It was months before I could even disassemble the crabitat. I was gutted. I had these little guys for about 2 yrs and to watch them die was really hard. I looked for clues.
Some posited it might be bc I didn't give them enough protein by way of red meat. But between the eggs, worms and weekly fish/shrimp/tofu and occasionally chicken on top of a wide variety of fresh fruits, veg, nuts and leaf matter, Im not sure that was diet. But I'm no expert. My thoughts then turned to my light source.
I was using a zoomed 10 UVB- 13w CFC that I had on for 10-12 hours a day + ambient light.strsing through to the sub no plastic or glass between. If that bulb was faulty, is it possible they didn't get essental minerals bc the light wasn't strong enough? Sometimes one or two of my boys would hang upside down on the grate, I used to think they just were basking. Maybe they weren't getting enough light?
I also found trace amounts of rusty grate in some places of substrate. When my screen lid disingrated, I covered it with plastic crafting canvas, but occasionally Id find some rust. I picked it out as I was house cleaning. I read that once it was believed rust was very dangerous but that has been shown to not be bad. And it was never in the food or water dishes.
I still have an empty 40B w all the trimmings. I was planning on scraping 2" of sub off and tossing it out. Sterilizing the rest and reassembling the tat.
But I'm afraid. Afraid of subjecting another group to the awful end of streaking and evental death.
My ER template is probably still active if you're interested. I miss being a Crab Mater but I'd like to make sure I never have a incident of losing 3 souls again.
Any advice or anticdotes would be great. Thanks for reading.
CM
