HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Alright So I'm makeing a home made cocohut, but I've having issues with tidbits of flesh I can't get off... I'm trying to boil my coconut halves in salt water (to loosen those stubern peices of flesh and prevent mold) if that doesn't work what else can I try?

Sandpaper? What have you tried?

I started with useing a knife to cut large chunks out of the flesh, then I tried boiling it ( all it did was boil out the coconut oil ) then I remembered I'm good friends with an exacto knife. I scraped off most of it and I'm going to bake it to dry up what's left and then I'll sand it down... now how do I put a door on it?

Well since you have already cracked it in half you will need to use a dremel tool to make your openings. It's how i done mine.
The coconut is really tough stuff, if you dont use a hole saw or dremel tool i have no other idea what to use.

I think the closest thing to a Dremel tool I have is a hand held grinder ( ment for nail care but I use it for crafts ) I guess I could try to grind it down, right now I'm trying to figure out if I can do the same thing I did to crack it in half, which involved a hammer and a jeweler's philip's screwdriver...

You can let the crabs eat it out (if it is just little bits), or you could dry it in a low temp oven for an hour or two and it pops off rather readily, or try freezing it - this also seems to separate the layers a bit.

In the end, there is just a certain amount of fighting one must do with a coconut.

Keith

RoxyLupin wrote:I think the closest thing to a Dremel tool I have is a hand held grinder ( ment for nail care but I use it for crafts ) I guess I could try to grind it down, right now I'm trying to figure out if I can do the same thing I did to crack it in half, which involved a hammer and a jeweler's philip's screwdriver...

I would buy another nut and get a hole saw and make a hole that way it is easier and you can hang the huts if you want because they have a bottom. Put some moist moss in there and the hermits will move right in.

Keith

I'll have to try it some time I got my door done, I used a drill and bore holes into my coconut spaced fairly close, then hammered in a jeweler's screw driver and pried till the door broke off, I'll have to get pics, right now I've got a crab I frightened with the camera last night in it and the door's facing the front of the tank...