Is my crabitat good

Hermit Guy · Post by **Hermit Guy** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 8:32 pm

Hello this is my crabitat I love watching them and I spoil them with different foods and many friends :crabbigsmile:

how did I do making it? I mist them daily and they usually have a heater but I took it away so I could take a clear picture of the crabitat. It is hard to see but I have all four sides plexiglass and sealed and this is a plexiglass top !

Hermit Guy · Post by **Hermit Guy** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 8:40 pm

Please give me any positive or negative feedback!

Hermit Guy · Post by **Hermit Guy** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 8:49 pm

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KellyCrabbieLove · Post by **KellyCrabbieLove** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 10:49 pm

How deep the substrate? It looks beautiful but the calci-sand could cause a problem. Where are your water dishes? I am blind. Lol if I were a crab I would love it in there.

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Hermit Guy · Post by **Hermit Guy** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 10:55 pm

The substrate is about 9 in deep the water dish is in the left Conor and next to the beach ball looking hide away freshwater and the salt water is next to the leaves on the right ! Thank you this took a long tine to build it was my train table when I was a kid I took a table cloth and then put all the substrate on top

I have 18 pp in there

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AutumnHermie · Post by **AutumnHermie** » Mon Jan 18, 2016 11:54 pm

I saw a few painted shells on the left in there... Couldn't tell if there was a crab in there or not,
but you never want to use painted shells, only natural.

KellyCrabbieLove · Post by **KellyCrabbieLove** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 1:20 am

AutumnHermie wrote:I saw a few painted shells on the left in there... Couldn't tell if there was a crab in there or not,
but you never want to use painted shells, only natural.

Good catch. I am on my phone so I didn't see those.

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Post by **aussieJJDude** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 2:56 am

It's looking nice; personally I probably wouldn't use the train table as a permanent home for crabs; but if it works for you then who can say otherwise. (Anyway, I think I tend to be a bit overprotective of my babies..

)

Like the others said, the calci sand does make the tank look beautiful but it can cause complication when your hermit crabs moult or irritation inside their shells. A safer (not to mention cheaper) alternative is play sand. Found in hardware stores, play sand closely mimics the beaches where the crabs are found and hardly causes any problems since it's nature-er (compared to calcisand) and inert.

And also, 18 crabs!? My eyes, must be deceiving me (not to mention it's hard getting a accurate scale in front of a screen) but how big is this? (I'd love to know the lenght x width x height) I imagine the crabs would love roaming over the large floorspace, it would make the prefect crabitat!

marandashermies · Post by **marandashermies** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 10:15 am

pretty cool looking! I bet your crabs love it in there. But yes, toss the painted shells and I would get rid of the calci sand.
I was curious how you heat it?

CallaLily · Post by **CallaLily** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 12:39 pm

I like the idea of this and would also love to know the length x width x height. I worry about ventilation a little - I know many don't concern themselves with it much but I feel there needs to be a good balance of keeping in heat/humidity and allowing some airflow. Also, it looks like daily maintenance would be a pain (assuming you have to remove the whole lid, like it looks to me). How are temps and humidity holding up in it? Love the clusters of plants and pile of wood. I personally would opt for larger water dishes and ditch the colored sand/gravel, hides, and shells. I love seeing unique crabitat ideas such as this one! Thank you for sharing!

Edit: I'd also worry about the table cloth breaking down or getting torn up by the crabs. There have been others on here who've used something to seal wood in their homemade/converted crabitats. Sorry I can't remember what exactly is recommended but a quick search of the forum should bring up answers, if you're interested.

Hermit Guy · Post by **Hermit Guy** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 3:28 pm

Hello yes they are pantedshells but those are what the crabs came in

they were a gift from my grandmother so it's hard to say no though shows are not good to my little grandmother

i'm sure you all have had similar problems and I am interested in what you think I should use instead of the tablecloth? And I am planning on getting the play Sands and removing the calcium sand but I am interested to see if there is any other type of color sand I can use? I heat the tank with a daytime/nighttime bulb

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Hermit Guy · Post by **Hermit Guy** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 3:38 pm

aussieJJDude wrote:It's looking nice; personally I probably wouldn't use the train table as a permanent home for crabs; but if it works for you then who can say otherwise. (Anyway, I think I tend to be a bit overprotective of my babies.. )

Like the others said, the calci sand does make the tank look beautiful but it can cause complication when your hermit crabs moult or irritation inside their shells. A safer (not to mention cheaper) alternative is play sand. Found in hardware stores, play sand closely mimics the beaches where the crabs are found and hardly causes any problems since it's nature-er (compared to calcisand) and inert.

And also, 18 crabs!? My eyes, must be deceiving me (not to mention it's hard getting a accurate scale in front of a screen) but how big is this? (I'd love to know the lenght x width x height) I imagine the crabs would love roaming over the large floorspace, it would make the prefect crabitat!

It is it is 6' x 3' x 3"
The painted shows do not have a hermit crab in them

I have a stubborn one that will not leave is painted shell and I have the next size up for a show I guess it is enjoying the painted shell life

There are actually 17 hermit crabs in my tank

every time I go away I get a new hermit crab or two

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AutumnHermie · Post by **AutumnHermie** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 4:30 pm

Even though chances are that the hermit crabs will not move into the shells, you really don't want to put the painted shells in there. The paint can chip and the hermit crabs, being scavengers, will eat it, and this is very, very bad for the hermit crab.

KellyCrabbieLove · Post by **KellyCrabbieLove** » Tue Jan 19, 2016 8:02 pm

Colored sand is supposedly non toxic to humans but the dyes can leach out when wet and we do not know how those will effect the crabs health and well-being. So our stance is that dyed sands are not something we want in our tanks just to be sure the crabs are safe. Substrate is one if the most important things they need and if it isn't right they will surface molt.

It doesn't look like it could possibly hold 9 inches of substrate. Will you hold a ruler up there for a pic. Without a scale like that or a soda can or something I can't get an idea of its real size. I am a visual person.

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Hermit Guy · Post by **Hermit Guy** » Thu Jan 21, 2016 9:05 pm

Shut thing hold on one second

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HCA: Hermit Crab Association