New member, new crab owner!

[Tyler Durden]

Hey everybody! I'm Tyler. I'm really glad to be here...I spent a great deal of time researching the right way to set up my daughters tank but there's only so much you can learn without asking questions to people who know what they're doing.

I think I did a pretty good job on our setup. It's a 10 gallon glass terrarium. I have gravel and fresh water on one end, sand on the other. There's a waterfall to keep the water moving, and a small pond on one side with salt water. There's lots of places to hide and climb as well. I got a heating pad, a thermometer, a day/night light, and a little dish for food.

The problem, I believe, after finishing the tank...the sand is completely saturated in water. Much like at the beach. This didn't seem like an issue to me until I considered that they have to bury themselves. I assume they will drown if they bury themselves in fully saturated sand, right? Or just not do it at all. This is a problem (if my assumption is right) because that means I have to redo this whole setup!

Anyway, thanks for reading!

-TD

[Tyler Durden]

[soilentgringa]

Unfortunately, this setup isn’t appropriate for hermit crabs but it can be fixed with some tweaking.




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[soilentgringa]

Care Sheet: Basic Hermit Crab Care for All Species
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?share_ ... are_type=t

The care guides will help you find all the info you need to provide a great habitat for your crabs.


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[curlysister]

Like SG said, it's not appropriate. There are definitely some things that you will be able to use in a new set-up. But other things will need to be changed up ASAP.
In case you aren't on tapatalk, here's the link to look on a laptop or desk top computer:

http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... .php?f=120

[RiNiKy506]

The sand needs to be sandcastle consistency bc when they molt they need to be able to form caves. So yes you are right, you will have to change it. It does look cool, you did a great job if it was a little different. If you could seal the side so the water would stay on the one side, but then the tank is a little too small to do that with, you did a great job though. Read through the care guides, they are pretty sensitive creatures and need proper care.

[soilentgringa]

Like SG said, it's not appropriate. There are definitely some things that you will be able to use in a new set-up. But other things will need to be changed up ASAP.
In case you aren't on tapatalk, here's the link to look on a laptop or desk top computer:

http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... .php?f=120

Thank you! Tapatalk used to allow us to link directly to the page by copy/pasting the link from the appropriate forum within TT and now it creates a Tapatalk link.


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[curlysister]

Thank you! Tapatalk used to allow us to link directly to the page by copy/pasting the link from the appropriate forum within TT and now it creates a Tapatalk link.


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No problem! I am usually accessing this site on my laptop, so that's why I thought of it!

[Tyler Durden]

Oh man, I was really afraid of that. I spent weeks planning this enclosure and the better part of a day setting it up. Changing this up is going to be a big undertaking. Is the water level of the sand the only big issue you guys see?

[JoeHermits]

Three things that I notice right off the bat:

1. The sand should be at least six inches or three times the height of the tallest crab to protect them from each other while molting. What kind of sand are you using? Also, the amount of crabs a tank can carry is measured by the surface area of digging substrate. Your pool is significantly cutting into that.

2. The freshwater needs to be deep enough for the crabs to submerge themselves. Additionally, the fact that your sand is too wet could indicate that you either have a leak and/or the waterfall is splashing.

3. The saltwater needs to be deep enough for the crabs to submerge. Hermit crabs use both salt and freshwater to maintain their shell water, which is isotonic to their bodies. The sponge is unnecessary.


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[aussieJJDude]

2. The freshwater needs to be deep enough for the crabs to submerge themselves. Additionally, the fact that your sand is too wet could indicate that you either have a leak and/or the waterfall is splashing.

The freshwater pool is just seperate with a glass divider (looks like plexi) that hasn't been siliconed in. So it's very much leaking into the sand, since the water is basically the bottom couple of inches of the entire tank.


To the OP, I do agree with everyone above. It's a nice looking tank, however at that size of tank, unfortunately doesn't have the best setup for your crabs.

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[ROSIEonFIRE]

Hey Tyler! Welcome to the forum. I applaud your dedication to creating a suitable environment for your pets and you've definitely come to the right place. As I can see you have already experienced, this forum is full of extremely knowledgable people who are always happy to help people improve their standards of care. When I first set up my crabitat getting everything up to spec was a good deal of work (and there are still a few things on my to do list) but once you have just right I've found hermit crabs to be very fun and easy pets to care for. Welcome!


Additionally to what the others said, I just wanted to mention that the sand should be SILICA play sand (most ppl do about half play sand and half coconut fiber like bed a beast combo). The type they normally sell at the pet store is calcium sand and it is considered unsafe because when it gets wet it hardens like cement as it dries. Additionally it's also a really good medium for fungi/bacteria to grow. By the look fo that sand I'm guessing its calcium sand but u should check the label.

Also when you make the salt water pool, u need to use marine salt. This is a basic and cheap supply at any pet store with fish supplies. Just be careful to get MARINE salt, not aquarium salt. Instant ocean is a good brand. All water used in the tank should be dechlorinated using a dechlorinator.

I agree with the other posters that based on the size of your tank, you won't have enough space for such a big pool. The most important thing for land hermit crabs is to have plenty of space to bury themselves for a molt, as cannibalism by other crabs is one of the biggest dangers to crabs in captivity. But even if you have to abandon the beach look for the time being you can make a really cool looking crabitat without it! There are lots of pics of ppls tats on here u can view for inspiration. Additionally, u can always re try the beach/natural pool look in a future upgrade. Aussidude recently built a tat with a really nice built in pool and others have as well and have posted threads about how to do it.

Let us know how it goes and please let us know if you have any more questions!

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