Impromptu Crabbie Caretaker

[Kaleoscope]

Hello! I have been stalking this forum for a while, I figured with recent developments I might as well make my presence known. /awkward wave/

I am the caretaker of two PP's, to the best of my knowledge. My school's Servant Leaders (10-12 grade students who take on leadership and serving roles) got them for the past year's Marine Biology course, however since it was not running this year they became the SL 'mascots'. I am new to the place, and when I first saw them I didn't even recognize it as a 'tat! Some weird acrylic tank(?) thing, 1/4 in of bone-dry sand, no shells other than them, no hides, sponges clogging the water and commercial food on some craft foam platform. They were retracted far into their small and bulky shells (no paint, thank goodness), and did not move during the week or so I had walked past them. Imagine my horror when I realized they WERE crabs! Needless to say, I spoke with the headmistress and over that weekend I got together a nice 10gal setup for them.

I'm super proud of them, Percy and Atlantis. After surviving for a little over a year at ambient humidity and temperature they perked right up once I got them in their crabitat and both went though a successful molt. Atlantis is a little shy, but both of them are sweet and come right out of their shell if you go to hold them. I do have some questions, since some things are coming around and I would like some more experienced weigh-in and advice.

First off is gender. Percy has what I make out to be gomophores, but Atlantis decided they wanted to be so darn confusing and it would be great. On one of the sides all of their legs have what appear to be gomophores, and on the other only the middle does. Hermaphrodite? I'm confused as you can get, and I have found no other people who posted with that problem, so here I am.

Secondly, substrate. They have a ~4:1 playsand/EE mix, however when I first set them up I could only put in about 4+in or so. The rest has decided to play hide-and-seek, and they've both successfully molted in the reduced sub, so I'm assuming it will be fine until I can find the rest?

Now for lighting. I have a 30-40gal and a 10gal heater on the sides, and it brings up the temp 2-5 degrees, and 5 is if you're REALLY lucky. I've got reflective insinuative bubble wrap, plexiglass top, I mean the works and it remains a mess. The temps drop worryingly esp. at night, and though I know the Zoo-Med brand heaters don't work well at all with my experience in the reptile realm I didn't expect them to fail so spectacularly, so props for that I guess. Until I have the time to work out TGX flex-watt heat tape stuff for my Gecko and the crabs, I am not interested in throwing anymore money at uths and my space heater chews up electricity, and consequentially money, like candy. Does anyone have any lighting recommendations/fixes? They are currently on my nightstand with no/limited room for, well, a stand, and I'm trying to find out a way to get it to work without melting off the plexiglass while keeping my humidity corralled. I've had some /ahem/ shattering experiences with glass and heat lamps, so not interested in putting it on the side. Is there a good distance from the plex that can be said to keep it from melting? Or do I need a hole or something similar. They're digging around an awful lot, which I interpret as stress from the temperature flux, so I want to get this taken care of asap.

On the topic of heat and humidity, are there any 'fixes' or tips for Accu-Rite thermometers? My humidity is a little on the high side, which seems to urk the temperature readout and the display some. I'm working on keeping it more in the 75-85 range, but with my weird temperatures it finds it acceptable to slip into 90's. Lowering the humidity seems to fix it some, however there are still kinks. It works though, so that's the good news.

Now, finally! Last question. I will be painting my bedroom, where they are currently situated, and there's no question wither or not I need to move these guys. I am pretty sure the bathroom would be a good fix, it is much, much warmer than my corner, windowed room that they are in now so that will at least take care of the heating some. However, the major thing I worry about is the steam from whenever hot water is run. Our house water is not dechlorinated, so the resulting steam would be chlorinated. Would sealing off the tank with plexi until the steam clears be an acceptable method to keep these guys safe? We only use all-natural cleaners anywhere in our house, so that is definitely a non-issue. Since the restroom in question is more or less 'mine' (I have a mealworm colony and all my crickets chilling out in there), taking precautions would not be a problem. I would really appreciate some experienced input.

Thank you in advance for any questions answered! Hopefully I can scramble up some pictures for you guys soon, however I'm scrambling around an awful lot with the last week of school so it may be some time. ;A;

[aussieJJDude]

Hello, welcome to HCA!
I glad that you finally made the jump to sign up to HCA! Don't be scared, it safe to say that we are one big happy family! I sure that you will love it here.
First off, thank you for giving these guys a chance & researching proper care. Which I am sure that Percy & Atlantis are thanking you because of it!


