HCA: Hermit Crab Association

No matter what I do the substrate becomes dry! I have eco Earth and I spray the tank/substrate multiple times a day. It gets so dry sometimes that I have to take everything out and spray the substrate thoroughly, but to no avail, as it just becomes dry again after a day or so.

They mostly hang by the heating pad, and that's the one place where the substrate gets the most dry!

It's causing the humidity in the tank to plummet. I have Saran wrap over the lid, and it helps a bit. I'm worried!

Any tips on how to keep it from drying out???

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Try a mixture of play sand and eco earth at a 5:1 ratio instead of just eco earth. You can pick up a few bags of play sand at any hardware store!


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I agree with the suggestion to add playsand. The 5:1 ratio is the most common mixture used by crabbers.

I added play sand when I first got the tank. Guess I have to put in more though. Thanks!

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Are you wetting it so that if you squeeze it, it clumps together? How well covered is yoyr lid with saran wrap? I've had tanks dry out quickly, but after only a day it sounds like not enough moisture is being added to the substrate and you have a good humidity leak somewhere! Do you know what the hunidity of your house is?

wodesorel wrote:Are you wetting it so that if you squeeze it, it clumps together? How well covered is yoyr lid with saran wrap? I've had tanks dry out quickly, but after only a day it sounds like not enough moisture is being added to the substrate and you have a good humidity leak somewhere! Do you know what the hunidity of your house is?

I'm wetting it just enough that if I stick a pencil into the substrate, it won't spill back into the hole. I could make the saran wrap tighter. I don't know the humidity of my house.

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What is the humidity in the tank?

The pencil test doesn't work all that great. I really do like the squeeze test best as it'll only clump when wet enough, and if it drips you know you've gone too far.

I try to keep my humidity at around 80. I've only heard of the pencil test, so I'll be sure to try the squeeze test as well!

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I mixed up a small batch of EE for an emergency tote the other day. I usually mix sand and EE together for our tanks but since it was an emergency I just went with a little EE. I found it a but difficult to mix well on it's own with water. The top looks and feels good but when you move it around the rest is dry.

How large of a tank do you have?
I prefer mixing substrate in small batches so its easier mixing everything together and if one batch is too wet you can make the next a bit dryer to compensate. I'll add about 2.5 quarts of sand, 1/2 quart of EE and mix in about 1/4 gallon of water until its mixed well. Repeat. Every batch will make just over 2 gallons of substrate. I mix it in a 3 gallon bucket then dump that into a 5 gallon bucket. Once I get a full 5 gallon bucket I dump it in the tank.

I would recommend getting a glass aquarium top. They are a lot better at holding heat, humidity, and crabs in the tank. They are usually hinged so you can easily change out food, water and tidy up the tank without having to play with the plastic wrap every time.