3 questions: sterilizing, prevent mold on wood, and hermie behavior

paperheartz · Post by **paperheartz** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 2:16 pm

I have 3 questions I will number this to keep it organized 1. Hermie behavior: is it normal for a crab to fall asleep on the food bowl and just take it over and be territorial over the food bowl? my biggest crab just kinda has gotten into the habit of sitting on top of the food bowl and then falling asleep on it. He just molted, changed shells, and he's about the size of a golf ball maybe slightly bigger. He gets on top of the food bowl and eats and eats and eats (around 11pm) and by morning (around 9am) he's still there but his antennas are down and I can wave my hand in front of him and he doesn't move. But like a hour later he gets up and goes under his hut so he's not dead in fact he's so active he climbs the net I maDe them and even gets on the lid upside down. Here's a picture of him just sitting on the bowl to show you what I mean http://imgur.com/10H7DVzSo I've just started putting 2 food bowls.2. Serilizing/cleaning: we have received from a friend 2 items for our hermit crabs. A log hide away and a basking rock which is just nice to give them more to climb on. My question is how do I sterilize these things? Rock is plastic I think and the wood last time I boiled something wood for them it shrunk warped and grew mold so no not again. But I just don't want to put it in without cleaning it. Which leads me to my last question 3. Mold: in regards to the wood log hiddy hut How can I prevent mold from growing on it? I just want my babies to be safe so I want to know if I should treat it with anything natural. I ran across a article how to treat wooden outdoor furniture to prevent mold and it said use a mix of water and tea tree oil....but I don't know if that's OK so any suggestions will be ok with me. Heres a picture of the rock and lgo for questions 2 and 3 http://imgur.com/0qnk9ip Thank you

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Fri May 01, 2015 6:20 am

1. The 2nd food bowl is what I would have done. Your crab since it just molted will eat more. Basically they eat more right before molting and then right after.2&3. Vinegar is a good cleaner/sterilizer. But I personally would boil the rock and the wood item could be boiled for a short time then baked in the oven or allowed to completely dry before placing in tank. If you do it in salt water the salt helps prevent mold but may show a buildup of salt. Use the crabs salt not table salt. Also when putting it in the tank you can set some shells or something to that nature on the substrate and put the wood thing on top of the shell so its not touching the wet/moist sub which also helps prevent mold. If it does show up just do the same method above all over again. Its a good idea to sterilize everything in your tank a few times a year anyway.If you look in the archived library I think there are several discussions on the topic that may provide even more help or ideas than I have.

paperheartz · Post by **paperheartz** » Mon May 04, 2015 12:54 pm

1. thank you for reassuring me. i was a little worried because i had never seen a hermit crab just fall asleep on top of a food bowl like that. i wasnt too concerned because he was still running around and drinking water and generally has a nice color i mean there were like no red flags about his health i just never encountered that before ive only been at this for about 4 years and he is the biggest crab i have had so i wasnt sure if it was something to worry about so thank you for letting me know. 2&3. ok i read that somewhere that vinegar was ok but personally i trust the people here more than anywhere else so out of curiosity the thing i read said something about cleaning (whatever item, i cant remember what it was) but then letting the fumes or the smell of the vinigar air out and go away. (personally one of the main reason i didnt trust it was because they said to let it air off outside and that invites all sorts of bugs and particuls in the air to get on the object then put in the tank so i figured they didntt know what they were talking about) so is there any harm in the smell of the vinigar? because i was also looking for a way to clean the glass and if its ok i would just put a little diluted vinigar on a paper towl and clean the glass but im honestly worried about the smell. and is it safe to boil plastic? since the rock is plastic. im just worried boiling plastic would release bad chemicals or fumes. my mom told me that when i wanted to boils one of their plastic trees so i wasnt sure. and thank you for letting me know i could boil the wood, bake it, and then do it again. i asked my husband about that and he said the other peice of wood we boiled that went terribly wrong was cork wood and it was a small peice. i probalbly wont do it in salt water. im worried over using salt and creating build up. and i did look in the archived stuff thank you for that advice there was some good information. my last last question though is: Is it safe to use aquarium silicone on the wood hiddy? ive used it on plastic things ive put in there but not wood. so would that be safe? because if it is i had picked up some nice rocks when i went to the beach hoping i could use them in the tat but i saw no good use or place for them at tthe time but now i would boil them to clean them then glue them to the wood hut's bottom edges so that it doesnt get knocked out from underneath but i really really like your idea of putting something under it so it doesnt touch the moist ground i dont know why i didnt think of that thank you. for all your help i just need to know those last few things. thank you again!

