Baking substrate

[AngieFarris]

I am new to the whole hermit crab thing. Inherited 3 from an exchange student who couldn't take them with her. Here's my question: Can I bake existing cage substrate in oven to kill any bacteria if it has eco earth in it? And if so, at what temperature and for how long? Am I better to just change out entire sand? Has been 6 months since we changed it. I do clean out the poop..... Thanks!

[Overmountain1]

You shouldnt really need to do anything with the sand in that amount of time, most of us just scoop the poo and other debris as we see it, and occasionally (yearly/bi-yearly or sometimes more...) deep clean/ stir it all up. To really be able to tell you what the best thing to do would be though, I’d need to know a little more about your setup! (How large, how deep is sub, that sort of thing.) I know it doesn’t answer the baking question, but I hth!!


Dave the Wondercrab~Pat~Maggie~ Billy~Pop~Corn~Ten~Sam~MissTeri~Tim~Gene~ Barry~Mr S~Princess + 5 Es + Mr EnDoh =my crabby clan!

[AngieFarris]

I have about 4-5 inches of substrate. Thanks for the info. I will do a "deep clean" and leave it for now.
Thank you!

[curlysister]

I have owned my crabs for over 9 years and have never changed out all their sub, or baked it, or anything other than add to it when I upgraded tanks and when my crabs grew. Spot cleaning the poop and bits of food they drag around is really all you need to do if your sub is proper. HCA recommends at least 6 inches of sub, or at least 3 times as deep as your largest crab -whichever is deeper. It should be moist enough to hold it's shape.
When you say 'cage', you mean 'tank', right?

[AngieFarris]

Yes I have a tank. Having a hard time keeping the humidity level up, though. Do you need an overhead heat lamp if you have heaters on the back side of the cage? Temperature is always right, but humidity is not. I have my heat lamp sitting on top of the grated lid, so I lose a bit of humidity. If I can get temperature up, do I need a light?

[Hermiesguardian]

Yes I have a tank. Having a hard time keeping the humidity level up, though. Do you need an overhead heat lamp if you have heaters on the back side of the cage? Temperature is always right, but humidity is not. I have my heat lamp sitting on top of the grated lid, so I lose a bit of humidity. If I can get temperature up, do I need a light?

A lamp will zap the humidity. Your entire lid should be sealed. If it's a mesh lid you can tightly cover it with saran wrap and tape it down.