Questions I was told to answer
Questions I was told to answer
) How long have you had your crabs and how long have you been caring for this particular crab in distress? Have had the crabs for 2 weeks, started taking care of them for my daughter since she is away at college and cant have them there with her2) What size is your tank and what kind of lid do you have? 10 gallon tank, was told at the pet store i did not need a lid3) What are you using for heat? Please be specific and include fixture type, watt or mat size and where the heat source is mounted. Not using any heat the pet store told me I didnt need that either since they are mostly night creatures4) What kind of substrate do you use in your tank and at what depth? Is it dry or damp and sand castle consistency? I have blue sand,some gravel,trees, water dish with sponge a cave for them to hide in5) Do you dechlorinate your fresh water and if so, with what product? Do you offer aquarium salt water in addition to fresh water? Again, what product? I was told that i can just use fresh water6) What do you normally feed your crabs? As of now regular crab food I also have coconut chips in the tank7) Do you bathe, mist or handle your crabs at all? I am going to start misting them8) What are the temperature and humidity readings? Please be specific and include high low fluctuations if you're aware of them. I dont have a thermometer in there yetPlease also give us as detailed a description as possible of the current problem you're having with your crab(s) and include a description of his previous activity/behavior and current activity/behavior. Answering all of these questions honestly and in full will help us to help you! Thank you. Smiler No problem with them as of yet, but they do sleep a lot
Questions I was told to answer
Oh dear! I hate it when petstores give such horrible information!10 gallon is fine but you do need a lid to keep the humidity in the tank. Humidity is vital to their survival, they cannot breathe without it. They also need heat so for a 10 gallon tank, you will need an under tank heater (UTH) rated for a 30 gallon and attached to the side or back of the tank just above the substrate. They are nocturnal but they live where it is quite warm! They need temperature between 75-85*F closer to 80 is preferable, and 75-85% humidity also closer to 80. The 75s are the minimums. Gauges are important so you can adjust to keep things in good ranges.The colored sand must go asap! It is not safe. The only approved substrates are playsand from the hardware store and coconut fiber (EcoEarth). It should be deep, twice the height of your largest crab but a minimum of 6 inches.The sponge in the water dish also is not good. It can be used dry as a cellulose source but wet it breeds harmful bacteria in a very short period of time. You need to dechlorinate your water unless it is from a chlorine free source but even then you might have heavy metals so a good dechlorinator that breaks heavy metal bonds is likely useful. They also need access to good aquarium salt water. Both fresh and salt water pools should be deep enough for the largest crab to get into up to its shell opening or deeper.There is a good food list in the Zoea section, they need variety. There are harmful ingredients in most commercial foods from the petstore.Please do not mist or bathe them. If you cannot raise the humidity any other way, mist the tank not them. If your pools are deep enough the crabs will bathe themselves. The only time you need to bathe them is if they have mites.
Questions I was told to answer
Hope fully you read this before misting them. The sand that you have in the tank now sounds like it may be calci sand which when wet becomes kinda like cement. If you have already gotten the sand wet and (only) if it seems to be sticking to the crabs then you do need to give them a bath in lukewarm dechlorinated water before putting them in your new setup make sure to get it in their shell turning them a little to dump it out this way if any sand got in the shell it should come out and not bother the crab. Be careful doing this it will stress the crab some but its better then the crab getting stuck in the shell.