new to hermits, here's my terrarium

Questions about designing a terrarium.
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Wai
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Re: new to hermits, here's my terrarium

Post by Wai »

I have updated the Bedding page to include sphagnum peat moss in the blacklisted list of substrates.

Please do get rid of the sphagnum peat moss. I am currently using the ordinary sphagnum peat moss, which hasn't caused any problems so far.
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aquadriac
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Dilemma...need advice

Post by aquadriac »

SO....My 29g terrarium has less than desirable substrate. It's an old mix of organic dirt and a sphagnum peat moss mix. Yes I know, now, that SPM is acidic and baaad... anyways I've recently set up a new 10g terrarium with marine sand as the sub.

My problem...there are, somewhere, 5 hermit crabs in my first tank. The dirt is deep and I didn't know about how hermies will most of time bury themselves when brought home from the pet store. PPS I believe. Well now I do know... ^) I had 6 in there, one of the smaller ones has successfully molted and come back to the surface, so I moved him to the new tank where he now happily resides.

So what about the other 5 that have been buried for about a good month if not alittle more?? I know this is probably a molting question- but considering my substrate how much of a chance do they have in there?

Also- with the amount of time that the dirt and SPM mix have been in there with plants growing in it (for at least a year)- is it possible that the acidity of the soil will go down over time? Would the plants do that?

Thank you for any advice!
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Wai
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Re: new to hermits, here's my terrarium

Post by Wai »

They shouldn't take much longer, but in some rare cases, hermit crabs had been buried for three months before surfacing from their moult.

It's hard resisting digging them up to check, but patience is very important. I currently have Eris and Luna (my two largest) buried in the ISO with a divider between them. They've been down since my exams started, so they've been buried for almost one month.
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Re: new to hermits, here's my terrarium

Post by aquadriac »

OH man...a month... THREE months. These guys are going to try my patience.
at least I'll get a surprise one of these days- hopefully.
I can't change the fact that they're buried in that SPM/soil mix. It bothers me so much!
I'll just have to wait - thank you!
anyone else know anything about the plants possibly lowering the soils acidity over time??
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Wai
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Re: new to hermits, here's my terrarium

Post by Wai »

Oh, they're still in that peat moss stuff? To be honest, if I were you, I would dig them out in case the peat moss harms or kills them. Without their exoskeleton to protect them, who knows what could happen. This is just my opinion... I'll see what the others say.
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aquadriac
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Re: new to hermits, here's my terrarium

Post by aquadriac »

WELL... 2 more hermits have surfaced from the deadly soil mix in my first crabitat. I've decided to wait alittle longer to see if the others come up. I have 4 of them safely living in my new play sand/ marine sand substrate terrarium. SO that's the update on that- so far
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Re: new to hermits, here's my terrarium

Post by aquadriac »

another one came up this morning! yaay! It's the biggest one out of all of them, I'm happy he made it. It looks like he molted- he has little hairs all over him.

good stuff... I guess the SPM wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be- but I won't be using it anymore with the crabs of course.
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Re: new to hermits, here's my terrarium

Post by ZuZu »

welcome! your tat looks amazing #D I wish I had the same (without the peat moss of course)!
have you got names for them yet? :D
I love my five hermies:
Bumper, the socialite leader
Sticky, The Devourer
Shy Guy, Name says all.
Rose, hyper, never sleeps
Sharky, micro version of ShyGuy
Celebrating 5 years of Crabisism XD
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Re: new to hermits, here's my terrarium

Post by aquadriac »

hey zuzu! thanks! That terrarium is done for mostly...it's an old anole habitat. After my anole bit the dust I decided to get hermies, found out the substrate was bad and moved them to a new 29g tank. but I love making terrariums so the new ones a work in progress. I don't have pictures of the new one yet- but it's all sand (play sand with some marine sand) and so far it's got a shower caddy shell shop and a small 2 gallon tank with a bubbler for humidity and anyone who wants to go for a swim. I've given them way out on all sides and I've watched them in there- they have no prob getting out and love hanging out on top of it!

I'm eventually going to add live plants to the new crabitat- pothos vine, which I've read will grow in the sand but I think I'm gonna just grow it from the 2g tank. I've searched around and haven't found anything to say they'd hurt the crabs. I was going to add some philodendrons but turns out those ARE toxic. Maybe a dracaena, too... Houseplants are my main hobby- I have 40+ of them(all sorts) -so a terrarium without live plants is just dull to me. SOON...like I said work in progress :)
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Swollen and hasn't moved for a month. dead?

Post by aquadriac »

I initially screwed up... wrong substrate and too deep with no ISO- that was before I found this site! I'm doing it all right now in another tank, but I'm still waiting on the buried ones in the old tank. Of the 6 in there 3 have come up after 1-2 months.
this is my initial post-
http://hermitcrabparadise.com/forums/vi ... =96&t=4018

One of the hermies still in the old tank was halfway under a log- so I can barely see him. He looks swollen and pale- and hasn't moved AT ALL for almost 2 months now. Is he dead? I've smelled the tank and it smells fine to me.

SHould I move him to the new tank? Leave him alone?
If I move him how should I go about that?
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