HCA: Hermit Crab Association

The hermit crab upgrade is officially underway! Last weekend I bought a 40 gallon breeder (36" x 18" x 17") off of Kijiji (it's like Craigslist) for only $150 CAD. It's quite a bit bigger than my current 20 g long and my four little guys should be very happy in there. The tank also came with some useful accessories so it was a pretty good deal despite the fact that the tank looked like it had never been cleaned before. Apparently it had previously been used for a bearded dragon which is why I had to scrape hardened calci-sand off the bottom (although that doesn't explain why it came with so many jungle plants and vines since beardies live in the desert ).




Anyway, after a good cleaning, a bit of bleach and a thorough rinsing I am ready to move on to the next stage: substrate! Which brings me to my question; Will any brand of play sand do? Which brand of play sand is best? I went to Home Depot to look for play sand, they had very few options and I didn't like most of them. I couldn't tell exactly what each brand of sand looked like (the packaging wasn't see-through, I had to examine what was leaking out of the bags) but they all seemed to be pretty rough/coarse. The sand I have is more rounded/finer and my crabs really seem to like it. In an article about substrate from the Crab Street Journal there is an image comparing three types of sand but it does not say which one is ideal. My sand resembles the sand on the left and the stuff at Home Depot looks like the sand on the right. The article also says that "sand that is too coarse can cause harm if lodged in the shell". Is this true and, if so, how coarse is too coarse?

http://crabstreetjournal.org/wp-content ... 00x225.jpg

Thank you in advance for your advice.

I've used Quikrete playsand, Quikrete all-purpose sand, and two different brands of pool filter sands. Crabs don't seem to mind one way or the other.

For some reason I don't think you can get quikrete sand in Canada. At least not in my area.

I use the one from Canadian tire/home hardware. (Same brand) It's the only plays and they sell to my knowledge. I have been using it for years, no complaints. There is some variation, some bags I've bought is darker and finer(home hardware usually), others are lighter with a few larger pieces here and there (Canadian tire, in my experience) that haven't been a problem. sometimes it is stored outside, but usually it's not wet or bad or anything as it is still covered.

EDIT: I looked into it, apparently lowes and some Home Depots carry quikcrete in some areas. the brand I use is called premier

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Thanks for the replies, I'll try a couple of different Home Depot stores and look for the quikrete brand and if they don't have it I'll just buy whatever brand I think will make the best sandcastle consistency once wet.

@purpleperson, I seem to recall reading in one of the random threads that you live in a rural/woodsy area. If this is true do you have access to natural moss and, if so, do you use it in your tank? Last june I harvested some moss from my cabin at Lake of the Woods in Ontario (a tree uprooted it and it would have died anyway) and have been keeping it alive in a little vivarium. I've been considering using it in my crabitat but I'm not sure if it is safe.

Yes I do, northern Manitoba. I'm not sure what types of moss you have, but it's easy to identify if you don't know. I use sphagnum moss that grows right by my house and they love it, no issues so as long as it's from a pesticide free area. They eat a ton of it!


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This is what the moss looks like:


I think it is Schreber's moss. At least it looked most like this type of moss when I google image searched it.

Looks like that to me too. It's very similar to the type of moss that I use, however it's not the exact same. Personally I would use it, but it's really up to you. To make sure mine doesn't have any bugs or anything I put it in a Tupperware (no lid) with some water and microwave it for a bit. Then I put it in the tank.

By the way that is a really awesome deal for that tank! I forgot to mention that in my earlier post. Up where I am they are much more expensive


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Congrats on the new tank! 40B is my favorite size! Big, lots of floor space and decent height, easier to maneuver for cleanings. Nice.

OK, so, the sand problem is dealt with and my room is painted and put back together, no more procrastinating! I'm finally posting pictures of the finished 40 gallon. Here it is:

Here is the front view. Sorry about the glare, the lighting in my room is bad and it's the best I could do.


The view from the left side of the tank:


The middle:


And the view from the right side:


Some more pics of the tank:






Scrum coming to see what all the commotion is about:


Barbossa hiding in the moss pit:


And here's Jack posing for his close-up:

It looks great!! I really love it. what kind of sand did you end up going with?


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It's actually sand blasting sand. Since it is winter my options were limited and there was only this and the Quikrete play sand available. I bought the Quikrete first but I returned it because it had a lot of rocks in it, it wasn't a very nice color and it was very dirty when I tried to rinse it even though it said it was washed and screened. The sand blasting sand was a lot closer to what I already had so I bought that and mixed in some Eco Earth to give it better texture and moisture retention.

Ahh nice, it looks really pleasing to the eye! It has a nice colour too.


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Thank you

It looks awesome! lOVE it! Very natural, it has the feel of a caribbean beach. And those Indos (I love indos) SO cute.

Indos?? You have indos??


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