Newbie with question about substrate

Charliekilo · Post by **Charliekilo** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:34 am

Hi everyone! I just got my first hermit, called Carey, and have plans to get at least one more now that I found out they are so social! I purchased some hermit crab sand from the pet store to get me started and I just got a tank from a friend which has a fine white sand in it. They said it was from their lizard, I think they said "incubation sand". It is finer than the sand I bought. Is it ok for my hermie or is it too fine and will be harmful?

Amanda2 · Post by **Amanda2** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:41 am

Welcome to the community. Well it sounds like it may be calci sand and that clumps and cakes on moisture. Also I would recommend using regular playsand from the hardware store because it's cheaper and you need it to be sand castle consistency which play sand achieves well ( obviously ) any more questions I will be glad to answer!

Charliekilo · Post by **Charliekilo** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:47 am

What about if I put it on the bottom to enhance humidity? My tank is pretty small, just 8 gallons.

Amanda2 · Post by **Amanda2** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:57 am

That would probably be ok as long as u put play sand on top of it. Also if ur just trying to enhance humidity since ur tank is small I think spritzing it would do the trick

Charliekilo · Post by **Charliekilo** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 12:01 pm

Brilliant! Thanks for your help. I love this forum!

Amanda2 · Post by **Amanda2** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 12:08 pm

You are so welcome, that's what we're here for.Ps if you want more info the archives is a great place to look

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 12:34 pm

Hi and so sorry for the delay, I'm on a shared computer so I don't always have access to it unfortunately.Yes the two kinds of sand you have are calci sand and repti-sand(the finer grained white sand)which is technically the same thing as calci sand the sand itself has been ground down further to a more powdery consistency and neither one of them are ideal substrates or safe for hermitcrab use as substrates because they do tend to brick when wet as stated in the previous post.You can however use these sands mixed in with regular play sand or even eco earth or jungle bedding if you don't want to waste them.The repti sand and calci sand wont do as well with keeping the humidity up in your enclosure as regular play sand will and you must hydrate the sand to sandcastle consistency so that the crabs can tunnel and form molting pockets in it, if its too wet or too dry the tunnels and pockets wont hold shape and will collapse on the crabs which is an entrapment risk for the poor crabs.Your tank size is almost what the absolute minimum is which would be ten gallons anything smaller and theres just not enough space for the salt water dish, fresh water dish, food dish, climbing decor, hiding decor, extra shells, the crabs themselves and still have space for the crabs to move around in.If I may ask what kind of lid are you using if any at all?With a proper lid and sand mixed to sandcastle consistency the substrate should be the only thing you need to keep the humidity regulated.Do you have a temp and humidity gauge mounted in the enclosure so that you can readily and accurately keep track of both parameters? If you don't already have a dual gauge that monitors both parameters then you'll definitely need to go get one from the pet store as hermitcrabs breath through modified or fixed gills that act as lungs allowing them to breath in air like we do and they can only function in a humid environment if the air in the enclosure is too dry this can lead to damage of the gill structure or membrane and this damage is non-reversible unfortunately and greatly impacts the crabs overall health and shortens its prospective life span considerably therefor a humidity level of at least seventy percent is required with a maximum value of eighty-five percent to allow for proper unhindered gill function.What are you using for heat? Heat pad, Heat bulb or just your central heating and air?Keeping the tank between seventy-five and eighty-five degrees is crucial to keeping the crab healthy as cooler temps adversely effect the crabs digestive system and generally slow them down and if exposed for long periods of time ie weeks or months this can lead to the crab slowing down becoming lethargic and succumbing to a kind of lethargy called Hyper Sleep and when this stage of lethargy sets in its almost impossible to bring the crab out if and most crabs who succumb to it don't make it unfortunately.I'll let you digest this lot and if you have anymore questions please feel free to ask and please don't think I'm harassing you or putting you down we all started somewhere.

Charliekilo · Post by **Charliekilo** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 12:46 pm

Thanks for that, very helpful. The tank has a heating pad underneath as it was used forma lizard. I will take your advice on the finer sand on board, thanks for the clarification. I known the tank isn't ideal but its a place to start. There is no lid that came with it so I was going to put a board or something over it for now.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 12:59 pm

Your welcome for the info glad to help, one point though the pad needs to be moved to either the back or side of the tank as bottom mounting a uth pad is actually very dangerous for hermitcrabs which very few people know since the uth manufacturer doesn't take this into account in the mounting instructions, since they require a depth of six inches of damp substrate the substrate tends to act as a natural insulating barrier which traps the heat the pad generates causing it to build up to well over one-hundred degrees which often results in the glass shattering or burrowed hermitcrabs being overheated ie cooked alive, they can't feel heat the way they do and will allow themselves to be burnt or cooked as a result.For this reason back or side mounting the pad is the only safe way to use them and because its a much less efficient way of using the pad the pad then has to be sized up to three times the recommended size so for a ten gallon you'd need a pad rated for a thirty gallon tank to achieve the right heat output to keep the tank properly regulated.I'd venture a guess to say that the current pad that the tank came with is actually rated for a tank exactly the size of what its on so it won't generate near enough heat to keep the tank warm anyway so if you don't want to try to peel it off without breaking it which is very delicate work you can just unplug it and put a new accurately sized pad on the back or side pane.For a tank of approximately eight gallons a lid may not have ever been included with the tank when it was new because of its odd size which means finding a suitable replacement will be difficult so you might be able to get away with using some Glad's Press and Seal or Saran Wrap stretched across the top you can then sit a small fluorescent light over the top and have it shine down through for basic lighting purposes.The Saran Wrap method is very cheap and tends to work well you may need to play around with how much of the top is covered to keep the humidity level under control.

Laurie LeAnn · Post by **Laurie LeAnn** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 5:27 pm

Ask around & put the word out you looking for a 29 - 30 gal tank. People have them in their basements just collecting dust! If you have facebook put the word out, put signs up in pet stores. You will be so much happier. Use that calci sand as a snack for your crabs, put some in a dish.

Tongue Flicker · Post by **Tongue Flicker** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 2:24 pm

Hey charlie welcome aboard!