what are some safe real plants to use in crabitat?

[SHERRYCOOPER5]

I would like to add at least 1 real plant to my 10 gallon tank crabitat, but I don't know which ones are safe.

[Giner13]

I would like to add at least 1 real plant to my 10 gallon tank crabitat, but I don't know which ones are safe.

Try putting some Chia seeds in. They sprout right in the sub & my hermies love it!

[SHERRYCOOPER5]

Yes I saw the post on the forum about that but I'm wondering about a small type of Palm or something really full of leaves...

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[Giner13]

Yes I saw the post on the forum about that but I'm wondering about a small type of Palm or something really full of leaves...

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Ah I gotcha...I'm not sure myself as I'm fairly new. Maybe someone else will chime in!

[SHERRYCOOPER5]

I think I will do a little bit of chia seeds too : )

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[Rawrgeous]

I know spider plants are safe, but sadly, plants don't generally last very long in the crabitats for a variety of reasons- the main one being that the crabs will eat it, climb it, and tear it apart causing it to die. That is why most use chia in the tank, because it gives the oxygen benefits, the crabs love it, it's fresh food, it's pretty, and when they destroy it- no big deal, just sprinkle some more. I'm not saying don't put live plants in, I'm just saying keeping them alive may be difficult. Just use the safe foods list as a guide. I think some have successfully used pots and used net to protect roots from tunneling, but I'm not positive.

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[CallaLily]

Many crabbers have kept pothos with success. The crabs hang out in them but don't seem to eat them, though they'll probably still take a beating from being climbed on. But yeah, most plants they destroy pretty quickly. Whenever I see a thread pop up about live plants, I always think of Curious_Kitty.

Since the crabitat was built and after hermit crabs moved in, I've switched out three times- for the entire tat... when it came time to do fourth, I couldn't do more. I've spent too much $$$ to satisfy my vain for fresh plants in the crabitat, but after awhile, I started to feel like a fool for not accepting the simple fact- hermit crabs, simply, like to munch on anything green and edible. I tried to place the plants in strategic locations where I thought hermit crabs wasn't frequent. Wherever I placed the plants, my violas and strawberries went after it, and started it to eat them inside out. It gave me shivers whenever I saw violas heading straight for my favorite Broms,.......... they'd sit on top of it, and start to munch. I would occasionally interrupte their snack time whenever I spot them doing it, but went back for it as soon as I dropped them off. All of them........ my precioussssss plants... AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

After they've done their deed on my last fresh live plant sets in the tat, I gathered few ideas and headed off to local craft store and picked-up few realistic looking plastic plants. I thought I'd never see the day that I was going to have plastic plants in my home......but hermit crabs made me kneel on my knee with both my hands and legs up. I gave in.

soo here it is, my plastic plant galore.... in my crabitat. My misting system still turns on as it did before, and it helps to drench the plastic plants to make them dewy, and more realistic. sigh..
please... don't ask how much I spent on my live plants... its..... tooo painful.....
I dare my violas and strawberries to try and destroy my plastic plants. I can always go get more,, for much less $$$!!! eh HAHAHAHAHA

viewtopic.php?f=54&t=74449&start=225

You may get some ideas for safe plants there but just fair warning that whatever you go with may not survive for long. I think some crabbers have picked up a few plants to swap between to try to give the plants time to recover in between. Good luck.

[SHERRYCOOPER5]

Thanks for the humorous response-I guess I'm not alone in my desire for real plants in the crabitat! I will look into pothos plant and check out the safe foods list again for some possible ideas, and I do understand that whatever I put in there will probably be destroyed in time : )

[DragonsFly]

I had pothos growing happily all over our 55g for several years. I then "unwound" it off the climbing structures, cut it where I couldn't unwind it, and moved it to the 90g, where it lived again just great until last summer, when I had to be out of state for several months taking care of my parents and my husband didn't water the plant.

I recently posted in detail a kind of "how to" to get the most out of a pothos in the tank. I'll see if I can find it. .. .

Definitely, if you only want one plant, but a real plant, I'd say pothos is the one to start with--it will vine all over your climbing furniture, you can "train" it where you want it, and it will make auxiliary roots for itself in your substrate. It helps humidity, adds to cover and naturalness in the tank, and the crabs don't eat it. I've tried ferns, palms, bromeliads, and even an orchid, but only the pothos really lasted.

