Exotic Land Hermit Crab Paradise for Crabs

[SachOfSCP]

Well, it all sounds very awesome as well as awe-inspiring and can't wait to be able to see the site when it's back up.

[aquav]

I have a question about the substrate ratio. I am always looking for ways to improve the crabitat. However, this substrate ratio puzzles me. Different species of C. live in different areas, some hardly ever see the ocean, except to deposit their eggs for example. Different areas have different substrate in nature. The closer to the beach you get, the more sand there will be of course.
How can a crab that spends most of its time more inland in the forest, not be fine with substrate that mirrors the natural habitat, meaning more EE than sand? What is the reasoning for the higher sand amount?
Is the distance they travel in nature maybe not really big enough to make that much of a difference in soil composition?

By the way, it sounds like you guys had an experience of a lifetime!!!
Your description makes me want to place my next order with him.
I would love to see pictures as well, but I understand why you don't want to post them. I think it is a loss though for all of us that are not as fortunate as you two have been and are not able to visit. There are many people here that just want to make the hermies feel as good as they can, and I think seeing a set up like what you are describing, could help many of us.
Maybe you could ask him if he would mind you posting a few pictures?

[suebee]

aquav, Hi and thanks for your question its a good one. One of the biggest misunderstandings about EE is that it is soil. EE is compost. No were on earth would there be that much co co nut fiber without mixed in leaves, sand, and other substrate. Your right some crabs need different soils but the one mix that meets most crabs is the 5:1 ratio. For some of our younger members that would be like 5 cups of sand to one cup of Eco earth aka co co nut fiber. You can also mix in some crushed or ground oyster shell for a calcium supplements. Soil is more like items that have already been decomposed and are not currently in the stage of decomposing. You can do a little test of putting some EE in a small bowl with water and letting it sit a few months covered tight so the humidity stays, in a dark container. I did this by accident trying to save some extra EE till a later date. When i opened it and gave it a stir, it smelled rotten. It was starting to biodegrade and parts of it were more dark and looking like soft mush.
As for photos I will be posting photos of my new indos, I have a chocolate colored one, a wine colored one and a very blue purple one. I also have a pink indo that is actually a different species from the regular C. Brevimanus and is called a C. Brevimanus rosseus different in not only color but DNA and has a much bigger BP. I also have 4 C. Bruneus that are the new species! Im thrilled to have met the Bruneus and to tell you all about them. They are so friendly and out going, they have tiny stripes on the legs and are the curtest little babies in my tank. Bobs place is not one we can recreate in a tank if you have seen utube videos of hermits on a beach that is what it looks like. We may have some species photos that we can share photos of but out of respect for Bob we are waiting till we can ask him if it is ok to post them. In no way would i ever jeopardize his work or his trust in us. We both know we have been granted a gift. Im not so sure any of the photos could ever capture anything but parts of the paradise anyway.
We have both been giving 12 hours of instructions and on hand training, that is some thing that we could never be able to thank him enough for.

Now one other thing (im rambling again)I think he said Aussies should not be on EE at all. Aussies need such different water requirements and substrate requirements that they had a home of their own. Other then that Bob has found that what works best for all the crabs is the 5:1 ratio.

Edit: Per ELHC 5:1 ratio is ok for aussies.

after feeding worm castings to my crabs each day when i refresh them i dump the old worm castings in my substrate and that too is ok and healthy for the crabs. Worm castings are more like soil then co co nut fiber.

Now if anyone has any questions we will try to answer them or we do have a great go to person to check with if we are unsure of the answer.
We both know we have so much more to learn and will never know it all.
We both have made mistakes are willing to admit it and make corrections when we find them.
Ive never been so enthused about learning now that i found a place where my learning doesnt have to stop. In the past the information on the net has come to a stand still and frustrated me.

[aquav]

Very interesting and it makes sense. Thanks for clarifying! I will add more sand to my tank soon. especially since I have the four straws in there now, I know they live closer to the beach in nature anyway.
I do want to get some indos soon, and after your posting, I have made up my mind to get them from ELHC.
Do you know when he plans on having the site up and running again?
Thank you guys very much!

[suebee]

I will check with him and let you know. I do think you will get the most healthy and most loved crabs. He also makes sure that no tiny little crabs are taken from the beaches because he likes them to be able to have some years of breading and multiplying before they become pets. I also love the fact that he will not let his gathers take large amounts at a time. Bob also has taught them how to pack the crabs in a healthy way to ship to him. He knows his gathers well and visits them. They are like part of his family. All that means so much and is worth paying a bit more to know in your heart that the right thing for the crabs has been done.

[framptonbmx]

Amen to that.

[Guest]

Such great information, I too am waiting for the site to come back up . I am particularly thankful for the info about no eco for the aussies, that is something that I missed. I was probably blabbering on about something thankfully everyone is fine and I will change things right away.

I think it would be great if we could make some caresheets based on his findings, I wonder if he would be ok with that?

[suebee]

when i talk with him i will ask if a sand eco mix is ok for the aussies just to double check. I will give him a call tomorrow if I dont hear from him sooner. Im taking notes so if anyone has any questions hit me up and ill get some answers. I look forward to my talks with Bob.

