New Crabs Dug In, But Not Right Away??

[Gimpdiggity]

Okay, humidity may have actually been an issue.

After seeing the post last night, I ended up coming home from work and pulling my hygrometer from the crabitat. It showed 80% humidity, and I know the thermometer on it works because we had a bulb burn out the other day and in the hour it took us to get the bulb the temp dropped a good 10 degrees.

So anyway, I set it just out in the house and it dropped to 50%, which is about what the humidity in my house is set at...so I figured it must be working.

I put it back in the crabitat, and it stayed at that same 50%.

So, I'm wondering if my hygrometer has been leading me to think it's more humid in the tank than it actually has been. I've gone ahead and covered more of the mesh top with the lexan cover I made for it, and I'm going to let it sit like that to see if they hygrometer goes up at all.

I may end up having to look for a new hygrometer.

[Gimpdiggity]

Okay, I've been misting the last two nights and the hygrometer seems to be working.

I believe that it was stuck in the 80% position, and the humidity in the tank was actually much lower.

I've got a screen top, but I cut two pieces of Lexan (RC car body plastic sheets) to cover the screen completely, then I can slide them towards the middle just a bit to provide air flow. I've got the top pretty much entirely covered except for about one/third of an inch on each side for air to flow through the tank. The humidity is staying up around 75% now, and I can tell it's humid in there because when it gets to be night time the walls of the aquarium fog up a bit.

So, I think I'm back on track to keeping the humidity up...but I'm still going to look for another hygrometer as I now don't really trust this one.



Anyway...two of the crabs are back up!!!!!

They've been looking at shells, eating, climbing, and going in the water bowl the last couple of nights. The only one that's down now, I believe, is the one that went down well after the other two did. It's hard to tell because two of them are in basically the exact same shell, so I'm not sure which of those two is the one that has come back up.

I'm glad that they're starting to become a bit more active.

Last night I watched Smooth Crab (called this because it has a smooth shell) move into a different shell...then promptly move back into it's original shell. Funny.

[jclee]

Glad to hear that they're getting a bit more active with the humidity up. I'm always happy when there's something quick and easy that I can do to make my beasties happy.

I'm also glad to hear that I'm not the only one who gives her crabs nicknames based on the shells they're in. I have trouble differentiating, and so I've mostly given up, and instead, they get a revolving door of nicknames based on attitude and/or this week's shell of choice.

I can't guarantee that they're all reliable all the time, but I got a digital hygrometer on ebay for *incredibly* cheap, and it's done well by me so far. Might be something to look into, although I'm sure others will chime in with less positive experiences. No doubt, for the low cost, there's probably a high dud rate?

Keep the updates coming, and let us know when that third one pops out.