Calcium Substrate

[CandyBolts™]

I was reading up on molting to make sure I would be prepared and read that Calci-Sand® was not suitable for isolation tanks because it is preferred that sand is moist and perfect for sandcastles, and Calci-Sand® is organic and will go bad if it remains wet. When I purchased everything for my hermit crabs, the guy at the pet store told us that calcium sand was the best choice for hermit crabs. I'm using Reptilite™ calcium sand and on the bag it doesn't say anything about being organic or not. But we've already bought and used a lot of bags of the stuff and now I'm worried that it's not suitable and will go bad. Does anyone know if it's all calcium sands that will go bad? Or just that one type? I'm using the same substrate for my main tank as well and that's damp too. So should I let it dry out and get new substrate before dampening it again? Or do you think it's fine?

[Geranium]

Calcium sand is inappropriate because when it is wet to the proper consistency it can be come hard like cement and has apparently trapped some molting hermit crabs and more or less cemented legs of others. The recommendation is to use playsand, EcoEarth(coconut fiber) or a mixture. HC need calcium so as long as it isn't colored sand, you can use it in a dish as a supplement. They are also sensitive so dyes to colored sand is not a good plan. It's sad but true that the vast majority of petstore employees do not have the first clue about how to properly care for hermit crabs. There is a tons of really good information on this site, I would read everything pinned at the top of the Zoea section, here.

[finalfantasyxii]

I second everything Geranium just said! Calcium sand unfortunately is no good for substrate - even though they label it for hermit crabs and sell it as such. You will surely want to change it out asap. Go get a bag of play sand from Home Depo or something. You can get 50 lbs for 3 dollars, just make sure no holes in the bag, sand looks clean and dry, and (sounds weird) smell it - sometimes some of the bags have a smell like motor oil yuck! You don't have to bake it or anything! Just dump it in the tat and add some salt water to moisten to sand castle consistency. I love it it's like playing in the dirt in my house!! And if you want to add some EE that's good too, it helps keep up the humidity.

[jgfceit]

I agree with finalfantasy. The stuff in the pet store is like $5 for a pound, and Home DEpot is $3 for 50! I get the mason sand instead of the play, although there's really no noticeable difference. Since we're tiling the space between the garages, we got like 8 bags of this stuff, so now I have extra for the tank!

[Crabber85]

Calcium sand is actually one of the worst substrates you can use because it mold easily, doesn't retian water well thus allowing the water to pool at the bottom drowning burrowed or molting hermitcrabs, acts like cement when wet bonding limbs together and even trapping hermitcrabs in their shells while buried killing them and has a foul odor when it stays wet for too long.The dyes used to color the substrate are actually toxic to hermitcrabs even though they are not to us and the worst offender is the glow in the dark sand which is basically loaded down with irradiated(radio active) isotopes to make it glow which makes it extremely toxic and harmful to anything that touches it including us.Calci Sand and Reptile Sand which are essentially the same thing are on our no no list for substrates as they are completely unuseable.I highly recommend getting rid of the calci sand you have now and replacing it with regular play sand as soon as possible.