HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So a few weeks ago the hubby was trimming trees and raking leaves. I had him whack a branch off the maple tree for the crab tank. I soaked it for about 8 hours in conditioned salt water and has been sitting on the furnace duct since then. The furnace has been running pretty much every 10 or 20 min. Since then, so do you think it's dried out enough to put in the tank now?

@Laurie, if you can touch the wood and it feels dry to the touch then it is perfectly fine to put in the enclosure.

I'd say it's been sitting on the furnace 3 weeks now feels dry, for some reason the wood has a green look to it? I don't know if the salt and conditioner did that? I put a lot in.

@Laurie, the wood will appear green for quite some time since its just been freshly cut it still has a good deal of water and chlorophyll deep in the pulp, it wont look white/brown in the center until it has had a few weeks in a dry environment to properly cure.The water that the limb has retained from being alive is why it's really hard to burn green wood in a fireplace it typically just puts off a white smoke and smolders unless the coals get hot enough.

Crabber is right. It will look green for quite awhile since it is freshly cut. It takes months for wood to dry out enough to be considered seasoned. Typically (for comparison)seasoned firewood is cut the year before its sold. Or has at least been down for a year and then cut.

So since the crabs can eat the leaves from maple or oak trees, provided they are untreated, we can add the branches as well? The purpose would be for?....climbing and decor @laurie, or do you suspect that they will eat it too? What's the purpose of soaking it in their water (as we would the acorns/leaves prior to "feeding" them) and is there a need for drying/seasoning it? I've got lots of maple/oak variations in my untreated yard and have also wondered about adding them to the tank

The purpose of salt water is to get rid of any unwanted bugs, mold, bacteria, ect....The crabs will use the branches to climb on and will also eat the bark just like the leaves. I can't honestly give a for sure answer on being able to put it in green/fresh cut or dead/dried/seasoned, but my opinion is it should be ok either way. White Oak and Red Oak are not ok for the crabs but black oak is. Maple is the better option if you have it.

Are there strains of the maple tree that are not favorable for them?@laurie, what type of maple do you have/are you using? Idt I have black oaks here, just white and acorn oaks, whatever they are! I'm off to google photos!

You know what I have no clue.. They have huge leaves and they have eaten them now since 2009. I took the bark off before I soaked it, I have went the bug route before in bark and it wasn't killed by soaking in salt water and baking.Had me a tank full of bugs! Yes I have heard that they're types of maple that are not good but mine bMust be ok cause I have 2 that I use from 2009.