Well I had my first escape...

[parker_roo]

Today I came into my room and looked at my tank, and saw signs of a possible escape. I have a home made sliding glass top for my crabitat, but it has a chipped corner, with about a half inch broken off. I covered it with tape, thinking that would keep them from escaping, which it has for months, until today. The tape was pushed up, and I thought that none of my crabs would be able to fit through that small opening, but I was wrong. Luckily I found the escape artist before he was killed by my dog. It was Hendel, my most active crab. I didn't think he escaped at first, so I went to take a shower, but when I came back into my room, there he was chilling on the cord to the UTH. I had to move the cord onto the floor and wait until he finally let go and walked away. But he is back in the crabitat, and all is well. Plus I upped the security on my glass top. I am very lucky that it all was okay. Just thought I'd share. Has anyone else caught their crabs getting out of the tank?

[KellyCrabbieLove]

I have caught them trying. Lol

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[kadynadair16]

I have. I found one of my crabs hanging on a strand of Christmas lights I have on my tank. How did you make your sliding glass top? I would really like one but don't want to waste money if I can make a much cheaper one.

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[parker_roo]

I have. I found one of my crabs hanging on a strand of Christmas lights I have on my tank. How did you make your sliding glass top? I would really like one but don't want to waste money if I can make a much cheaper one.

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I made mine, spending at the most, $15. But I have a 29 gallon tank, so it will cost more for additional glass if your tank is larger. Let me try to find the tutorial I used, and I will get back to you!

[parker_roo]

Here is the link to the tutorial:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showt ... pics/42194

Basically what I did was, buy the moulding from Lowes, two pieces for about maybe $3 each, they come in fairly long pieces. And I have yet to make mine look good, but for now, I just taped the moulding to the top sides of my tank, after cutting it to the correct length. Then I measured the amount of glass I needed(**but make sure your measurements are right**), which for me was about $8 at Lowes. I actually messed up the measurements originally, so the bottom glass doesn't fit into the bottom section of the moulding, but it hasn't bugged me too much, so I just kept both pieces on the top part of the moulding. And for the handles, I just cut two off two pieces of the left over moulding and glued them onto the glass with hot glue. And that's it! The main problem I have ran into is that I bought pretty thin glass, and with the heat in the tank, and then misting the tank, has resulted in the cracked glass. Just be aware that it could crack if you're not careful. Oh, and also, I keep both ends of the glass taped to the tank, just in case of escape attempts.

Here is a picture of the finished product.


I hope this helped, good luck!

[kadynadair16]

I made mine, spending at the most, $15. But I have a 29 gallon tank, so it will cost more for additional glass if your tank is larger. Let me try to find the tutorial I used, and I will get back to you!

Thanks so much! I have the same size of tank. That helped so much! Thanks again.

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[KellyCrabbieLove]

The glass is so thin when you make it this way. I shattered 2 of the 4 on my 55 and hadn't had it very long. The edges of the glass will be unfinished and like a knife. Be careful.

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[Crabinski]

Plus I upped the security on my glass top. I am very lucky that it all was okay. Just thought I'd share. Has anyone else caught their crabs getting out of the tank?

When I first installed the hinged glass lid on the 29g, I (foolishly) assumed that the hard vinyl strip that runs across the rear of the lid and tucks into the lower lip of the tank could not be budged. HA! Big Enzo managed to lift it up in one corner where I'd cut out a few centimeters for air circulation and was happily parading along the back edge of the tank behind the aquarium light. He did this twice before I figured out how he did it. Tank security was upped by using a strip of clear packing tape to affix that corner to the back of the tank.

[Cumba]

I am so glad you posted this!
My small PP, Padfoot escaped by climbing out of a box. It was a small box.
I searched for 15 minutes to find him CLIMBING UP THE BLANKETS IN MY ROOM!
Who knows where he got that bravery.