HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I recently posted about moistening my sand. I have moistened my sand, but a tunnel has collapsed again (it must be frustrating to the burrowing crab to have its cave collapse twice).

So I'm thinking about EE. My substrate is already 1/4 EE.

What are the benefits of EE? What are its drawbacks? How is its tunneling capability for digging/molting crabs?

How big is your tank, how many inches or centimeters deep is your EE, and how many bricks of EE did you use? This will be useful to me because I can estimate how many bricks I need for my 40 gallon tank to make 7+ inches depth.

And my second question concerns one of those Flukers Groovy Jacuzzis. I'm only planning on getting one, and I'm planning on making it full of saltwater.

Should it be freshwater? The reason I'm choosing to make it saltwater is because when I top off saltwater in a dish, the salt doesn't evaporate, and I keep making the water saltier? Having the saltwater in a deep pool, and it not evaporating would mean that the salt level is consistent.

New shells, new pool, new netting, new substrate. The crabs are going to be getting one heck of a redo.

Well I use half sand/half ee, but I know one of the benefits of EE is that it's holds more water than sand can.

And as for the jacuzzi--I use mine for salt water. I did it b/c I have hermies of various sizes, so I wanted them all to be able to dip in it. So far they all love it! It works very well too. Sometimes diggers get sand and stuff in there, but it's not too bad.

I usually go straight EE. My crabs LOVE it! It helps with humidity better, is lighter (good if you have to move the tank for any reason), is a healthy munchy for the crablets (yes I've caught them eating it), and holds up extremely well for burrowing crabs. In my 55g tank, I used I want to say 3 bricks to get it deep enough for a jumbo. 1 brick was enough in my 20l for the little guys. Just when you make it, make sure you drain off extra water. I always use a gallon of spring water to make it and there's always extra after soaking it for twice the time it says. But I've done both sand and EE in my tanks, the EE is always the preferred substrate. Plus I think it smells better.

I've looked around a bit at EE reviews, and have read that it molds easily. Is this true, and if it is, how can I lessen that chance? I suppose misting with saltwater might help.

I also read that one block makes 7-8 liters of substrate, so I'm estimating I need about 9 blocks of it to make the depth I want in a 40 gallon.

I mix EE with play sand and saltwater. I haven't had any problems with it.

Wow 9 blocks? I only used 3-4 in my 30l I would defiantly go a couple at a time so you don't end up with a bunch of left over EE...just my opinion and it may save a little extra cash for new goodies for the tank

Definitely expand it in saltwater...it really helps to prevent mold. You could even use double strength salt water to be sure. I have made the switch to 100% EE a while back and I would not go back to sand. The crabs loooove the EE.

I've got 100% EE - 40 gallon long with 7 or 8 bricks (can't really remember now. I added one brick at a time 'til I had enough. It's about 4 inches in the front and 6 inches in the back of the habitat. I like it a lot better than sand, it doesn't get every place like the sand did. Seems to hold the moisture a lot better, too. I did re-hydrate it in salt water and haven't had any problems with mold. I usually pour a bit more salt water in the corners every once in a while when it seems to be drying out. I also keep once side dryer than the other so they've got a choice.

The crabs don't seem to have problems keeping their tunnels together, either. They've got a whole basement going down there.

I've got two groovy jacuzzis - one salt, one fresh. They all seem to like it, at least I'm always finding shells that they've dragged in there. I've got a great variation in crab sizes - tiny to jumbo - and these pools seem to accommodate all of them. There are stairs down into the pools so the little guys can keep to the shallows while my jumbo still has room to get all the way in.

Pictures please of the jacuzzis. I know my guys would love it. And I never used saltwater with my EE, just fresh and never had issues with mold in 2 years of using it. And I agree, sand gets into everything.

I've used playsand sanitized in the oven mixed with EE. I use a slightly strong saltwater solution to rehydrate everything, and I've never had a mold problem. Salt seems to be a good control for mold! Is Forest Bedding better than EE? I read some old posts about EE not being 100% coconut fiber, and don't remember exactly what the packaging said. (Think I may be looking for an excuse to redecorate.)

The old style EE I don't think was, but that's been changed. I need to stop by the pet store today on my way home and get some EE. The big guys are driving me nuts siphoning out all the water in both bowls cuz they keep putting little ribbons of sand into the water. Grrr. EE is so much easier to deal with.