[Guest]

Thank you so much

[tlivs]

aquav, Hi and thanks for your question its a good one. One of the biggest misunderstandings about EE is that it is soil. EE is compost. No were on earth would there be that much co co nut fiber without mixed in leaves, sand, and other substrate. Your right some crabs need different soils but the one mix that meets most crabs is the 5:1 ratio. For some of our younger members that would be like 5 cups of sand to one cup of Eco earth aka co co nut fiber. You can also mix in some crushed or ground oyster shell for a calcium supplements. Soil is more like items that have already been decomposed and are not currently in the stage of decomposing. You can do a little test of putting some EE in a small bowl with water and letting it sit a few months covered tight so the humidity stays, in a dark container. I did this by accident trying to save some extra EE till a later date. When i opened it and gave it a stir, it smelled rotten. It was starting to biodegrade and parts of it were more dark and looking like soft mush.
As for photos I will be posting photos of my new indos, I have a chocolate colored one, a wine colored one and a very blue purple one. I also have a pink indo that is actually a different species from the regular C. Brevimanus and is called a C. Brevimanus rosseus different in not only color but DNA and has a much bigger BP. I also have 4 C. Bruneus that are the new species! Im thrilled to have met the Bruneus and to tell you all about them. They are so friendly and out going, they have tiny stripes on the legs and are the curtest little babies in my tank. Bobs place is not one we can recreate in a tank if you have seen utube videos of hermits on a beach that is what it looks like. We may have some species photos that we can share photos of but out of respect for Bob we are waiting till we can ask him if it is ok to post them. In no way would i ever jeopardize his work or his trust in us. We both know we have been granted a gift. Im not so sure any of the photos could ever capture anything but parts of the paradise anyway.
We have both been giving 12 hours of instructions and on hand training, that is some thing that we could never be able to thank him enough for.

Now one other thing (im rambling again) Aussies should not be on EE at all. Aussies need such different water requirements and substrate requirements that they had a home of their own. Other then that Bob has found that what works best for all the crabs is the 5:1 ratio.

after feeding worm castings to my crabs each day when i refresh them i dump the old worm castings in my substrate and that too is ok and healthy for the crabs. Worm castings are more like soil then co co nut fiber.

Now if anyone has any questions we will try to answer them or we do have a great go to person to check with if we are unsure of the answer.
We both know we have so much more to learn and will never know it all.
We both have made mistakes are willing to admit it and make corrections when we find them.
Ive never been so enthused about learning now that i found a place where my learning doesnt have to stop. In the past the information on the net has come to a stand still and frustrated me.

ok sorry i did read all of this haha
but the thing that i have troubles with is that my humidity will NOT stay up
i have all EE right now and havent found any problems and it helps with my humidity a lot
y'all have probably read all my threads about humidity problems and such so but only having 1 part ee my humidity would drop an insane amount
right now i have found that the humidity is jim dandy and needs little attention.
but i am afraid by changing to your 5:1 ratio my humidity would drop a lot

[Guest]

Hi tlivs
Humidity is a concern it will drop a bit, but lets try approaching it from another angle. Are you using a mister or a tropic air type thing? Do you use glass lids? I have found that to be the magic combo, also lights. I know everyone is into using the reptile lights but they are not needed and in fact can be harmful and very drying. Crabs don't like sun when it is sunny they are hiding in the trees. leaf litter, and caves. I was not aware of this and when I changed those three things it fixed the issues.

I use glass lids on glass tanks with about a inch cut out of that back plastic strip for nice air flow.
I use tropic air systems, they rock, you have to clean them out to keep mold out.
I use regular full spectrum aquarium florescent for day, nothing at night unless they are cold then a typical exoterra blue night bulb. You could use some of those cool LED moonlights for night lighting I have used them and they are very active with them.

Right now it is really nice outside I have all the windows open and even the straw tank by the window is at 77 degrees and 83% humidity. The key to the tropic air is change the stone frequently, clean it, and use strong air pumps. I hope this helps

[tlivs]

i have plexi glass covering my entire lid, with a square space for ventilation
i dont have a mister, nor do i have the room to put one in right now, as i am keeping my crabitat on the telephone cubby.. there is not enough room for it
ETA: i just looked them up and i see they're are quite small, so i might look into it. i did make a bundy humidifier but it did not work at all for me so i was sort of thinking that humidifiers wouldnt do enough unless they were really expensive... the only thing is when i had the bundy the pump drove me MAD. i couldn't sleep with it on and anytime i was in the kitchen area i would almost pull my hair out because of the noise
i dunno if i can handle that again

i do have a humidifier in my house though because the humidity is not high enough for us either so i am guess that is helping a bit as it is

i just the night-glo 75 W bulb 24h a day... my temp is perfect right now and it does dry it out a bit but certainly not as much as other bulbs i have used in the past

i dont know where you live, but where i live in canada it gets really dry so i have to accommodate a lot for the humidity

[Guest]

Arkansas gets really dry too but also really humid in late summer., I find that the strip florescent with a heat pad on the one end does the trick. Also if you can glass keeps in the humidity better than plexy, I have tried it both ways (trying to save money). The tropic air is great because all that goes into the tank is the little rod, air pumps can be noisy I had to shop for quite and powerful.

[suebee]

sponges.. Yes sponges are fine. Natural sponges will hold water and help keep up your humidity. ELHC has some of the biggest sponges ive ever seen through the hermit crab enclosures. Moss. A fogger. Misting. Make sure your tank has a tight lid or is covered with plastic wrap to help hold in humidity. Some times it takes work to keep up humidity. How high is your humidity. 80% is a good goal but slightly under that is fine if you can keep it at 70 and mist often your good.

Also I spoke to Bob, The 5 to one ratio is fine for aussie crabs. Just no more EE then that. We dont want to biodegrade our crabs..

[Guest]

Thank you Suebee whew big sigh of relief!