HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I've been using Quikcrete Playsand as substrate for my hermit crabs, which I haven't owned for a full month yet by the way. This is all I have right now, but Eco Earth substrate has been recommended to me as well. I already have plans to go to the pet store tomorrow and see if they have any; if not, I will buy it online.

Anyways, I bought the Quikcrete Playsand at Home Depot after doing a little research and seeing that playground sand is a cheaper alternative to the specialty stuff that is sold in pet stores. This stuff right here.

However, I just started reading more on this particular brand of sand and I am seeing mixed results. A few Q&A websites I've stumbled upon have answers saying that it's OKAY, but then others have responses saying that it can actually be deadly to the crabs.

So far, none of my crabs have gone down for a molt yet since I've adopted them, but I say this and now it looks like one of the little guys might be trying to burrow, although I'm really not sure.

So, I would really appreciate some feedback on this kind of sand. If this brand is actually harmful, some other cheaper sand recommendations that won't be harmful to hermit crabs would be great.

many, many of us use that brand with no issues.

I've been using that brand for 5 1/2 years. Many others have been for even longer.

I have that in my crabitat as well, and all of my guys are fine.

Okay, thank you. I'm happy I checked here first before I went out of my way to get something else.

I've been using is for 6 years with no issues.

Have it in my tank almost a year now with many successful molts and no issues.

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I no longer use it as I find the coco fiber substrate holds moisture better and keeps humidity higher. May just be the conditions where I live/in my house. I use full coco fiber now! Very pretty.

Many long time crabbers use that brand and also mix eco earth into it. The mix commonly used is 5 parts sand and 1 part eco earth.
The belief is sand is really great for molting and the EE helps break down waste and helps holds humidity. Quite a few people also mix in some worm casings too.

I use a sand/EE mix and will be adding worm casings when I do my next tank update. I have stayed away from all EE mostly because I think it would mold more easily and molting caves wouldn't be as strong, but I may be wrong on that.

lovethecritters wrote:Many long time crabbers use that brand and also mix eco earth into it. The mix commonly used is 5 parts sand and 1 part eco earth.
The belief is sand is really great for molting and the EE helps break down waste and helps holds humidity. Quite a few people also mix in some worm casings too.

I use a sand/EE mix and will be adding worm casings when I do my next tank update. I have stayed away from all EE mostly because I think it would mold more easily and molting caves wouldn't be as strong, but I may be wrong on that.

I agree, straight EE doesn't provide as good of tunneling, imo. I've also found, in my mother's crabitat because I've never used straight EE, the bottom would get super yucky fairly quickly. I prefer sand but to get better tunneling and help keep things moist, I mix in some EE (though I don't use the 5:1 thing). Moss gets mixed in by the crabs and usually bits of leaves and crushed shells too.

I am currently using the 5:1 ration with sand and eco earth and have been ever since I started crabbing a year ago. I just add 1" of EE to the top of my sand/EE mix last week to give my crabs something a little different. And they are digging around like crazy. Once my modified tat is done, I will have two levels of sand and EE mix, one with moss on top and one without, then on the third level I will have like 2"of EE by itself just for fun.

I use it mixed with EE, worm castings and leaf litter.

Thanks for the replies everyone! I rearranged everything in my tank today including the substrate, which is now a combination of sand and coco fiber. Not the Eco Earth brand, because unfortunately my pet store doesn't sell it. Though I'm assuming this stuff that I bought, "Exo Terra Coco Husk" is probably about the same...? It's been keeping the moisture very well, that's for sure.

I don't know about exo terra. I thought it had bigger chunks in it, but it should work. I stopped using EE and moved to peat moss. It works about the same, but the particles are way smaller and it's dusty. Overall, it works the same. I mix 2:1 parts sand to peat moss. The crabs seem to like it.


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It's definitely the most common brand used with hermit crabs Really, playsands are just tiny rocks. There's nothing that can hurt them unless you find foreign objects or funny smells in the sand (it's a good idea to check!) there are actually some people that insist that quikcrete is the only safe sand to use for hermit crabs, but any clean, well kept, fine sand will work. And not all sands are created equally, my sand is dark brown and grey when wet, people in the US have this mysterious yellow sand I've never seen before (that's natural playsand) and some places don't even have quikcrete, I'm sure