Gravel that bad?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:04 pm

Hi everyone, I'm new to this broad~ I just got home from the Jersey Shore and am now a proud owner of 2 PPs. I bought them a 10 gal glass tank and after reading up a bit I'm pretty sure what to put in it. The only thing I failed to notice was the idea of using sand instead of gravel.

So that is where my questions comes in:

Is gravel a really bad idea and can it hurt the hermit crab?

Is the gravel okay for a bit until I buy some sand?

Oh and one completely random question:
Is a heater needed?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:09 pm

You'll need a heater for winter. And gravel isnt recomended since it can scrape them, they can't dig in it.

Playsand is cheapest, $4 for a 50lb bag

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:14 pm

Im just like you heluma. i still have gravel in mine. same thing happened to me. i was home from a jersey shore (wildwood to be specific) and bought a ten gallon glass tank. i have gravel in mine and no heater. playsand is better and i hope to get some soon.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:21 pm

1 brick of Eco earth would fill your 10g tank or playsand.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 7:34 pm

I used to use aquarium gravel a long time ago. When I changed over to playsand/forest bedding my crabs seemed to be the happiest they had ever been. All my crabs wouldnt molt and those that did only surfaced molted. If a crab should molt in the gravel it could hurt their soft unhardened bodies. I recommend you change as soon as possible. Your crabs will thank you for it! It's ok to have a small amount of gravel in your tank just try to have most of the other area something more suitable.

Zealous Euphemism · Post by **Zealous Euphemism** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 7:41 pm

I neveer used gravel, but at first I only had about an inch of sand in their tank....nce i found Christa's website, I realized that they needed more than that and bought some playsand (cheap! Yay!). For a week after I added lots of sand, Firenze would dig holes CONTINUOUSLY, knocking stuff over and having the time of his life.

Caspian molted. They seem really happy...I'd definitely get some sand as soon as possible, because they'll probably want to go under to destress.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 10:34 pm

kahunamako wrote:i got back around two weks ago. i loved it there!!! did you get your hermit crabs at an fmr place?

Yes I did!..xD....they had some really big ones..;P

Well anyway thanks guys, I got them sand and I put in about 2 3/4 inches in it. I set up the 10g tank and they have lots of shells to pick..;D After 10 mins in the tank Mahina has switched shells twice and finally settled on one..;P..I guess she didn't like the blue painted one from the store..

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 12:07 am

I started with gravel but read that it wasnt the best for them, so remove gravel from 1/2 side and used calcisand . I only really have the gravel around water bowls to keep down tracking so much sand in bowls. But am wondering if I should switch clear over to calisand.Its kinda costly but with only one small tank its not too bad , cost wise (I could have more costly habits than calcisand,hey). Anyone know what makes the best tiny Pooper-scooper for cleaning the crab-poop ? Is there such a thing ?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 12:08 am

go for playsand, cheaper and alot of it.

I use a tea strainer

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 12:17 am

I'm going right out tomarrow to get me a tea strainer, thank you so much. Just got 2 new crabs today Walrus and Martian (can you tell where from "W" "M"),they were so cute,had to have 'em. [smilie=cloud9.gif]