Painting in My Room

Big MaC · Post by **Big MaC** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 2:54 pm

Hey everyone, I know this isn't exactly an emergency yet.. But I am going to be painting my room... and the crab tank has to stay in my room while this happens... is there anything I can do to protect my babies from being hurt by the fumes?

eloise13 · Post by **eloise13** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 7:17 pm

Use a non-toxic paint.
Keep the hermit crabs away from fresh paint. (if you are painting the right wall, put the hermit crabs on the left side of the room, for example)
Keep all windows and doors open.
Try and put the hermit crabs close to a window or door.
Cover the hermit crabs up as much as possible (for example, if you have a screen lid, cover with saran wrap, and poke holes in it)
point a fan onto the crabs.

My room is going to be painted and re-carpeted soon. I have a 8 gallon tank and a 7 gallon tank. Even though they are a bit small, I'm going to my crabs in them and then empty my large tank. My large tank is too heavy to lift with all the sand etc in it, and I feel that having my crabs in too small a tank will be better then trying to work around my tank. Luckily, my crabs are small/micro, so it shouldn't be too cramped, hopefully.

zippity · Post by **zippity** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 7:28 pm

As Eloise stated, use a non-toxic paint. Look for paint that says "low VOC" or "no VOC (volatile organic compounds). Benjamin Moore Aura is the very best, in my opinion; Valspar also has a low VOC paint too. The Benjamin Moore paint is more expensive but it covers in one coat and you don't need primer.

Post by **wodesorel** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 3:40 am

I painted both the living room (where the crabs are) and the dining room (which is right around the corner) in the middle of winter with the windows closed. The paint was low-VOC, but the primer was definitely not! The only special thing I did was to turn off the fans inside the crabitat and make sure that the lids were sealed as best as possible. I made sure to change water/food before I started painting and I didn't go back into the tank again until the next day. The crabs were fine!

I can't stand the paint fumes myself, so since we're going to repaint (because I can't choose nice paint colors to save my life) I'm going with a VOC-free paint that has almost no odor this time.

It's healthier for us anyway, even if the paint quality isn't as good!

zippity · Post by **zippity** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 3:34 pm

That's why I love the Benjamin Moore Aura paint...it's low VOC, you don't need primer, and it's the best paint on the market...

HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Painting in My Room

Painting in My Room

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