HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I've been faithfully using EE as my substrate for almost 3 years now, but apparently now it's bad for the crabs? What harm does it cause when used without sand mixed in? I'm rather confused... :\

Opinions varies on here about 100% EE and mixed...Some say 100% EE causes splinters, mold, ect.. I say if a 100% is working for you, you should stick to it or give mixed a dry when you do a deep clean. Yeah, I'm not much help but figured I would share a opinion

Personally I have mine mixed and I'm happy with it and my clan seems to love tearing it up.

Check out these links I read on Mold Mold & more Mold.
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... sc&start=0

http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... ht=#704403

I've been using 100% coco fiber substrate for several years and it works perfectly for me and my crabs. I've never had any mold in it and my crabs don't get splinters.

due to advise from researchers of Exotic Land hermit crabs and The hermit crab patch i use a mix. 5 parts sand to one part EE. I have no unexplained deaths and no molting issues.. No naked crabs either. Never had any mites , or mold issues. Its what works best for me. I also mix in some crushed oyster shell and i make the EE with sea salt water for the mix.
The links that Miller family posted have some great discussions to review.
Its a personal decision that we all make on our own. I chose to go with the researchers and found that it works very well for my crabs.

I've never had any problems with EE. Right now my substrate is sort of a mix (I used to have sand on one side and EE on the other, but my diggers mixed it), but in the past I've used 100% EE with no problems at all. If it's working for you, then there's no reason to switch substrates, unless you just feel like trying something new.

Thanks for the fast responses I wasn't sure if it was a proven fact that it does harm, but if it's just an opinion I think I'll stick with EE. I used sand in the past and I just found it to be too messy. I use salt water to soak it so maybe that's why I never had problems? Thank you everyone for your input!

I have a mixture of about 2/3 sand and 1/3 EE, more or less...not sure of the exact proportions. The crabs all seem to love it. When they go under for molting, they dig long tunnels in it, which is cool when they end up right against the glass.

It's all just a matter of preference. EE hasn't been proven to cause any detrimental effects to crabs. I have used it successfully for many years, but I've recently tried out the new sand-EE mixture with smooth aragonite sand. I don't think my ratio is 5:1 sand:EE, however.

My only problem with EE so far has been that it gucks up the filters I put in the pools. But for the problem, it actually didn't matter whether I had 100% EE, 50% EE, or 20% EE. Any EE in the tank found it's way into the filters LOL. So I've been all sand for a couple years, but only for that reason. I might try the 5:1 at my next deep clean, kind of slowly bump it up and see what happens. I'm hoping that since I put my water pools on stilts now, the EE won't get into them so easily.

The testing that Keith is doing showing the dulling of shells in EE makes me worry. http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 047#711047