it somewhere that cholla wood is easy to rot and soften when it gets wet ? is it true ? should i buy it or just use regular drift wood ?
thank you, i appreciate your answer and sorry for my bad english.

[GotButterflies]

Hello! Welcome to the HCA! I would put them outside to air out for 1-2 days. Then rinse with dechlorinated water. If they still smell then I would consider returning it.

As far as the cholla, my humidity is a constant 99%. I don't have any issues with my cholla rotting. Some people soak their cholla in dechlorinated marine salt water and air dry it to prevent molding / or you can bake it (baking it can cause it to shrink), but you don't have to do that. Mold doesn't hurt the crabs.

Your English is great! Happy crabbing!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[robertvan20]

Hello! Welcome to the HCA! I would put them outside to air out for 1-2 days. Then rinse with dechlorinated water. If they still smell then I would consider returning it.

As far as the cholla, my humidity is a constant 99%. I don't have any issues with my cholla rotting. Some people soak their cholla in dechlorinated marine salt water and air dry it to prevent molding / or you can bake it (baking it can cause it to shrink), but you don't have to do that. Mold doesn't hurt the crabs.

Your English is great! Happy crabbing!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

thank you very much mr/ms butterfly. so i assume it is okay to soak the cholla wood in marine salt water ? will it get mushy ?
thanks once again

[GotButterflies]

The purpose of soaking it in the marine salt water is so that it does not grow mold in the high humidity of the tank. However, if it did, that doesn't bother the crabs. You would not soak it that long, maybe an hour or so. You could then air dry it if you wanted.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mool]

I can't stand the fake plastic smell that comes with using artificial decor--so I don't use it. My only plastic items and the pools and the gauges.