Crabitat Review

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Sean Risley
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2014 6:08 am

Crabitat Review

Post by Sean Risley » Thu Nov 13, 2014 2:43 pm

It’s been a couple months since I've had these critters, and since I joined the forum in search of insight. I've received a lot of great advice that may have even saved my crab's lives. Now that I've taken that advice, I'm looking to get a final review to make sure the environment is top of the line. The conditions are as follows:

Substrate is Eco Earth, roughly 6" deep, which is 2x my largest crab's height, maybe 3x with some generous estimates.
Fluker's Hermit Crab thermometer/hydrometer typically reads 80%+ humidity and almost always 80 degrees. A 40 watt lamp provides extra heat when needed, but the room is usually 80 degrees.
Fresh and Salt water are provided in two 1" deep pools roughly 3"x2" in dimensions. Water is treated with Zilla Water Conditioner, which says it neutralizes chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals and detoxifies ammonia. Salt is Instant Ocean, mixed as directed by the box with 1/2 cup per gallon.
Food is changed every other day and usually includes dried shrimp, dried coconut, fish flakes, crackers, lettuce and plain fruits and meats when I can get them. Tank is resupplied with water and old food is removed at this time as well.
All crabs are Caribbean PPs, four in total. One is moderately large, one is medium and two are small. The habitat is a fifteen gallon Aqueon fish aquarium. Eleven Turbo shells are provided, some gold mouthed, some silver. Each crab has at least 3 shells of their size to choose from. Three natural sea sponges about 1" cubed in size are placed in a small water dish and microwaved biweekly for cleaning.
Habitat has two cork logs, a small fake plant, various rocks and moss. As shown:

Depth (black bottom piece is almost exactly 1" tall for scale):
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Water, moss and fake plant:
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Shells piled next to cork log:
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Sponges to the left, lettuce in center and crabs currently hiding in their favorite log:
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That covers pretty much everything. I spent quite a while researching and shopping around to get the best products and keep my little colony happy.
PP: Cave, Willow, Felix, Lola

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KellyCrabbieLove
Posts: 2635
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2014 9:51 am
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana

Re: Crabitat Review

Post by KellyCrabbieLove » Thu Nov 13, 2014 5:07 pm

Substrate should be 3x the height of largest crab and if they are small it should be no less than 6 inches. While some use only EE it is widely agreed upon that a mix of EE works better for molting.5 parts sand to 1 part EE.

You.will want to make sure that your water pools are deep enough that even your largest can submerge in it..:)

Ditch the sponges if you can. They are nasty bacteria breeders. *shudder*

I HOPE I HELPED! :)
#1 rule of crabbing - crabs are weird.
#2 rule of crabbing - see above

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CrazyCrab12
Posts: 202
Joined: Fri Aug 02, 2013 1:05 pm

Re: Crabitat Review

Post by CrazyCrab12 » Sat Nov 15, 2014 10:14 pm

I agree that a little more substrate could help(the more the better) and mixing it 5 parts sand to 1 part EE seems to be the best ratio to most. Your tat does look fantastic though and it has come a long way.
Buy a custom portrait of your crab!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChatfieldPetPortrait

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