Inactive pp's piling on top of hut?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:30 am

Hello all, I recently got 3 pp's. 2 fairly big ones, and a smaller fellow. They were all active when I first got them, i'm assuming they were checking out their new tat. Then they all went in the hut and my biggest one Saengster dug down, then soon after the small one natster went down. The other one i purchased a week after these first two, and he hasn't went down yet. So they went down for 4 days or so. Then one day, they all come back up and I was glad to see that they weren't rotting in the sand. I recently added more sand because I read that there should be 2-3 times the depth of substrate than the biggest crab. I also added a few more toys and a cocomat background for them to climb on. I have a piece of choya wood leaning at a 45 degree angle towards a corner, over a cocomat hut I made. For the first few days following that change, they've all been piling up in the corner, squeezing in between the choya and the cocomat background, on top of the hut. Literally, piling, the smallest one on bottom, then the biggest, then the in between on top. Is it that they don't like the sand...?? The temp is thermostatically controlled to be 75, and the humidity ranges from 73-80%. Temp and humidity are taken at substrate level. The substrate is 100% wet sand with sand castle consistency. I have some shredded coco fibers from left over coco mat that i mixed with some sand and put in the opposite corner...they don't spend a second over there unless they're passing through. Well, class time. Thanks for taking the time to read!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 12:13 pm

My honest opinion is that they are still becoming acclimated to the tat. Especially considering it has just changed again. Give them time. Mine tend to act a little odd for about a month or so after bringing them home. Then the settle in, find a place in the pecking order, and start up their hilarious little antics.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 1:04 pm

yeah that was pretty much my first guess. I suppose I'll let them do whatever they please, as weird as they are...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 3:45 pm

Certain colonies actually like to sleep like that, so it's not really something to be too alarmed by. PPs have kind of a hit or miss attitude about sand. Some like it, some don't do well. Give them time to acclimate to it, they usually will either adapt or show signs of distress after a week or two.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 3:54 pm

How interesting
mine stared digging a mound in front of the door.
We thought they where blocking out the light.
Then they started burrowing down inside the hut.

One day we lifted the half coconut shell to find a sandcastle. Pure sand all the way down.

Hee hee

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 3:57 pm

ddlaz

It's time for you to learn the first rule of hermit crabs:

They are gonna do what they want to do when they want to do it.

wickedannabella · Post by **wickedannabella** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:10 pm

Sometimes they even just do it for fun! Think of them playing KING OF THE HILL!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:36 pm

B-Dog77 wrote:... PPs have kind of a hit or miss attitude about sand. Some like it, some don't do well. Give them time to acclimate to it, they usually will either adapt or show signs of distress after a week or two.

Really? Hm... You learn something new everyday. I've had EE the entire time I've had my PPs, but my Es loved the sand when I had it. Odd...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:08 pm

I've got some EE on the way soon, so i'm going to try the 50/50 method, or maybe the gradient method (70,50,20, maybe 0%)

Heh, now today, they're in the hut. whatever!

i like how my new guy was in the saltwater dish this morning, when i woke up, i looked at the tat and he was just frozen...staring me down as i got my lazy butt up.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 8:22 pm

I'd be interested ion the gradient method, if you decide to do it. I put EE in 1/4 of the tank and my crabs hated it. I put their favorite hidey on it and only one crab ever would go into it.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 8:25 pm

yeah, i read somewhere that tammy from crabbage patch recommends it...So I suppose i'll give that a try.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:49 am

I think the substrate might be too wet, but you'll never know...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:38 am

well i have the gradient going on, and 2 days later, i have 1 buried in the middle where it's about 50/50 mix, then 1 buried in the 100% EE, and 1 buried in 100%.