New Owner trying keep crabs alive

[Flandry]

Cool. We'll add the rest of the substrate, then watch the temps for a bit. If things don't warm up, I'll add the second UTH.

I figured that was probably the deal with the crab. But being the first time I've seen it, I thought I'd ask. Of course I have no idea if the crab needs to molt. So I'm hoping the other crab stays up top.

When we got the crabs, we visited three other gift shops and ended up with seven shells to add to the tank. I've now identified them as three assorted turbo petholatus, two that I think are apple murex (conch-like but with more rounded openings), one that appears to be an african turbo and another green and moon snail-like. All have openings that are just a bit larger than the shells they're wearing now. Does this sound like a reasonable selection?

[DragonsFly]

I'm not sure why your temp would drop, but if you added cool substrate or cold water, that might be the reason. Or having the lid open too much, or for too long while messing around in the tank, could let heat out.

For a quick warm-up, if you have lamps with incandescent bulbs in them, you can just aim them at the tank for a while (it's amazing how much "green house effect" the glass walls of the tank produce with incandescent light). Just watch that it doesn't get too hot, and remember that your substrate will always take longer to warm than the air (so when you take the lamp/s away, temp is likely to drop a bit again for awhile), but once the substrate warms it will help to maintain the warmer temp. If I didn't already say this in this thread, pre-warming the water that you use to moisten the new substrate before you put it in will help raise the temp.

[DragonsFly]

Oh--re: shells. Once PP's have access to turbos, especially polished or semi-polished ones, that's pretty much all ours have ever even looked at. So it's fine to include the murex, the African snail, etc., but I would not count on them ever being worn (although yours could have different preferences, I suppose); also, if it were me, I would not count them (literally count them) in my overall total, or at least not count them as a "whole" shell in the "three extra shells per crab" count. And remember that it is opening size that determines the "size" of the shell, for crabbing purposes, not the overall size of the shell.

[Flandry]

I want to thank all of you for the great assistance you provided. I'm sorry I've been gone so long, but life came up with some major extra demands. Through it all, we've worked to maintain the crabitat and I'm very happy to say that with your help, our two hermits continue to clack and scrabble around. About a week after adding the shells, the larger crab swapped over to, you guessed it, the large turbo. The smaller crab then took the bigger crab's old shell.

Though both crabs get around, the smaller crab is shy and junkets down when we're around. The larger crab is bolder and is a big fan of excavating things. We've given them a large variety of natural foods and apples seem to be their favorite.

From the start, the big crab was a big eater, and spent large amounts of time at the food dish. The small crab seem quite frightened and would hide in a corner cave, only rarely moving. So when I couldn't find it one morning, I thought it had finally dug a burrow. But after days went by, I began to think it might have decided to molt. Then the big crab disappeared as well. I know I probably should be done something, but didn't realize what was happening and didn't think it wise to disturb them once I figured things out. For over a month we didn't see either of them. But we kept changing the food daily and the water twice weekly. We've also kept both the temperature and humidity at 80 degrees through misting.

Finally a week and a half ago, the smaller crab surfaced. Last night, the larger crab emerged. Both have darker, deeper reddish purple exoskeleton. Day before yesterday we added a small clump of moss from the yard (no pesticides) and the small crab spent the day hugging it for dear life. So yesterday we added a bowl of moss from the woods and both crabs love it.

My son really loves his crabs and is so happy to see them again. I've taught him how to make fresh and salt water and how to mist the tank. And though you couldn't pay my wife to pick one up, she's babies the crabs with a wide array food choices. I've become quite fond of them as well and marvel at how much personality they each display.

[mool]

Thanks for the wonderful update and happy crabbing!

[robinwhiskers]

Looks great! However, as others said I'd definitely increase the temperature and the humidity.

[PinchersAndShells]

Welcome to the HCA! You seem to be doing great as far as just getting started goes. Something you could plan down the road to boost humidity is get a small air pump and use tubes to connect them into airstones in your FW and SW pools, this will also save (some) of the headache of changing every other day.

[Flandry]

Thanks for chiming in! Based on all the advice, I decided to embark on a do-over and have set up a new 29 gallon tank. I've posted the details here.

Welcome to the HCA! You seem to be doing great as far as just getting started goes. Something you could plan down the road to boost humidity is get a small air pump and use tubes to connect them into airstones in your FW and SW pools, this will also save (some) of the headache of changing every other day.

I took your advice and added the pump and airstones. However, I'm getting a lot of condensation on the glass. how high should the humidity go? Without the bubbling, I'm around 82% humidity. With I'm getting close to 88%.

[PinchersAndShells]

Gang valves turn down the bubbles, so if you'd like to just do that that's possible, the one I have is about $5. Another thing you could do is just turn them off for a bit, or uncover part of your lid if you do that.

[Flandry]

I actually have a valve in the line and have the air dialed down as low as I can go and still get both stones to bubble. But starting last night, I increased the size of the air gap in the glass top and seem to be doing better. The humidity stayed around 82% for about a day and the condensation disappeared from the tank sides with the bubbler off. I've increased the gap some more and have the bubbler back on to see what happens.

[DragonsFly]

This was a long time ago, but just in case you are still experimenting, putting the pump on a timer is a cheap way to be able to easily regulate how much the pools are bubbling or not. Some crabs prefer to visit the water when it isn't bubbling, so having some times when it is off is good. Keeping lids closed usually aids in keeping both heat and humidity (AND crabs!) in the tank, too. So, can try timers.

Also, for reducing condensation and mold issues, having a small fan in the tank (also on a timer, so you can regulate how much it is on or off) is great. The crabs really love the moving air (ours will hang out sometimes on a climbing structure right in front of the blowing fan, as if letting the breeze "blow through their hair"). Considering that their natural habitats are tropical islands, where the air is virtually NEVER still, having a breeze blowing in the tank is bound to help their crabitat feel more natural and healthy to them, too.