[DragonsFly]

Here's my how-to:


You can scatter some seeds (chia seeds are super easy) right on the moist EE substrate, and they will sprout. The crabs will eat the sprouts, very good for them. Of course, this isn't the same as growing long-term, established live plants, but it's a super-easy way to start.

I've grown live plants in my tanks for years. I could not get air plants to stay alive (you might; I don't know why they always failed for me). A couple of different kinds of fern species lived for a while, but always eventually browned out and died (possibly the "salt air"; not sure). I even tried a little orchid once, in a tiny pot attached to the side of the tank, but that didn't last very long at all.

What IS happy to grow in a crab tank? POTHOS. When I was gone for months last year taking care of my parents in Florida, my husband kept the crabs alive but never watered the plants, so they died, so I am bringing up new ones to put back into the tank. Here's what I do:

Buy small pothos from local Lowe's/Home Depot/anywhere that sells house plants (if you can find a source for truly organically-grown pothos, you could by-pass some of this, but even then, if it's been sitting near plants that HAVE been chemically treated, you still might be adding pesticide residue to the tank, so patience is key, anyway). I bought mine around Christmas, since I knew the crabs would likely be emerging from molt around now, and once they were all up, I could mess around in the substrate and put in new plants, etc.

Take the little pothos plants out of their pot (there will usually be several plants growing in one pot). Rinse the soil off their roots. Put them in a new pot, with organic potting soil. I separate them and put them on different sides of one really big pot, for convenience, but so I'll have two or three plants to put in the tank eventually. Let them grow in that pot, establishing more roots and processing out any pesticides, for about three months. I'm paranoid about chlorines, so I water them with bottled spring water. That's probably overkill for the whole three months, but I would definitely not use plain tap water for at least the last couple of weeks before you plan to put them in the tank.

To keep them safe while they establish in the tank, I buy small (either the 4 or 6 inches in diameter) terra cotta pots (you can get these cheap at Lowes/Home Depot, or at Hobby Lobby, which sometimes has sales on potting things and they are REALLY cheap then). For the 6-inch pot, the hole in the bottom is usually just about the right size to cram a cork from a wine bottle in to stop up the hole. For the smaller pot, I take some aquarium sealant and seal up the hole (do this outside, the fumes are highly toxic), then let it dry for several days outside to let the toxic fumes die (after several days it is fully "cured" and completely safe to use in your tank).

I use terra cotta pots because they are GREAT for slowly dispersing moisture (from watering the plant) into the surrounding substrate. I block the holes in the bottom because if you don't, then the amount of water you have to use to water the plant will flood the bottom of your tank (found that out the messy way!).

Once the pot is ready and the plant has processed out any pesticides (it has grown in organic soil for at least three months), pot the plant in your stopped-hole terra cotta pot with organic potting soil; make the top layer (about an inch or so) with your substrate right out of the tank. This helps discourage them from digging (because if you just have organic potting soil, they will REALLY be interested in digging in that different soil, and eating it!), but it isn't enough. I also find some creative way (different with each pot) to make a kind of grid over each pot, which the plants can grow out of, but the crabs can't fit through. For example, I put a plastic rocking horse I found in a flea market (I have a "whimsy" theme for my 90g) over one of the pots. The base of the rocking horse is made in such a way that it forms a grid between the slats of the base of it and the rim of the pot. I pull the plant's stem(s) up through holes in the grid. I previously rested a piece of heavy climbing decor on top of the rocking horse to keep it there, but this time I think I will just use zip ties to secure the rocking horse to the pot, so I don't have to put something on top of the horse if I don't want to. You can also make a grid by cutting larger holes in plastic needlework canvas for the plant's vines to come through, cutting it to fit the size of the pot, and cutting slits around the edge for zip ties to attach it to a zip tie ring about the pot (below the rim, there is always an indentation that you can use to put a zip tie "collar" under). Sorry I can't remember how to post pics here, I'm sure that would help. But the main idea is to make a kind of barrier to keep the crabs out of the pot, so the plant has its own little "safe space" to grow from, where its first, main roots are defended from digging.

