HCA: Hermit Crab Association

well, last month I had to replace my substrate,, 2 bars of EE, 2 bars of Bed a beast.. well its always darn and humidity in the tank.. but last few days I've had to take all the wood out cause I noticed mold groing on them.. well today I was looking, I pucked up the big piece of wood I had, nmoticed mold, ok.. then I noticed dozens fo small little tiny bugs xcrawling all over it, some where brown and others a lite white color. Any one got a clue? I'm guessing mites, or the least, termites.. Yet they only seem to be on the wood and nothing else. Cause the crabs where on the wood and didnt seem to be bothreing them.

I had this same problem last summer. The little white mites are probably book mites which, as far as I can tell, munch on dead wood.

They were crawling all over the tank and the crabs, though, so they had to go.

I took the crabs out of the tank and placed them in a large plastic shoebox, lined with wet (dechlor) paper towels to maintain humidity.

Every day, when you get home from work or school, you take each crab out and give them a salt water bath (using Stress Coat -- like $2 at petsmart in the fish section-- as the dechlor) for about 5 minutes a piece.

If the top of the water has things swimming around in it, they need another bath the next day.

After three consecutive days of having nothing extra moving around in the bath water, the crabs should be clean of anything they picked up and quite willing to go back in the tank.

As far as the tank, you can take out all the toys and boil/microwave them. I set all mine out in the sun to dry, since the Arizona sun will kill just about anything.

The substrate can be baked in the oven and placed back in the tank. Be sure to re-hydrate it with salt water, which will prevent mold from growing back.

I filled up the empty tank with hot water and white vinegar and scrubbed it for an hour before emptying it, refilling it and leaving it sit for a day.

Everything's since gone back into the tank and it's now my isolation tank, with no new problems.

It's time consuming, but worth the effort. The White Vinegar will cost you about $5 a gallon (which is more than enough) and the Stress Coat will run you about $2 at petsmart. I bought the little bottle and it's still sitting around today.

Hope this helps.

well I washed it good when I put the new substrate in... and I used saltwater for half o fit, for just that purpose, to avoid the mold.. didnt work.. meh, so can bake it? How do you bake EE though? I'm kinda confused on that whole part.. seeing as how, its damp substrate, that could burst into flame and burn.

You may be able to simply boil the EE in salt water, if you have a large container. You could probably even try microwaving it, if you're feeling adventurous.

I had straight up play sand in my mite tank, so I dumped it out in the back yard and upgraded to EE. I'm not the best person to answer those questions.

I just know there's a doable solution to the problem.

well you got more experience then I do.. and since no one else is around.. you're it! ooh great one.

Your bugs may just be booklice and then they can stay, if you're okay with some bugs in your tank. Booklice look a bit like walking grains of sand and they are often found in crabitats because they are found in many homes anyway. They like the high humidity of the crabnitat and the fact that they can find plenty to eat there: the substrate, crab poop, crab food ect. They help to keep the tank clean in fact and may keep away mold in future, although roly polies are better with that.
If you have a magnifying glass or a microscope, take a look at them: six legs means booklice (probably, there are some other wingless insects that are possible, like springtails, but they are all harmless), six legs=mite.

well no, I'd rather have them gone.. and they didnt seem to be stoping any mold.. so, whats like the proper way to bake EE? and so forth.

personally i never reuse EE ... i just use new ... i know you can bake play sand, but it's easier for me to just get new since it's relatively cheap.

cheap?` I dont consider $20-$30's cheap.. considering I just spent that much a month ago.

sorry, but i can get a 50 lb bag of playsand at my local hardware store or home depot for under $5 ... and 1 brick of EE is about $5 or i can get 3 brick package for about $12 at petco

had no idea that a 50 lb bag of play sand would cost near $20
or even EE

no.. I'm refering to the EE/Bedabeast stuff.. not hte playsand. And you only get that Deal if your petco has it.. Not to mention.. you still pay like $20's for the sand and the 3 EE.. would you be so happy to go respend that a month after you already did it?

I think if I had issues with the substrate molding, I would stop buying that particular brand of substrate. Perhaps it would be wise to clean the tank and refill it with the salt soaked playsand, sprinkling a little bit of moss on the top for insulation? When the moss gets moldy, you can pull it out...

I prefer EE, cause its easier to set it and forget it. You dont have to do massive amounts of maintenance like you do the sand.. not to mention, I cant believe how bad arizona obviously is.. millions of hermies are sold here a year.. yet, theres only a whole 4 people here from here. Sad.. bunch of stupid people living here.

But you're obviously having issues with mold and the cost of EE.

Check out the thread on book mites. They're talking about vacuuming them out. Maybe that'll help you.