Setting up my first crabitat

rryan0604 · Post by **rryan0604** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 2:31 am

I've been wanting hermies for a long time now, and spent the past 2 months seriously researching everything they need.
I found a large glass aquarium left from the previous renters in my new trailer, and figured I could use that as the crabitat.
I've already cleaned it out, and put in 6 inches worth of EE.
I have a small Under tank heater attacked to the back of the tank.
I have a thermometer and hydrometer installed in the tank. I have 2 small water dishes (will be getting bigger ones soon, cholla wood.

I still haven't purchased any hidey huts or plants- That will be bought with my next check.
I have a mixed assortment of shells coming from Naples.

I'm planning to get the crabitat all set up and stable before bringing in my new "babies".

Does anyone have any suggestions on other things I absolutely should not go without? I am planning to get 3 PP.

The tank has the standard aquarium hood light top. Would this be okay or should I replace it with something else?
Should I buy heat lamps for day and night or an extra UTH if the current set up doesn't get warm enough?

Post by **aussieJJDude** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 4:54 am

Wow, great to see that you did your research before getting some crabs. That that, I applaud you!
Sometimes pics speak louder than words.

I sure we all love to see some pics of your crabitat, plus we can see exactly what your tank looks like! However, you listed all the basics. The only thing i would suggest is:
- Second levels
- Moss pits
- sand, it often better to do a mix as it simulated a wild hermit crab habitat. However it is understandable if you want to use straight EE.

Using heat bulbs is a personal choice, however anything under 20g is pointless IMO. with 20g tanks and minus, it often cheaper to use a UTH & a heat bulb will dry out the tank (= unstable humidity, which you don't want). Using the rule of thumb, get a UTH(s) that can cover the entire back wall of the tank, however no part of the UTH should be under the sand (and inch or two is fine however).

rryan0604 · Post by **rryan0604** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 12:07 pm

OK! First mistake found- my UTH is tiny... 6x4 inches... not nearly big enough. looks like I'll be going with a heat lamp instead!

rryan0604 · Post by **rryan0604** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 5:53 pm

Hopefully the link worked.
This is the crabitat so far. I still need to figure out how to add in a second level. But the moss pit is there, the new heater is up and running. Just waiting on the shipment from Naples for the shell shop then I'll br ready to bring home some crabbies!

rryan0604 · Post by **rryan0604** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 8:35 pm

well, maybe not quite ready yet. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong for the heat and humidity. heat isn't getting over 70, and humidity is at 30! Helps???

hermitcrabdc · Post by **hermitcrabdc** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 9:26 pm

If you are having trouble with humidity you may want to try and calibrate your humidity gauge. Sometimes humidity gauges are off (mine is off by 5%) This link shows you how to calibrate one http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 26&t=92540
Off memory the kind of gauge you have can be inaccurate sometimes, but calibrating would definitely help determine the accuracy of you gauge.
Also do you spray your tank at all?

moonbeam · Post by **moonbeam** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 9:32 pm

aussieJJDude wrote: Using heat bulbs is a personal choice, however anything under 20g is pointless IMO. with 20g tanks and minus, it often cheaper to use a UTH & a heat bulb will dry out the tank (= unstable humidity, which you don't want). Using the rule of thumb, get a UTH(s) that can cover the entire back wall of the tank, however no part of the UTH should be under the sand (and inch or two is fine however).

I think this is pretty good advice. Don't have any experience with heat lamps (other than one which shorted out after two weeks) but I have read that they can lower humidity. UTHs are my favorite heat source. You can buy one at a pet store or you can order an ultratherm (brand of UTH, a lot of us swear by them) online. Our shopping resources have two places you can order them from. I absolutely love mine. The easiest way I've found to figure out what size you need is to measure the back of your tank (in inches) length and height above the substrate line. Example, the back of my tank is 48" long and I had about 10" of height between the top of my tank and the substrate line so I got a 48x11 ultratherm.

If you do decide to get a heat lamp, there are some ways to increase humidity (and you can do these even if you don't get a heat lamp). Bigger pools, bubblers in the pools, moss pits, humidifiers/foggers (not sure which is better, never used either) and spraying dechlorinated water in the tank are all ways you can increase your humidity levels.

Also if you haven't done so already, try calibrating your hygrometer. A lot of times they're not accurate and just need an adjustment. I'll link after I post.

Congrats on setting up for your hermies and kudos to you for doing all of your research and gather ahead of time! Welcome to HCA and let us know if there's anything else we can help you with!