After that, sink the pot into the substrate so the top is about level with the substrate around it. You can also just put it on top of the substrate if you like, and the terra cotta will disperse moisture into the air, but since the crabs cannot climb the terra cotta sides of the pot, if you do this you lose that space, in a way. I do have one pot like this in the 90g, but I have a cargo net strung over it so that they can visit that "level" (the top of the pot) if they want to. It also adds to the visual obstruction in the tank, which is good for them psychologically (they don't like feeling exposed), so if you have a big enough tank, that works, too. Sometimes I nestle a food shell in there; I try to vary where I put food so they have to be more active to find it (that's a basic environmental enrichment technique zoos use for captive animals; it may help them stay in somewhat better condition in their cramped captive situation).

So, either sink the pot or use it as a visual obstruction and possible small bit of "level." Then remember to water it now and then (use whatever fresh water you offer your crabs; remember that your tap water has chlorine in it so do NOT just use that). I often dump the dirty fresh water (or at least some of it) into the plants when I take it out to clean the water source. I figure the crab poop is fertilizer for the plants. Do not use your MSW; salt water will kill the plants. (Along that same train of thought, plant your plants near the freshwater/ "jungle" side of your tank, rather than right next to the MSW source.)

Then watch your real vines grow! Once they are nicely established, they will send out LONG vines all over the place. You can wrap them around your climbing structures, and they will quickly give you real leaf cover throughout your tank. Where they touch the substrate, they will send out roots, and some of them (if they find a place that isn't popular for the crabs to dig) will establish and strengthen the plant (EE with crab poop and the occasional spill of leftover worm castings makes pothos perfectly happy). Once they are happy growing in a tank, the only problem may be that now and then you have to pull some out because they are taking over. An additional good thing about live plants with roots in the substrate is that, if you do over-moisten the substrate by accident, they will help you absorb the spill. It's just a good thing in general to try to have as much of a dynamic, interactive mini-ecosystem (with both "producers" and "consumers") as you can, within your means and the parameters of the tank environment.

I don't know why the crabs do not eat the pothos; but they don't. Having live, healthy plants in your tank is SUPER for adding humidity to the air (they give off water vapor from their leaves), and of course helps to freshen the air and provide "live" oxygen for the crabs as well. I highly recommend it, it's worth the time and fiddly-ness. It not only makes their environment healthier ("live" O2, additional humidity, more leaf cover for less stress, more natural surroundings), but it's beautiful, too. Best wishes creating your own little living jungle for your crabs.

[jocelyndale]

They go mad for millet sprouts, too. At least mine do. Certainly not permanent decor, but fun.

[hprmom]

What other seeds besides chia and millet are good for sprouting in the tank? I'm half-sinking a 4" pot and thought I'd rotate between different sprouting seeds.

Re: pothos, I just saw Golden Pothos is on the unsafe/unpopular list! I almost picked up some pothos yesterday but I never liked the Golden so I left it. Good thing! It was the only kind at Lowe's so I'll look elsewhere. @DragonsFly, your how-to is so good I think I could manage it (I have a brown thumb!).

@sherrycoopers, re: a small palm, I saw this at Lowe's:


My tank is 24" tall and something like this would barely fit if I completely sink the pot. I couldn't find anything on the rate of growth, either. So I left it. I've been looking for a tiny artificial Palm but apparently they don't exist!

I also saw a tiny banana tree in a 4" pot on Amazon, but it grows up to 2 feet so I imagine by the time you go through the 3-month detox it would already be too big!


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[SHERRYCOOPER5]

Wow-thank you both for the ideas. I am limited with space in my 10 gallon crabitat, but eventually I will go bigger and I will be able to have more living plants, so I will keep all ideas in mind for future use. I like the Chia seeds , and I think I have a little corner by the water dishes that I can do that. I did get a clipping from my neighbor's huge Pothos plant and I am rooting it in spring water, of course. They grow and root so fast and am looking forward to using it in my crabitat, I will just have to clip back as it grows. Thanks for your advice on how to keep it growing and healthy within the crabitat : )

[DragonsFly]

Re: golden pothos on the unsafe/unpopular list--

remember that if something is "unpopular" that just means they don't eat it. Since you actually want this plant to grow and live in the tank, that's a good thing. I don't know whether there is something about golden pothos in particular, though, that actually makes it UNSAFE to be in there? Maybe somebody who does know the answer to that will happen by and let us know?

[aussieJJDude]

Just a quick heads up, most of the plants used in reptile terrariums should do well in hermit crabitats. I image that vines and creepers will do quite well.