New crabs, tank not getting warm enough

[PbJPeachesmommy]

Hey guys!! I’m new here and have recently perchased 3 crabs. Peaches, peanut butter, and jelly. They are wonderful and very friendly!! I am pretty sure that peaches has gone into molting. He dug himself into a hole and hasn’t come up for 3 days so I gently dug him up and made sure he was still alive and immediately moved him to a space so he can be alone that no other crabs can get to him. I gently buried him and haven’t moved him since. This was 8 days ago but I can still see that he has moved and it doesn’t stink so I’m confident that peaches is doing well!! As for peanut butter and jelly they have been staying in their shells and I haven’t noticed them coming out even to eat the last 3 days. They have been right next to the heater pad I have placed on the back of the tank. I currently have 3 heaters in the tank all attached to the side. 2 of them I got from Amazon and they are adjustable temperature ones that are supposed to be for 10gallon tanks each and I also have a smaller one that is for a 5 gallon tank on another side up where I have peaches so he can stay nice and toasty warm!! I am cleaning the tank weekly and changing out food and water every other day. The temperature is about 72 degrees and the humidity is at about 90 after I clean the tank and spray it down. I have a 10 gallon tank with 1/6 calcium sand and the rest coconut fiber. Being that pb and j don’t want to come out much I know that the tank isn’t warm enough and I don’t want it to hurt peaches while he is molting. Also I’m not sure how long it’s supposed to take for peaches to molt. (Never done this before) I really love these little guys and so do my little girls!! If someone could help me figure out what I’m doing wrong I would be greatly appreciative!!! Thanks so much!!

[BugsSnow&Milly]

Hi there! I think your setup is great. The only thing I encourage you to look into is first what our little guys go through before they get to us and the second is your preference on the whole calcium sand thing. Sometimes, it has been noted to harden in their shells and make it hard for them to move. That being said, I don’t know what you mean by cleaning the tank, but I would skip that for a month aside from changing out food and water. Sometimes my crabs wouldn’t come up for three months but I encourage you to never dig them up unless you smell something! I only clean my substrate every 6-8 months. Leaving your hermies during this acclimation can sometimes be best to make them feel comfortable to move around and adjust! Make sure to provide fresh fruits, vegetables, protein (chicken, eggshells). You should check out YouTube too they have great stuff that still helps me in year 5 of having mine! Also provide lots of shell choices (most like turbo style).
As to the heat, I live in a very cold climate and I’ve placed my tank very near to my heat vents for my house. I’ve found this is best for overall tank heat and not creating hot spots.
Hope this helps!

[crabbycasey]

Hey guys!! I’m new here and have recently perchased 3 crabs. Peaches, peanut butter, and jelly. They are wonderful and very friendly!! I am pretty sure that peaches has gone into molting. He dug himself into a hole and hasn’t come up for 3 days so I gently dug him up and made sure he was still alive and immediately moved him to a space so he can be alone that no other crabs can get to him. I gently buried him and haven’t moved him since. This was 8 days ago but I can still see that he has moved and it doesn’t stink so I’m confident that peaches is doing well!! As for peanut butter and jelly they have been staying in their shells and I haven’t noticed them coming out even to eat the last 3 days. They have been right next to the heater pad I have placed on the back of the tank. I currently have 3 heaters in the tank all attached to the side. 2 of them I got from Amazon and they are adjustable temperature ones that are supposed to be for 10gallon tanks each and I also have a smaller one that is for a 5 gallon tank on another side up where I have peaches so he can stay nice and toasty warm!! I am cleaning the tank weekly and changing out food and water every other day. The temperature is about 72 degrees and the humidity is at about 90 after I clean the tank and spray it down. I have a 10 gallon tank with 1/6 calcium sand and the rest coconut fiber. Being that pb and j don’t want to come out much I know that the tank isn’t warm enough and I don’t want it to hurt peaches while he is molting. Also I’m not sure how long it’s supposed to take for peaches to molt. (Never done this before) I really love these little guys and so do my little girls!! If someone could help me figure out what I’m doing wrong I would be greatly appreciative!!! Thanks so much!!

Welcome to the HCA!! Lots of resources in the Care Sheets, but I agree with BugsSnow&Milly!

-Popular sub is a mix between play sand (cheap at home hardware stores) and the coco fiber. I personally do 5:1 ratio with majority playsand. Big thing is to make sure it is moistened to sandcastle-like consistency...this is so that their tunnels hold.

-Temp (if they are Purple Pinchers) would be minimum 75 degrees, but warmer usually means more activity. I personally shoot for 80/80 temp/humidity. *Moss pits and/or pool bubblers can help tremendously with consistent humidity! I literally never have to mist my tank and it holds between 82-84!

-Biggest thing I learned here is to never dig up a crab unless it’s an emergency, like a flood or a bacterial bloom. Crabs usually come from crummy conditions and it’s normal for them to dig down or hide in their shell or hut for a while once you get them to their new home. All you can do is provide the proper tank conditions and leave the rest up to their little crabby instincts!

-Substrate should be 6” deep or 3x deeper than size of your biggest crab...this is so they have plenty of room for digging/tunneling/molting comfortably. If you have enough sub and your tank isn’t over crowded, you shouldn’t have to worry about the other crabs messing with a molter and wouldn’t need to dig anybody up for safety. *There is a way to isolate a molter in your tank though if you feel like one is being threatened, but this would typically be if you had a surface molter and again, if conditions are good, this probably wouldn’t happen.

Do you have treated fresh and saltwater pools? Extra shells? Hides and climbs?

-Fresh water needs to be dechlorinated (Prime), then use that water to add marine salt to for the saltwater (Instant Ocean) and the pools should be deep enough for them to submerge, but be sure they have things to climb in and out on! *You would use the treated water to moisten your sub as well, can be either the salt or fresh...I used fresh personally.

-HCA recommends 3-5 shells per crab of varying sizes close to the size they are in now. They can be picky and they like lots of options, lol. *Mine love the Turbo shells!

-Crabbies like cover so lots of hides are good and they also love to climb. *I used a cookie cooling rack on one end of my tank and they climb on it all the time!

I wouldn’t immediately assume Peaches is molting as they tend to dig down to de-stress for a while in new environments. Maybe though! Molting times vary based on the size of the crab and the crab itself.

I know this is a lot of info, lol. When I first started I wanted all the info I could get and I was clueless. Thank goodness for the HCA bc I’m pretty sure they’re the main reason I have 7 thriving Purple Pinchers! Ask any questions, we’re here for you!

Love your crab names btw!


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[curlysister]

Agree with most of what has been said already.
Crabs should not be dug up unless there is an emergency, they do not need to be moved out of the tank to molt, they will be fine as long as the sub is deep enough and the tank is not over crowded. If a crab is dug up, do not re-bury it. When they are under, they make a cave for themselves - if we re-bury them, they have no cave and can suffocate.