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ETA: OMG I'm a total goof. I put my phone down for something and completely forgot to link it! I'm sorry

here it is (but I'm guessing you've already found it) viewtopic.php?t=92540

rryan0604 · Post by **rryan0604** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 10:37 pm

I haven't been misting at all. Didn't think I would need to with the moist EE and the moss pit. Calibrating my hydrometer now.

Crabinski · Post by **Crabinski** » Tue Nov 25, 2014 12:40 am

An easy way to create second levels is with suction cup plastic soap dishes or shower caddies. My shell shop is raised several inches above the substrate in a soap dish and the moss pit is also suspended. I use either a small branch or a store-bought crab climbing stick (looks like a small piece of brightly colored resin cholla) to give the hermies access to those levels. For variety, you can add plastic vines (the el cheapo variety found in dollar stores) for climbing, also using suction cups. Jazzing up the crabitat is a great deal of fun so hopefully the crabbies enjoy the results.

rryan0604 · Post by **rryan0604** » Tue Nov 25, 2014 3:31 am

See in the pic where I had my gauges?... after pulling them out to calibrate, I moved them to where they are about an inch above the substrate... WOW, what a difference that made! I'm at 75/85 now!

Post by **aussieJJDude** » Tue Nov 25, 2014 4:18 am

So the humidity is all good now! Since it is getting closer to winter, it may be worth mentioning that you might need to insulate the tank.

The pools in your tank look a bit shallow, a good starting depth of a pool is 2 inches of a water for a small crab, for jumbos (which I don't think you get

but anyway) a depth of 4 inch is more appropriate.
Otherwise, the tank looks great, Adding some more climbing structure will great add some more space & use some of that unusable space thats floating above!

rryan0604 · Post by **rryan0604** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 12:41 pm

Yesterday I decided since the conditions were right, I would get some crabs. I went to petsmart, and they had a decent set up there- thick substrate, moss, lots of hiding places. I was really impressed with the way they had them, especially after seeing the poor crabs at petco (No water at all, just a dusting of sand at the bottom of the tank, nothing to hide in.) So I got 4 little guys.

Last night, one of the crabs changed shells.

This morning, I can find only 2 of the crabs. The shell-swapper has disappeared with his new treasure, and one of the others is MIA, assuming they dug down to de-stress.
Crabby 3 is happily hiding in the plant near the center rear of the tank. while "Muriel" (The only one that came in a Murex shell) is exploring the crabitat.

It doesn't look like anyone touched the salmon, oats, honey and cuttlebone powder I put out last night. How long should I leave their food before swapping it out?

Teedeums · Post by **Teedeums** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 1:01 pm

Depends on the type. Perishables should really be swapped out after twelve hours (or twenty-four, that is what I do), but you can leave out that cuttlebone powder for a while. Also sticky things shouldn't be left out for to long, never more then a day and a half, because most of them harden and attach themselves to the bowl.

And congrats on your four new additions! If you want to see if they go in the bowl, try smoothing out the sand around it, if they do it will become all rumpled, crabbies can't seem to keep anything neat

.

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Crabinski · Post by **Crabinski** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 2:31 pm

rryan0604 wrote: It doesn't look like anyone touched the salmon, oats, honey and cuttlebone powder I put out last night. How long should I leave their food before swapping it out?

I feed my guys both dry and fresh foods. The dry food is a homemade mixture of freeze-dried shrimp, freeze-dried mealworms, grains and egg shells, all powdered in a mortar and pestle. There is always a small dish of this mix in the tank as a few of my guys tend to be active during the day. Every other day, I'll put in a second small dish with fruit, veggies, shredded coconut and a bit of cooked chicken or raw shrimp. That goes in in the evening and comes out in the morning, essentially giving them 12 hours to pick at it. Yesterday I put in some avocado with shredded coconut and it took several hours before Big Enzo came over to eat. New little guy PakyRaku probably ate a bit, too, but he's so small it hardly makes a dent in the food

Since I only have 2 of the 5 crabs up right now, I'm offering smaller portions in both bowls.

rryan0604 · Post by **rryan0604** » Wed Nov 26, 2014 2:55 pm

Okay, sounds great.

I think they've all gone under now. I can't see any of them anymore, and I don't want to dig in there to look for them. I don't see any tunnels or where they could have gone under at. I figure as long as I don't smell dead fish, I'll just leave everything be.
I swapped out the food for all dry stuff now that I can leave in there longer. I'm trying really hard not to be worried about them not eating or drinking.

HCA: Hermit Crab Association