HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I have 3 hermies. 2 come out regularly at night. The 3rd one I hardly ever see. How can I clean their substrate if they are always buried? It's been almost a month since I got them and the tank is getting nasty looking.

Crabby_granny wrote:I have 3 hermies. 2 come out regularly at night. The 3rd one I hardly ever see. How can I clean their substrate if they are always buried? It's been almost a month since I got them and the tank is getting nasty looking.

What sort of substrate do you have? If you are using playsand and coconut fiber it does not need to be changed out.

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It's sand I ordered for hermit crabs but I have since gotten some coconut fiber that I would like to mix in, but certainly don't want to suffocate any under the sand.

Hmmmm.....many products that are marketed for hermit crabs are actually unsafe for them. 'Hermit crab sand' is usually calcium sand, which is NOT safe. Playsand, which comes in big bags and is cheap at hardware stores, is safe. Many of us use a mixture of 5 parts play sand to 1 part of EE. It needs to be moistened with dechlorinated fresh or salt water. I have had my crabs for 8 years, and have added more substrate with each tank upgrade, but have never changed out all the substrate in that entire time.

How often do you normally clean the sand out? I have my tank about half and half all-purpose play sand and EcoEarth. the Substrate is about 8 or so inches deep; I don't change it unless I am switching tanks. It really doesn't get that dirty.

Ok, now I'm confused. One place said play sand had harmful stuff for hermies and to only use sand for hermies or coconut fiber. Can I add my coconut fiber on top of the sand? Also, I asked the manager of Petco to speak to someone in charge about the hermies being in painted shells and not carrying shells for hermies. Hope something positive comes of it.

I don't know where you read that play sand is harmful, but definately not on this site. Play sand is safe. There are many brands of 'hermit crab sand' (ie- Zoo Med, Pet Co, All Living Things, Imagitarium, Flukers, etc) - NONE of these are safe, as they contain calcium sand. If you have that sand, you need to remove it all and start again with the playsand and EE mixture.

I believe Fluker’s Premium Sand is considered safe, as it is primarily silica and coconut fiber. I don’t think there’s enough calcium carbonate to be problematic.

I’ve heard occasional reports of foul smells (gasoline-like) and metal fragments in some bags of play sand, which may be the basis for such warnings. However, I’ve never experienced any of these myself.


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Hmmm.... I found this in the description so maybe that one doesn't have as much calcium sand? I am not sure if it is safe or not, perhaps one of the admins can weigh in:
Fluker's Premium Sand for Hermit Crabs is a perfect blend of all-natural sand, coconut fiber, sea salt and probiotic. The silica sand packs swell and the coconut fiber helps with water retention. Calcium and sea salt are added to replicate the exact sand hermit crabs find in their natural environment. Finally, probiotic has been introduced to help maintain a clean environment.

Crabby_Granny, can you clarify what brand of sand you put in the tank?

The forum reccomends flukers sand as a suitable but expensive alternative if one desires.

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Ah! Thank you for clarifying, aussieJJDude!

I finally found the bag of sand that I used in my crabitat. It's called Hermits Beach. Is that ok?

Do you know who it is made by? A tentative probably not...

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That should be the Flukers one! Keep in mind you'll need around 50 lbs of sand for a 10 gallon tank. That is one $4 bag of playsand, or 9 bags of the Hermit Beach.

Wow! That much?! I just put in 3 bags of Hermit Beach sand. Ok, now how do I get the crabs out to change it? One I very rarely see but the other 2 I can get when they come out tonight and put them in their little plastic container. It has regular play sand in it.
Hermit Beach is made by Fluker's so it's ok? I just need to add more which goes back to my question about getting them out. They are extremely shy!