eco earth

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kellyyyyyy.n
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eco earth

Post by kellyyyyyy.n » Sun Jul 14, 2019 1:07 am

i just got a new crabitat for my two hermit crabs and it’s in a 10 gal tank. before it was slightly in a smaller plastic tank i bought( not the ones they give you with gravel and stuff i actually went to a pet store and bought this) and i filled it up with sand and jungle wood bc i thought that it was good for them. then recently i changed it to eco earth coco fibers and it is moist but not too wet at all, but. my hermit crabs won’t dig down, and usually they do as much as they can like in the other cage. should i be worried? or is it normal for them to not want to bury themselves, in new and i need help, i heard that eco earth is really good for hermit crabs.

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curlysister
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Re: eco earth

Post by curlysister » Sun Jul 14, 2019 11:21 am

How deep is your substrate? Many of us use a mixture of EE and play sand. The play sand is cheap, usually sold in 50 pound bags at a hardware store. 5 parts play sand to 1 part EE is the most common mix, but other mixtures can be used. The sand helps hold the shape, and the EE helps hold the moisture.
What are your temperature and humidity?
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Schenk
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Re: eco earth

Post by Schenk » Sun Jul 14, 2019 1:43 pm

When you put a hermie in a fresh, new tank, they do not immediately dig. They check out their new surroundings first.

Make sure you have the substrate deep enough for them to dig down and create their tunnels.
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soilentgringa
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Re: eco earth

Post by soilentgringa » Sun Jul 14, 2019 2:52 pm

Schenk wrote:When you put a hermie in a fresh, new tank, they do not immediately dig. They check out their new surroundings first.

Make sure you have the substrate deep enough for them to dig down and create their tunnels.
Some do dig immediately because they haven’t had the opportunity to do so. It’s not uncommon at all for new to you crabs to disappear underground to molt within moments of getting placed into a new crabitat.


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kellyyyyyy.n
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Re: eco earth

Post by kellyyyyyy.n » Sun Jul 14, 2019 5:49 pm

my substrate is about 4-5 ish inches deep, and about 2-33 on one side of the tank with food and water. the humidity is around 80% and the temp is at 78 right now. i’m just a little worried bc when it was in a smaller cage they started digging down immediately and covered themselves and now in a bigger cage with better substrate they haven’t.

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curlysister
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Re: eco earth

Post by curlysister » Sun Jul 14, 2019 7:39 pm

Crabs are funny, they dig or not dig LOL. Your temp and humidity are good. Just give them some time.
Your substrate needs to be at least 6 inches, or three times as deep as your largest crab (whichever is deeper), through the whole tank.
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kellyyyyyy.n
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Re: eco earth

Post by kellyyyyyy.n » Sun Jul 14, 2019 9:42 pm

my hermies are really small so to them it probably feels like 6inches to them.

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