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Tue May 05, 2015 4:09 am

You can use the diluted vinegar to wipe the glass and then go back over with just water. Let it air out for just a few minutes before putting the lid on. Yes it is best to air out the item and/or let dry thereby airing it out so the fumes aren't strong. However diluting the vinegar means the fumes won't be very strong to begin with so it won't take long to air out. The reason you read outside is that direct sunlight is supposed to kill mold, some bacteria, and a few other things. You'll just have to weigh the risks of exposure to other things.I usually just use a damp cloth or paper towel on my glass and only the vinegar when I do a deep clean, which you should have the crabs moved to a separate location when you do the deep clean anyway and let it air dry before putting everything back in. I'm not sure how the silicone will work on the wood. I've never tried it. However I see no harm in trying to do what you said.

paperheartz · Post by **paperheartz** » Tue May 05, 2015 4:40 am

OK all of this really really helped thank you so much! ^_^

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Tue May 05, 2015 4:46 am

Your welcome. I wish crabber85 would put in his 2 cents as well then you would have 2 opinions.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Tue May 05, 2015 6:03 am

As for question number one, yes it is normal behavior for a hermitcrab to sit in the food bowl and guard it against tank mates, this happens when a particular hermitcrab really likes a certain food and does not want to share it with the others.I have seen my hermitcrabs roll empty spare shells into the food bowl to trick the other crabs into thinking someone else was already eating and they do this to essentially hog the food for themselves.As for question two, you can sterilize wood by soaking it in some of the hermitcrabs dechlorinated salt water for six hours or until the wood no longer floats then take the wood and place it on a sheet of tinfoil and bake in the oven at two-hundred degrees for twenty minutes, the wood will slowly dry out in the oven and what the salt didn't kill the heat will.Wood has an ignition point of around six-hundred degrees so the chances of it flash igniting in the oven at such low temps are very low.Plastics can be boiled in dechlorinated fresh water but you don't want to boil them at very high temps or you will risk melting them so a low simmer should be sufficient in this case.If you keep the wood up off of the substrate and you have a good fresh air exchange going into the enclosure you should never have to worry about mold growth.Mold only grows in warm, humid, stagnant air so if your having issues with it you may want to allow more fresh air from outside the enclosure in by opening up the lid a little.A one inch opening is sufficient for tanks all the way up to seventy gallons to create a fresh air exchange.Hermitcrabs have a very powerful sense of smell so yes the strong odor of the vinegar will irritate the hermitcrabs so you must allow any item cleaned with vinegar to air dry for a minimum of twenty four hours or until the smell has dissipated.You can carry the pieces outside to air dry with no ill consequences but I prefer to air dry anything in my house though the odor can be tough at times.

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Wed May 06, 2015 6:41 am

Thanks crabber you always seem to be more detailed than I am.quote:Originally posted by Crabber85:Hermitcrabs have a very powerful sense of smell so yes the strong odor of the vinegar will irritate the hermitcrabs so you must allow any item cleaned with vinegar to air dry for a minimum of twenty four hours or until the smell has dissipated.You can carry the pieces outside to air dry with no ill consequences but I prefer to air dry anything in my house though the odor can be tough at times. So using the diluted vinegar should mean the smell dissipates a lot quicker. Also keeping this in mind you may not want to use it on the inside glass of the tank with the crabs still in it. It would have to be really diluted for that, but there should be no reason too.

