HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi crabby family! I just redid my 30g tank to make it better in my eyes. Opinions on if its better in the hermies eyes? Its general specs are 6.3inches of substrate, a moss pit in the upper corner, a shell shop in the opposite upper corner, two large water dishes one salt water one fresh water with ramps into and out of. Climbing branch with ropes attached to shell shop and moss pit for climbing and access to those. A hiding hut and I'm adding leaves from Petco for more hiding. Thoughts/Opinions? Here's pics to help you with the description.



http://imgur.com/2Zyn01Z
http://imgur.com/dimPLRi
http://imgur.com/R0cMvqq

Hi! Welcome to HCA!

I know you worked really hard on this but there are some areas of concern:

The colored sand is no good. If it is calcium sand your crabs can become trapped or their shells impacted and die. Substrate needs to be a minimum of 3X as deep as your largest crab, ideally half as deep as your tank. 5:1 ratio of playsand to coconut fiber is HCA recommended.
Please remove all painted shells and offer natural shells in sizes and shapes they need. I am going to link the shell guide for you as well as our care guides.

How many crabs are in the tank? It looks like a 10 gallon, yes? If you have more than 2-3 tiny/small crabs, I urge you to consider upgrading to a larger tank to avoid molt attacks.

Here is the link to the care guide http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... hp?t=94257

Don't feel badly; almost all of us started out with less than ideal conditions. I myself had green sand at one time. It was playsand and the only bag Wal*Mart had and it was green! As soon as I could go to Lowe's and get a 50lb bag of playsand, I did. They are less than $5 usually.

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Okay I'll fix the substrate, the depth is pretty good my largest crab is still a tinier crab from what I've seen on here being called large.
I'm in the process of removing all painted shells I've scrubbed most painted shells clean of paint. The ones you see in the shell shop were just put there by my SO and she is now informed to not buy them and to find "pretty shells for her that's all natural". I need to take those out and scrub them and what not.
It's a 30 gallon tank and there's 5 in this tank.

Anything else I should fix? I do not feel bad at all for any criticism I love hermit crabs and want them to have the healthiest/happiest life they possibly can so lay it all on me always! <3

If you can pick up some coco fiber from a pet store (really cheap for a huge brick), some instant ocean salt water mix (also at the pet store, rather cheap as well, big box cost me under 20), and some play sand along with some dechlorinated water you can make some awesome substrate with little effort. I just bake the play sand to make sure its clean even though you probably really don't need to, mix up the cocofiber and let it sit in a paint bucket, then mix away, most people go 5 parts sand to 1 part cocofiber and the brick goes a long way trust me

The care guide linked is an awesome resource make sure to use it, this site is fantastic and will help you a lot in getting started. Make sure with painted shells that after you do get everything off you boil them good as well. You seem to be well on your way to an awesome crabitat though so good luck! I really liked the netting and the corner piece, I'm sure the crabbies love climbing on it!

You don't have to bake play sand.. you don't buy the type in tubes that cars and trucks use to add weight in the winter.. they have a oil smell to them, don't buy sand that has been outside sitting on pallets, they could of got wet and contaminated. I have always went to farm king or Lowe's and bought it in the store. Like 5$ a bag. You can use calci sand as a snack.. put it a seperate dish.