New tank - Some questions

[curlysister]

I find if the humidity is too high, the food goes to mush/ mold really really fast. If you are changing out the food daily, not a problem. But I vent my plexiglass lid just a little to keep the humidity at 80-85.

[bentz69]

Not sure how accurate a 10$ gauge is going to be but I had the gauge ouT of the tank and it matched the humidity level outside within a few points.

I've seen some posts about people using salt water to mix the substrate to prevent mold. But your saying mold won't grow on or in the substrate itself. Guess I'll have to keep an eye out.

How do prevent the substrate itself from drying out? I'm sure spraying water on the top helps but what about the bottom section? Will the high humidity and heat prevent that?

I noticed the moss turned yellow already. Started out dry in the package but green. I soaked it in water and squeezed out most of the water from the start but 4 days later it's now yellow.

I order this heat mat instead. Hope it works better. 18x8" 24 watts. Compared to the (2) 4 watt heaters I have now that aren't doing anything
https://zoomed.com/reptitherm-under-tank-heater-u-t-h/

Anything else I should do or know? I have lots of questions but would hate to put the crabs in and have problems. I'd like to iron everything out now.

[aussieJJDude]

Salt water is used so anything in contact with the substrate doesnt mould. In all my years of crabbing, using only freshwater and high humidity (90%+) I've never had substrate mould... maybe a piece of food that they dragged around or a piece of wood and that moulded, but never the substrate itself.

As soon as you go underneath the substrate, there tends to be very little oxygen - which it needs... i will mention that mould is harmless to the crabs and pose a greater risk to us.

Moss has the tendency to die out, so im not surprised. But it still makes an amazing snack and humidity boost regardless of liveliness.

Ask away all the questions, we're all here to help one another out!

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[bentz69]

The tank is up and running with the new heater and 4 new crabs. The new heater has the gauge around 77. Much better then the 71 before. Humidty is 95+ and the crabs seem happy. 3 are very active while 1 doesnt really move that much.

Only thing Im not sure about is adding additional shells. Ive seen many people have like a little net with a bunch of shells in it. Do the crabs literally take the new shell they want and drag it under the substrate with them? Is it better to leave the shells bunched up or spread around the tank?

[aussieJJDude]

Glad the new heater is working well!

They tend to bury shells they dont like, so thats partially the reason why we like to keep them up high abd out of their way for digging.

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[curlysister]

I have never used a little net, just put them on the sand. Then the crabs move them around, bury some of them, etc.