Building My Crabitat

[EPAS]

Check out the thrift stores especially the Humane society thrift store. You find a lot of fish stuff there.

[ErikRasmussen]

this...is...so...EPIC. Great documentation too, what has been your total cost so far?

[emberfusion]

this...is...so...EPIC. Great documentation too, what has been your total cost so far?

I had a lot of what I needed already on hand so I spent less than $100 on building this bad boy.

That's not factoring in what I spent to fill it (substrate, water pools, decor, etc.).

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[ErikRasmussen]

Nice! Have you measured out the total Volume?

[emberfusion]

Nice! Have you measured out the total Volume?

Inside measurements come out to roughly 215 gallons of space.

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[elly_bananas]

Wow! Great build! Feeling inspired!

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[Jellybean!]

Wow!! That is awesome! I can't wait to see what it looks like with the little crabbies in it! Are you planning on doing any live plants in there?

[emberfusion]

Wow!! That is awesome! I can't wait to see what it looks like with the little crabbies in it! Are you planning on doing any live plants in there?

I will definitely be adding some plants and I already got it set up and actually adopted some crabs yesterday. I'll get some pics of them up soon, I was just waiting until I finalized my decor.

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[GotButterflies]

Wow!! That is awesome! I can't wait to see what it looks like with the little crabbies in it! Are you planning on doing any live plants in there?

I will definitely be adding some plants and I already got it set up and actually adopted some crabs yesterday. I'll get some pics of them up soon, I was just waiting until I finalized my decor.

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Can't wait to see pictures!

[soilentgringa]

So I have some concerns and feel like it would be negligent of me not to voice them...

Did you seal the entire inside of the wood with a crab safe epoxy resin?

How long did you wait to let the fumes dissipate before adding substrate?

Is there exposed pine wood (usually treated with chemicals at the lumberyard. My uncle is a carpenter and whatever they treat the wood with causes massive issues when he gets splinters.)

Oil based paint takes days to cure on it's own and it would need to be sealed as well in order to be safe.

If your silicone isn't cured yet and water is in the dishes already, that will poison the crabs too.

I noticed you said this isn't your first rodeo and that's cool and all but with the timeline given it doesn't look like everything has had time to cure properly and be fume free.

I am also worried about using plastic liner under the substrate. As you know, crabs are some crafty diggers. We've had members crabs pinch their way through weed block fabric and eggcrate and get trapped under false bottoms.

Since you wouldn't be able to see this you could have crabs getting caught up under the plastic, and anything leaching from the plastic could harm the crabs.

I think it was an amazing undertaking and super impressive, I just wanted to point out those things that are worrisome to me.

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[wodesorel]

I'm on the same page as SG - awesomely impressive build, but have the same concerns as listed above.

[emberfusion]

So I have some concerns and feel like it would be negligent of me not to voice them...

Did you seal the entire inside of the wood with a crab safe epoxy resin?

How long did you wait to let the fumes dissipate before adding substrate?

Is there exposed pine wood (usually treated with chemicals at the lumberyard. My uncle is a carpenter and whatever they treat the wood with causes massive issues when he gets splinters.)

Oil based paint takes days to cure on it's own and it would need to be sealed as well in order to be safe.

If your silicone isn't cured yet and water is in the dishes already, that will poison the crabs too.

I noticed you said this isn't your first rodeo and that's cool and all but with the timeline given it doesn't look like everything has had time to cure properly and be fume free.

I am also worried about using plastic liner under the substrate. As you know, crabs are some crafty diggers. We've had members crabs pinch their way through weed block fabric and eggcrate and get trapped under false bottoms.

Since you wouldn't be able to see this you could have crabs getting caught up under the plastic, and anything leaching from the plastic could harm the crabs.

I think it was an amazing undertaking and super impressive, I just wanted to point out those things that are worrisome to me.

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I'm in the middle of a thousand things right now, so this is going to be quick, but I actually started on everything well before I created this thread and everything had way more time than the directions said to set and cure and get rid of those fumes (a lot of the smelly stuff got quite a lot of outside sunshine & wind as well). Everything I used is crab safe! No exposed pine! I'm brainstorming with my dad (also a carpenter) about ways to make sure we know if any crabs get stuck, but I think we have a good idea I'll be able to put in place in a couple of days (gma is in ICU so things are kind of whack in general around here right now).

Thank you for sharing your concerns and I can go into more detail later tonight, but I wanted to go ahead and address this while I had a quick second!