Gender wise, seems like your gendering them wrong. When gendering a crab, they have to come far out of the shell & then it is your chance to take a quick peak. If it is a female, it will have gonopores; while a male does not. To look for the gonopores, it is underneath the body of the crab, between the walking legs thats furthest away from the claws. Like this image:

Click to view full article

The substrate is fine for now if they are small crabs, however they soon require deeper substrate. As you know, a deep substrate is required so they can moult successfully & also to regulate their temperature - among things.

Sounds like you could "upgrade" the UTH - the heaters. Many people have noted - myself included - that zoo med heaters are a complete waste of electricity. A better option is to look at the ultratherm UTH's, many people use them in the US & often they perform so well that they need to be kept of a dimmer or something similar! When choosing a UTH, you don't want to look for the gallon size, but rather a heat mat that will cover the entire back of the tank above the substrate line. Since it is a 10g tank, I wouldn't suggest any heat lamps; in this sized tank; temperature & humidity fluctuate a lot. Using a heat lamp will dry out the tank a fair bit, which could lead to further problems. Just stick to an ultratherm with some insulation & I am sure that it will heat the tank nicely.
(It is also worth mentioning, do you have a calibrated gauge for humidity/heat?)
Plexiglass with warp no matter what, unless it is rather thick. there is no "cure" to fixing plexiglass besides turning it over so it can warp the other way or by supporting it - by using rods or something similar.
There is nothing wrong with having overly high humidity IMO, the only downside is that there is an increased chance of mould growing in your tank. If possible, add some more ventilation which will be beneficial to the crabs too, providing them some fresh oxygen.

Good on you for moving the crabitat. That stream could become a problem, I not sure that the chlorine would dissipate before it reaches the crabitat. Is there somewhere else you could situate it, like the living room just in case?

I look forward to seeing the pics!
aussie

[Kaleoscope]

I have seen that article, and may others. I've checked and re-checked many times, perhaps I'll try again once I have everything leveled and he's no so freaked out. They both seem to pick bad-sized shells, though, and have no problem going way out of their shell which I've heard may be a cause for worry? Percy takes smaller shells and Atlantis has a thing for huge ones, Percy's first pair of inside-shell-grabby legs are more visible than I feel they should be, and she can't really fit in it. She's my climber, though, but I have shaved down shells. The assortment is not a problem, I have many in there and the one she's in is the same type as a couple other big ones, but idek just crabs, man. Atlantis is currently de-stressing/hibernating, this temp thing is getting to be a big problem. I have considered upgrading, I've heard a lot of good for ultratherms here and in the reptile niches, however they are not in stock at the local store - I'd have to order them. I'm not adverse to that, but I'm having trouble getting temps out of the 60's rn, and that's with switching my gecko's basking lamp back and forth. I've been misting regularly, so for now drying out isn't much of a problem but I may need to get a CHE for the time in-between if I order the ultra, I have a lamp somewhere with the switch broken that I could strip, re-wire and use for them if I can find it so my gecko doesn't become a problem, but I believe she's good for now. Where/what sort of dimmer would be good? What about a temperature regulator w/probe? I don't know of any good ones, but I've seen a lot of chatter for their use with TGX heat tape and Ultra's.

Yeah, hopefully I can find the rest of the sand/EE soon. If not I may see if we can find a smaller bag of sand, and I need to replenish my EE stores anyway since my gecko does not like the moss for her humid hides. Picky bugger.

I have an Accu-Rite thermometer/hydrometer combo, as I've seen many a crabber recommend it. I used my Leopard Gecko's setup to calibrate it, the readouts on the temp and humidity gauges read the same/really close and I trust the ones Namey has. It's been struggling in the high humidity, however and the display kinda wonks out some.

Plexiglass is a pain, my question had to do with not melting it should I get a lamp while still keeping humidity nice. The plexiglass is currently a single sheet I adjust on the top of the screen in accordance to what I need with how the humidity is going. I plan to perhaps cut it into strips that can be placed on the inside lip of the 'tat and then slid around as needed to provide ventilation/humidity release.

I don't really have another place I could put them, actually! With the holidays everything is going to be hectic, and we moved in not long ago and so there's not a lot of space to put them or something that would reliably hold the weight unless I moved my nightstand with it. The plexiglass sheet I mentioned earlier actually completely seals off the crabitat if you put it under the screen (which is why I have it over top), that's why I figured it may work. If y'all think it's too much of a risk than perhaps in one of the other bedrooms or the basement, but any other place is going to be too loud and hectic in my opinion - the last thing they need after this temperature rollercoaster is a mess of yelling and family holiday noises.

EDIT: I've been blasting the tank with the space heater and have their temps up to the mid-to-upper 70's range. Atlantis came out from their little hole they had dug and they both seem to be doing fine enough, though still not that active.