Substrate Problem

[suebee]

why just shy of sandcastle consistency? make it wet enough to make sand castles in but not so wet that you have puddles in the bottom.. how big is your biggest crab.. you want the substrate to be 3 time his height. I would make it a mix of 5 parts sand to one part coir also know as eco earth or coco nut fiber. You buy that in bricks in the pet store.. it swells up depending on how big your tank is you dont need much to mix in to the sand but a bit helps with the humidity. You can put press and seal or seran wrap over the screen lid and tape it down.. the tanks are not air tight and they crabs will get plenty of air.. you want to try to keep the tank as close to 80% humidity as possible at all times.. The top layer of sand does get a bit dryer then the rest but not to much the crabs should be able to burrow down to get to more humidity. you can read about different substrate choices here . http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... highlight=

The water dishes do not need sponges but you can leave the sponges in the tank to help with the humidity. The crabs will play with the sponges and also eat them make sure you have all natural sponges and not the ones some places sell shaped to look like a beach ball that are not natural sponge. People used to think that sponges brought a bacteria problem like kitchen sponges do but this has never been proven and many of us long time crabbers have used sponges with out problems for many years with no issues. You can spray your sand.. Moss will help you can add moss all around in side your tank here is a thread that tells you about moss and what mosses are safe viewtopic.php?t=74155&postdays=0&postor ... c&start=15
as long as the crabs can get in and out of the water dishes easy you dont need to have rocks or anything in them. The water dishes need to be deep enough for the crabs to be able to dip the shell bottom in so they can flush out the shell water inside the shell and clean out the inside of the shell as well as replenish the water they keep inside the shell.
Hope some of that helps! Blessings, sue

[sweetpea51]

Hi suebee! Thank you so much for responding. I know I have alot of questions, but we really want to make a safe home for our hermie. Especially due to Munchkin.

Do I need to take everything out of the crabitat to wet sand more? Probably good idea. When I mist the moss pit, should I wet the rest of the crabitat? Our humidity is running 70 - 80. We watch it but it will go down at night. Do we need a fogger or just mist maybe 3x a day & keep an eye on it?

Godzilla is about 1 1/4". We have 3 1/2" sand at deepest point (have a few different depths). We have a 20" long tank on a black stand. Will it take more weight from the sand? I still have another 15 or 20# in the bag. I can add more.

Its so hard when you try to do everything perfect! This is a far cry from the hermie in the little box that you get from the pet store....and so very much worth the effort! Who knew you could fall in love with these cute little creatures! I think we are hooked!

Thank you again for your response. Have a great evening.

[suebee]

ok so you need about 4 inches of sand and you have 3 now.. if you add some EE that is lighter then sand or you can add 1 more inch of sand. If its the wrought iron stands they are very strong.. water is aprox 8 lbs a gallon salt water more and they are made to hold fish stands. You can wet the sand from the top and yes wetting the rest of the tank when you wet the moss pit is fine.. I would try to use room temp water not cold water because if you use cold and you spray glass that is hot from a heater or lamp it could crack. hot to cold temp change crack.
Your humidity running 70%-80% is good. At night going down a bit is fine the temp is also fine if it goes down at night a bit.

If you can wet things with a spray bottle without taking them out of the tank then its fine.. all things in the tank should be water prof and fine if they get wet so all should be good.

Welcome to our addiction! I just got done adding over 60 photos to my face book page im making for crabbers..lol.. many of us have the addiction lol! Wait till you get into wanting different species! It never ends...if i missed something ask away! Sue

[sweetpea51]

Hi suebee,

Thank you for giving me so many answers! This definitely helps us alot! Am adding another inch of sand, wetting it down. Will get EE. What kind do you prefer? We usually go to PetSmart. Do I mix the EE into the sand or just put it on top? Can we get bugs w/EE? We're still learning.

Yes, I've thought about getting different species already! Just want to perfect the tank before I do. My daughter (11) was so upset about Munchkin, that I want to becareful not to overwhelm her.

Do I need an unde tank heater if my tank stays at 76 to 80? Wasn't sure we needed one or not.

Thank you again for answering all my questions! What are good species to get & where do I get them? Do you handle your crabs? She likes to pick them up & talk to them. They seem to like to walk from hand to hand. Is honey ok for them? I seem to come up with more questions every day.

