HCA: Hermit Crab Association

First I went to PetCo (sine they treat their crabs better I prefer to shop there), but they no longer carry the value 3-packs (basically buy 2 get 1 free). So I went to PetSmart, and I discovered that per corporate decision, they no longer carry any compressed coconut fiber bricks.

They told me that now they just carry those little disks of eco-earth you find with the other inadequate hermit crab supplies, as if that would be sufficient. They said corporate is just pushing those and the small calci-sand bags as hermit-crab supplies. I'm like I'm not going to buy 100 of those little disks to fill my 92 gallon tank.

I was upset that they would stop carrying one of the actually good hermit crab supplies. And I was most upset that they were only support people who keep their crabs in awful tiny critter-killer sized cages, and only using about 1/2 inch of substrate. We need 6-inches of substrate and at least a 10g. That's a whole brick!

So I called PetSmart a few minutes ago. The customer service rep was nice, and took down all my information and said she'd forward it to the procurement or stocking or whatever department.

Just thought I'd let ya'll know what's going on.

not sure where you live...however i find forest bedding/eco earth at my tack and feed store....

What about the online stores? I bet they'd still carry that and might even get a better deal

Yes, there are other places to find EE.

I think that JMT's point was more an objection to a large pet chain again dumping a decent product so they can sell more of an over-priced inadequate one. I saw those "disks" and they were a complete rip-off. You would need several to provide substrate in a small to moderate sized tank. The other brand of fiber brick they sold did not say what kind of fiber it contained.

i do agree that the intent of his post, as you stated, was to make a statement re the capitalistic/retail oriented society we exist in....if i had to use those small disks for my hermies, i would eventually need a second job... (maybe not...however, i do have other larger animals that i also support..) i will check out some of the petco stores in phoenix to see what they are doing...when i first started working with a couple of the petco's near me to improve hermie conditions...i got the "corporate" excuse also....it is not always true that the directives come from corporate....

As a last-ditch resort, you can also get coconut fiber at hydroponics gardening stores; it's used as a soilless medium in hydroponics.

I knew what his point was, I was just offering different options to find more since it was obvious he needed it.

I have a 120g tank, I'd be a bit worried should OSH stop selling sand