Help! Heating ideas for 15-gallon glass bottle habitat...

[aussieJJDude]

Soilentgringa has her reasons and knowing her (which I have for a while) it would be looking out for the crabs well-being in mind. Before jumping to conclusions, let her speak.

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[soilentgringa]

By the time you cut the top off for access, put the appropriate amount of substrate in it for crabs, hiding spaces, water pools deep enough for the crabs to submerge in, climbing areas, plants, and everything else crabs need to thrive, there isn't going to be enough room for the crabs.

The crabs need 5-10 gallons of space per crab. They grow fairly quickly in good conditions and this bottle is simply not a good idea to put hermit crabs in.

***Admin Hat***

Keep the thread civil.

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[soilentgringa]

Let's not cause a fight here. There are some questions that arise with the bottle, such as space heating and so forth, but I agree that we should try and figure it out and not shoot down someone's idea.


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If it isn't good for the crabs, it isn't good for them. It's not about shooting someone down.

We've had to ask people not to put their crabs in coffee tables with 6" maximum depth and not to house them with fiddlers or other crabs that don't have the same habitat.

That's why we are here- to educate and offer information.

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[silverblood72767]

My comment sounded meaner that i meant it. I meant that good advice gets ignored all the time if reasons aren't provided. However, if the dimensions on the bottle are right, by the time he cuts off the top he should still have ten gallons of space left which is a recommended tank size. The bottle also has more floor space than a regular ten gallon so there would be more room for all the essentials including climbing space. Unless you're meaning long term even ten gallons wouldn't be enough, but I think this person is just setting it up while the crabs are small enough to be in there and for future small crabs. It was also mentioned that more substrate could be provided in the bottle.

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[silverblood72767]

I apologize to the admin! I'm sure you know what you're talking about and thanks for more insight if you have it.

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[Hermiearth]

Let's not cause a fight here. There are some questions that arise with the bottle, such as space heating and so forth, but I agree that we should try and figure it out and not shoot down someone's idea.


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If it isn't good for the crabs, it isn't good for them. It's not about shooting someone down.

We've had to ask people not to put their crabs in coffee tables with 6" maximum depth and not to house them with fiddlers or other crabs that don't have the same habitat.

That's why we are here- to educate and offer information.

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Sorry if I was harsh! I knew you would have your reasons- I just wanted to hear them!


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[Brian_T]

That is a beautiful bottle. I could see the why you may want to do something like this with it. Perhaps, it would be better as a terrarium/vivarium. If you get creative you could even plant it with having to take risk of destroying it by cutting. You could look into various species of isopods or other micro fauna which have their own charm and would probably do just fine in a bottle terrarium.

I recently ran across a site that sold exotic millipedes that were kind of neat. I considered it for a second and then I remembered I'd rather have my wife around then millipedes.

[Dragonfreak]

What about a side tank of sorts

love my babies..human ones too!!

[Andre0170]

Thanks everyone for your care and concern. So here's my plan (see link below for a visual). First, I am going to set up the 15-gal bottle tank and monitor conditions before placing the hermits into it. Only upon successful crabitat conditions pre-transfer will I risk it.

After reading in other places, and giving consideration to heat, substrate setup, and controlling for humidity and micro-climate conditions in the bottle, I feel reasonably sure that I can get this to work. See the visual at the link below for the proposed setup. The proposed new tank would provide 54 MORE square inches (137 sq cm) of surface area than the current crabitat, and an additional 3-4 inches of substrate depth. So that part would improve.

The real question for me is heating. Placing an appropriate lamp on top seems like it would be fine - the items in the tank *could* provide micro-climates and the appropriate cool, warm spots as noted by a previous reply (thanks!). But with heat directly above rather than on one side, due to the round shape, I'm afraid that over time, the whole environment could warm to where there wouldn't be the requisite amount of cold/warm ratio in the tank substrate. That may not become an issue, as some posters have suggested. But I'm wondering if a heat pad or two affixed to the sand-side of the tank would be enough to keep that portion of the substrate (and tank in general) suitably warm, while allowing the coconut side to stay cooler, without the overhead lamp. I've found some suitable heat pads for this size tank that stick to the side, but am unsure about the results. Of course, I'll test first, but before going through the effort, any thoughts about the effectiveness or placement of a heat pad (maybe two?) on the side of this type of unit?

You can see the proposed basic setup here:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-omAF ... losure.jpg

Thanks everyone!!

[aussieJJDude]

As long as the heat pad is above the substrate it could work. I personally don't know how well heat pads respond to being bent....

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[Andre0170]

Thanks... Yea... I may try for the top lamp first. Bottle is due by currier today. Going to take some rigging to get it right. Challenge accepted! I'll post a pic back here if it's successful...

[Dragonfreak]

Can't wait to see.

love my babies..human ones too!!

[soilentgringa]

Unless the crabs are micro sized, the substrate won't be deep enough.

Heat pads cannot be bent, as the wiring inside them could break, causing a fire.

If you are insistent on going through with this I would also suggest mixing the substrate instead of dividing it. You're impairing their ability to dig and tunnel with the divider.



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[soilentgringa]

The round shape of the bottle gives them less climbing room than they should have, at any rate.

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[Andre0170]

Well we did it! We successfully converted a 15-gallon demijohn bottle into a crabitat for three crabs! Thanks to everyone for the help. This tank is working splendidly! The crabs love it and have been far more active than the old setup. Lots more substrate to dig and tunnel, more room to move around... I divided the sand from the coconut with a narrow divider of tile and cut stone. The temp and humidity is more constant than ever before - 74-80 is the range night/day, and humidity stays above 70% for quite some time between mists. Really pleased with the results. Did take some planning... pics below... lemme know what you think!

Next up... live plants. Still researching but any ideas would be great. My test plan: A dwarf wondering jew that I believe based on other reading is crab-safe (trying to confirm). I would grow it in a narrow-necked bottle that I will then sink into the coconut substrate. The roots would have soil to grow in and be unavailable to the crabs. The bottle neck would act as a collar that the crabs couldn't crawl into, and the leafy part would (hopefully) grow to create cover and a nice back-drop (if the crabs don't destroy it...) we will see...

Finished result with a wood top I fashioned:


Had to fashion a tile/stone divider for substrates:


The jig took some planning... we got one shot without risking a crack!