Thank you again......have a great day & take care

[Silver Buttons]

I have about a 4-to-1 ratio of playsand to coconut fiber, and the crabs are all doing well with it. They definitely will drag ANY kind of substrate into their food and water dishes, however, even the deepest water dish. The soil sticks to their legs and shell, and washes off in the water. After a few days, there's always a thin layer of mud in the bottom and I have to rinse it out and give them clean water. I use seashells as their food dishes, and those always get dirt in them. Oh, well, in the wild, they eat whatever they find lying around, right? In fact, I sprinkle their dried krill directly onto the substrate so that they have to look for it. Whatever they don't eat, I just mix into the soil.

[sweetpea51]

Thank you for your response Silver Buttons. I've read that they really do drag the coconut fiber all over and into food and water dishes! Any substrate at all!

I have a habit of cleaning the water dishes everytime they get something in it. Will probably clean them alot more! We've been using a shell as a food dish, too. Its so much easier for the crab to crawl into. Last night she spent the whole night in her food dish!

We clean up after her when she drags food off of the shell, too. You can guess what our house looks like if we clean up right away after a crab. She is just such an adorable little thing!

Thank you again for your response. Have a good evening. Take care.

[suebee]

Zoomed Eco earth coconut fiber seems to be a good one. Mix it in, coconut fiber is high in acid and my studies show it will think the exoskeleton of the crab as well as dull it and dull the shells if its directly unmixed on the crab or the shell. mix it well. In my opinion honey is not safe unless mixed well with a dry food ill let you read this thread and make up your own opinion http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... highlight=
others have decided that their crabs can not do without it? ive found much safer alternatives for my crabs.
I too clean my dishes often.. i clean them daily. a bit of substrate in the water is not going to hurt them. I would not let them bury the foods to much , you dont want to find some moldy foods rotting later, thats just nasty.. i try to keep tract of meats that i put in the tank and take them out before i see them carried off. some dry foods will be fine. Last night mine had a chicken wing and they did think that they could drag it off but no, i was not going to have that happen..lol.. The freeze dried foods like i sell in the hermit crab dollar store im not worried about as much as a chicken wing.. for some reason they thought the were going to be able to hide that baby..
whoops i almost forgot the heater question..you only need a heater if the temp starts to not be warm enough you want to shoot for around 80* and its ok for it to dip at night a bit. If your temp is stable with out a heater then you wont need one.. if you get a under the tank heater dont put it under the tank, the deep sand makes it inefficient there use it on the back of the tank.

[sweetpea51]

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it very much as its a work in progress. We found zoo med hermit soil at Petco & PetSmart. It is compressed/expandable coconut fiber. Is this the right one? Also, found the honey link, too, last night! How interesting the responses were! Will have to look at bee pollen & re-read thread about dollar store. Honey will just need to be used in my tea from now on.

A chicken wing!!! Oh My Goodness!!! How long did you leave it in there? Did they eat alot? WOW!!!

The temp is usually about 78 or 80*. If I use a uth, I'll attach to back of tank as suggested. Thank you.

Am going to look for hinged plexiglass lid. Would like to keep in humidity when moving things in tank. Not sure where to find it, but will keep looking. Humidity was down to 50 when we woke up this morning at 6. We had last sprayed the tank at 12 am. Once we get all this situated, I'm sure we will be able to sit back a bit and enjoy the view more.

Thank you again for the response....have a great day and take care.

[suebee]

Well i put one chicken wing in each tank and each tank made a good dent in their chicken wing. I feed about 5:30 each night and i took them out before i want to bed at 1:30 am that night.. superbowl kept me up late and i had writing to do. The tank with the violas did the best job.. they even had the bone split open and were eating the marrow..Each tank the wing had moved to the back where they were all working together to hide it..
for the humidity, moss will help..you can soak the moss in warm declorinated water and then put a layer around the bottom of one side or in one corner of the tank.. I usually do one side and then i put my extra shells on top of it to keep my shells clean from the sand. The crabs munch on the moss and i end up having to add more moss about ever other week. I buy the beaked moss showen here http://www.hermitcrabpatch.com/SearchRe ... earch=moss
or i get Sphagnum moss in the flower section of home depot or lows just dont get the Sphagnum peat moss that is not safe.
You can put seran wrap or press and seal taped to the top of your tank. I like the tempered glass hot plate cutting boards set on top of mine, they dont crack when dropped or when the lamp gets hot on them and they help hold in humidity well. I got mine at a local thrift shop.
Your temp sounds great.
You can prob get plexi glass cut at lows or home depot you might have to add a hinge yourself.
one step at a time then yes its fun to sit back and watch! relaxing..

