curlysister wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2019 10:44 pmI will chime in here with some of my own opinions. I have had my two crabs (Sonny and Cher) for 9 years now. Started with a 10 gallon, then 20 gallon (both with saran wrap lids), and now have a nice 55 gallon that has a plexiglass lid that was given to me. I am pretty casual about some things with my crabs. I don't keep track of what I feed them when, or what they are eating/ drinking/ getting ready to molt, or even what day they disappear under the substrate.
I don't have calipers or a sizing mat - I try to measure the shell openings using a clear plastic ruler. Which can be interesting when they are actually in the shell, LOL. I figure the substrate should be at least 3 times as deep as my biggest crab's height if I look at him from the side. When I am going to add something plastic to the tank, I clean it with a vinegar and water mix, then rinse it with my fresh water (I use Reverse Osmosis water, which is equivalent to dechlor fresh water). If something can be boiled (ie - shells), I boil in the RO water. I have soaked wood items in salt water then baked in the oven (can't remember the exact time or temp, I think I found it on this site somewhere).
When I mixed my substrate (I use the 5 parts play sand to 1 part EE mix), I used the RO water because I didn't know any different. The reason some people use salt water is to decrease the chance of bacteria growing. Same reason to treat things like wood and hemp rope or netting, to prevent mold growth. The surface mold on things like that isn't harmful to the crabs, but some people can be allergic or sensitive to it.
To answer your questions:
1 - Can be one or can be multiple bowls, there is no right or wrong. Sometimes I put leaf litter or calcium in a separate bowl because it lasts longer than the other foods, and I can leave it in longer. Food can be separated or can be mixed together. Raw or cooked. Cut up or whole.
2 - See my estimating method above, LOL. There is more info about sizing in one of the care sheets.
3 - TV etc won't bother them. I have never been really specific with my light and dark times. I do not use a light source at all. My crabs are in my sewing room upstairs, which has a window. They get the number of hours of daylight and night time as per the seasons, so it does vary (I live in central Canada). I sew in the evenings in winter, so they have the room light. I would not recommend over thinking it, LOL.
Hope some of that helps!
Is it okay if I ask a follow up question even though I didn't start the thread? I don't mean to hijack at all but it came up here so maybe all 3 of us could benefit from hearing what you have to say about what kind of water you should spray your tank with if you need to up your humidity? I thought I read that you should spray anything going in the tank with salt water (I do use all of the cleaning/ sanitizing methods you described for new items going in or would do it that way for cleaning) but my new friend on here Kydra mentioned shed noticed a mineral film, then while looking for the information that said its good to add as much salt in ways you can like spraying, cleaning, ect, I ran into two posts regarding spray bottle water- one said don't use salt because it can build up and become dangerous to the crabs which was alarming ( I don't spray often my humidity is pretty stable) I have the link for that above, and then this one
viewtopic.php?f=127&t=120613
Is this a clean cut thing? Should I ditch the salt spray bottle? Salt water sounds good for no bacteria but why could it be dangerous? Sorry trying to go back into the archives and I've searched in the finder and didn't find much more than the two links.
thank you for your time and help!
. The username is actually the names of my two crabs combined into one.