paperheartz · Post by **paperheartz** » Sat May 09, 2015 12:57 pm

@crabber85 wow ok thats smart and kind of mean of them to put a shell in the food bowl haha. ok well good thing i just put two bowls. ok thank you for the instructions on the wood and plastic i will do that for sure. and ya i dont have issues with mold anymore that was a while ago but i think my main thing was i didnt let it dry completely before putting it back in that one time. and i boiled it in the microwave which warped it. it was really really bad. so i just htrew it away and ever since then i have not put anything wood in. but now that i know dow to take care of it i think they will like it. in regards to the vinegar ya thats what i thought and i totally am more comfortable air drying it in my house. when i made their pool with aquarium silicone i suffered through the smell for like 2 weeks but it was worth it so i know how sometimes it can be a little tough but i rather be safe than sorry. speaking of aquarium silicone, for a second opinion do u think it would be safe to use on the wood to glue the rocks to it? Would it even bond to the wood? Oh and my husband just brought up the idea that if it does bond maybe I wouldn't even need to glue rocks maybe I could spread it and use a layer of silicone as the barrier between the wood and ground. Opinion?@jenok thank you for all your help again and ok i will remmeber that. so ill just stick to water for now but save the vinager mix for their deep clean. yay.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Sun May 10, 2015 2:23 am

Aquarium silicone bonds well to glass and some plastics and I have heard of people siliconing their larger tank decor pieces in place including sections of wood so yes it does bond to wood but not as well since wood is very porous it tends to soak the stuff up so you may need to use extra to reach the saturation point where the wood can't absorb anymore then it should bond sufficiently to keep the wood where you want it.

Laurie LeAnn · Post by **Laurie LeAnn** » Sun May 10, 2015 3:21 pm

Non porous plastic decorations that have become very dirty I have used a wash rag and a very tiny bit of dish soap to scrub them and rinsed the heck out of them. I can not stand the smell of vinegar..I gag now if I smell it. My wood to keep base from getting mold I bought huge slate rock scraps at a yard sale and busted them up and set my woods on them and if found big rocks with character ( odd shape- color-size ) after cleaning them I use the rocks to stabilize my wood against things in my tank like if it's leaning accross to the o the side of the tank or leaning up on the tank to a shower caddy. Be very careful about bringing in wood from outside to use in your tank. If you don't get all the bugs and larve killed they will hatch and you will have an infestation and its hard to get rid of!

paperheartz · Post by **paperheartz** » Mon May 11, 2015 2:58 pm

quote:Originally posted by Crabber85:Aquarium silicone bonds well to glass and some plastics and I have heard of people siliconing their larger tank decor pieces in place including sections of wood so yes it does bond to wood but not as well since wood is very porous it tends to soak the stuff up so you may need to use extra to reach the saturation point where the wood can't absorb anymore then it should bond sufficiently to keep the wood where you want it. ok that is good to know i will plan on having extra silicone. and like my last question is there any danger of the hermit crabs trying to eat the silicone and getting sick? because i plan on linning the bottom of the edges and glueing rocks i got from the ocean to it but i wont do that if itll hurt them. @LAURIE thank you for the advice i will remember that. that is a good idea and maybe now with all these ideas i can finally put more than plastic things in their tank. and ya in regards to the plastic that i do have in there its good to know an alternative to vinigar. i dont really like it but i will use it still but its good to have a back up when i cant stand it. also i never bring anything in from outside....i dont want to risk it because you are right if the bugs hatch itll be out of control. >.< so ya i dont trust myself to even attemmpt to clean it well enough. i rather buy something and clean that. ^.^

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Tue May 12, 2015 7:40 am

Silicone once properly air dried and cured will not hurt the hermitcrabs in its dry state it is completely harmless and non-toxic.They shouldn't be eating on it anyway if they are getting a good varied nutrient filled diet.Hermitcrabs will only eat non-food items in an effort to address a nutrient gap in their normal diet so if they are doing this they are telling you that they are missing one or more key nutrients in their diet and once those issues are addressed they will stop eating on the plastics, silks or whatever else they may have been nibbling on.

paperheartz · Post by **paperheartz** » Tue May 12, 2015 12:33 pm

OK thankyou again. They have not been eating plastic as far as i know but now that I know that I will keep an eye out for that closer than before. I asked because my husband was concerned about that And I did not know how to respond to his concern.