[saramuss]

i do about 50/50 play sand/coco fiber. also ive moded my tank so that the "beach" area is all rocks, and that seemed to stop the excess fiber in the pools.

[sweetpea51]

Now tell me.....was this raw or baked or fried (clogged arteries)? It sounds incredible that they were eating the marrow. I didn't think they would have enough strength to crack a bone! OMGosh! Wait til I tell Susie (my 11 yr old) about this. She has become addicted to crabs & this site. She is learning so much in such a short time. Wish she was like that with schoolwork! It sounds like the herd was trying to hide it so you would forget about it. I'm using exo terra forest moss. Just finished the tank. Put in more sand. Really wet it down but not puddles. Seems pretty wet, almost like concrete wetness. Added eco earth. Got the block. Put it in the sink, soaked it! Makes so much. Next time get the bagged stuff? I put in about 2 cups worth. When its wet, it has an acidic smell. Very strong. Mixed it in very well throughout the sand. It darkens the sand. I'm used to the white calci-sand w/pink so that was really bright; and very dry. Put in new moss, cleaned dishes, gave fresh food. I have a cholla branch that someone said to nuc for 2 minutes. So I tried and it started to smoke at 45 secs! It does have a discolored ring around the base. Can I still put it in the tank? Would that be okay to just run it under extremely hot water to clean it? So many questions. Sorry. Humidity only at 60 as yet. Everything wet & new. I know it takes time to get up there but I get anxious. If we lose this one Susie will be so upset. This is getting awfully long. Will watch & see. Take care & thank you again for all the help.

[suebee]

saramuss, id make sure the rocks are all to big to slip into the shell of the crabs and cause it any harm. As long as they are all bigger rocks or stones it sounds like a good idea.

Next time get the bagged stuff? - no the baged stuff is bigger hunks and not as smooth.. it can give the crabs splinters, what you bought is the right stuff. You can just dry out the extra and keep it in case you need it later..
Your right on with the acid smell, its very strong.
One of our members did some interesting tests on the coconut fiber in this thread here http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... ht=#704403
There is alot for your daughter to learn about the crabs.
she may love this site here where you can see different types of crabs http://coenobitaspecies.com/cavipes.htm
As long as wen you stick a pencil or something to the bottom of the tank and you dont see water pool your substrate is good. you dont want it so wet that your going to flood any molters. Just wet enough to make sand castles.

As for the wings they were baked. We use sea salt so they had a bit of sea salt and black pepper on them. The crabs love them..
Violas are very strong..My friend got Lots of stitches from a jumbo viola.
Violas are pretty but really i wouldnt get them for small children.. The claws of them are made to rip apart things. Very strong lots of mussel and big teeth in the Big pincher. This is welches one of my violas in the face book page for crabbers that im working on.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... 0417674955

[suebee]

i forgot the choya wood is fine just under hot water! then let it air dry..

[sweetpea51]

Thank you for the suggestion of the beach! That sounds like a great idea & I do have larger stones. I appreciate the input. That was something that I hadn't thought of! Thank you. I will definitely stay with the brick. Boy, does it make ALOT! We live in an apt, so we don't have alot of storage. Where there is a will, there is a way! I only used a little bit-about 2 cups or so. Was worried about the acidity. Will this work or should I do more? Have about 40# in the tank! If I need more, let me know. Pretty wet, but no puddles. This is so different from the calci-sand! She is very excited about going to the thread to see different crabs! She didn't realize they could be so strong! Baked chicken sounds good! No wonder they like it! And trying to hide it from you! How neat! Thanks for the info on the cholla. It did have a ring of brown from the nuking. Can we still use it? Thank you for the response about everything! I really do appreciate all of the help and input! I know it is time consuming to get it all down for us. Thank you for helping us! We are still a bit worried about this hermie & have taken up watching her all the time. She has rediscovered her salt water dish and is spending alot of time around it. I rearranged things just a little bit & I think she is getting her bearings! Pretty cool!! Thank you again & take care. Have a good evening.

[suebee]

sweetpea asked "Will this work or should I do more? Have about 40# in the tank! If I need more, let me know. " Im not sure what you mean by that?

To little coconut fiber is fine. some people use all sand. Your slightly cooked choya wood is fine!