Few questions...

[crabbycasey]

I have a few random questions...and 1 little concern. Would love feedback!

1) How much water is generally lost in the pools from it evaporating into the air? I have bubblers. Trying to figure out if the water is getting splashed into substrate or leaking bc I lose around an inch every 2 weeks.

2) Is there a reason I shouldn’t use playsand in my pools as their way in and out...like a slope of sand (as it would be at the beach)?

3) Should I leave the openings of all the tunnels alone if I have 2 down? This leads into my slight concern as well. So, I have 2 crabs Sandy and Gary who tunnel every night and now my sub is full of holes which leaves me with little space for their food bowls and also holes under their heavy climbing rocks and pools (worried they could cave in due to the weight)...but also, and more importantly, I have my 2 smallest crabs, Flash and Turbo, down now for a couple weeks and I’m worried that all the tunneling Sandy and Gary do, they are going to run into/disturb/eat () my molters. I can see Turbo as he is actually at the very bottom of the tank, but I have no clue where Flash is and this will be his first molt with me. Turbo’s too, but he molted with previous owner in similar tank conditions so I’m not as worried about him...plus I can see him and he seems to be fine. Flash came from pet store with ok conditions, but I know nothing of his history and he’s still in his painted shell . Anyway, I’m getting off track, lol...will look forward to some feedback.

Thank you everyone!


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[JoeHermits]

1) Bubblers increase humidity by increasing evaporation, so if you have bubbles you are definitely going to lose a lot more water. If you can’t find any leaks in the pools your bubblers are likely the culprit due to evaporation and splashing.

2) My concern with a sand slope is what happens if the slope changes shape, either by water movement stirring it up or the crabs digging into it? Can the crabs still climb out or are they stuck in the pool?

3) You can leave the tunnel openings alone. The current substrate recommendations have digging crabs near molters in mind. Conflicts underground are very rare.


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[HappyHermit0916]

I have a few random questions...and 1 little concern. Would love feedback!

1) How much water is generally lost in the pools from it evaporating into the air? I have bubblers. Trying to figure out if the water is getting splashed into substrate or leaking bc I lose around an inch every 2 weeks.

2) Is there a reason I shouldn’t use playsand in my pools as their way in and out...like a slope of sand (as it would be at the beach)?

3) Should I leave the openings of all the tunnels alone if I have 2 down? This leads into my slight concern as well. So, I have 2 crabs Sandy and Gary who tunnel every night and now my sub is full of holes which leaves me with little space for their food bowls and also holes under their heavy climbing rocks and pools (worried they could cave in due to the weight)...but also, and more importantly, I have my 2 smallest crabs, Flash and Turbo, down now for a couple weeks and I’m worried that all the tunneling Sandy and Gary do, they are going to run into/disturb/eat () my molters. I can see Turbo as he is actually at the very bottom of the tank, but I have no clue where Flash is and this will be his first molt with me. Turbo’s too, but he molted with previous owner in similar tank conditions so I’m not as worried about him...plus I can see him and he seems to be fine. Flash came from pet store with ok conditions, but I know nothing of his history and he’s still in his painted shell . Anyway, I’m getting off track, lol...will look forward to some feedback.

Thank you everyone!


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1. My pools are doing the exact same thing, and I have bubblers so I'm assuming it's just water that's evaporating into the air because I haven't been able to find a leak anywhere, and my crabs are really small so they don't really make splashes when they're going into the pools.
2. It would be kind of hard for the crabs to be able to get out, and I personally just wouldn't take the risk:)
3. I think you should leave the openings alone, because I don't really think your crabs will bother it because mine never did when one of them had an opening hole.to their molting chamber:)

[Motörcrab]

How large is your tank and water pools?

Joe is correct with more evaporation and loss from splashing.

I also like to point out the possibility of flooding too. I think floods are a lot more common than most people realize and often go unnoticed until they are out of control. We used bubblers in two of our tanks in the past. The overspray from the bubblers can be making the surrounding substrate a lot more wet. Over time all that water can build up at the bottom of the tank causing a flood. We were loosing a few ounces every week. It took about 4-5 months before we noticed about an inch of water at the bottom of two tanks. A 75 and 40 gallon had to be completely redone back to back. We lost two crabs in the process. It was a nightmare!

I highly recommend checking your substrate for pooling water. The easiest way is to use something like a butter knife or chopstick. Slide that down along the glass and forme a little hole. Pull the poker out and if you have any water at the bottom it will fill in the hole up to the height of the water..

[crabbycasey]

Sorry to hear you lost crabbies bc of it Motörcrab . I’ll definitely do the flood check...cool trick to test for it! I have 5 medium-ish PP in a 40 g breeder and I have a pool in each front corner, they are probably 7” in diameter and 3” deep. I wipe the glass off a lot (so I can watch them), hopefully that helps prevent some of the water from getting into the sub. Also, I currently have both rocks and mesh for them to get in and out, was just curious about the sand. Scratching that idea, haha. I’m very happy to hear that conflict rarely happens when they’re under, puts my mind at ease. Guess I’ll just have to keep moving their food around, finding placement around all of their tunnel holes , lol.

Thank you everyone!

Here’s a picture of Sandy and Gary waving hi on my Wyze Cam...made me laugh, so I’ll share



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