Tank smells like a "Lit Match"!!!

[capemay]

I’ve had Crabbie for almost a month now and his behavior has changed in the past week and a half as he mostly digs and either spends most of his time in a corner hiding or under the sand. He isn’t as active as he use to be, but he does move around as I've seen him in the water dish, eating and climbing. It also appears that at night he is pretty busy as I wake up to find the sand all messed up, with his water bowl, etc., moved or under a pile of sand from him digging in the area.

The tank has a strong odor of a “lit match”. I can’t think of any other way to describe the smell. Is this normal? Does anyone know what the smell is and what could be causing it? Also, does it sound like he is getting ready to molt or is he just stressed?

He is the only crab in the tank as my other Crab Hermie died in his ISO tank after he lost limbs, wouldn’t eat or move, fishy smell).

Please help.

[Chermo]

They are night creatures so yes this is normal. As for the smell I can't help you. I would get 1 or 2 more crabs though, maybe with friends he will be more active. They get lonely and want company. I am trying to talk my husband into letting me get 2 more since Soupy is always under with no signs of coming up at night and Orangy is under until night and Kermi is out all the time. I want a friend for Kermi since her best friend Soupy is under all the time and I know Kermi misses Soupy. She is always looking around for her but only finds Orangy. Orangy is very shy and goes in her shell all the time when other crabs come by or I walk by. So I would say get a few more friends but remember that they will probably dig under right away and destress/molt. I also would let them molt in the main tank and if anyone bothers them you can always pop bottle the molter. The ISO is mostly for newbies as they may have mites and you don't want to transfer that to the main tank and your other crab. ISOing newbies is a must so you can gradually bring up the humidity from petstore conditions to your main tank conditions and so you can make sure they don't have mites, you should ISO newbies for a period of 3 to 4 weeks and in that time they may dig down to destress and/or molt.

[capemay]

I have two other crabs that we just got. They are in the ISO tank as of right now as I'm trying to follow the "preventing PPS" guide.

The other crab we had, Hermie died a week ago. He started dropping limbs so under the advice of another board, we moved him into an ISO tank. A week later he died. This is why Crabbie is alone right now, hopefully if all goes well with the new crabs, he will have two new friends soon.

I'm still wondering about the smell of the "Lit Match", If anyone knows why it would smell this way, please let me know.

[capemay]

I figured out what the smell was! It was the play sand that we got from Lowes. When you open the bag it doesn't smell at all, however once water is added it started to release that sulfur/lit match type smell. I threw it out so hopefully it won't happen with the next bag. This isn't the first bag I bought from there, but so far its the only one that smelled when adding water.

[CrabbyJo]

woah! Scary! I had bought a bag of play sand from Lowes to use in my hermie's cage but ended up using it on the driveway instead, planned to get another. I think I'll try washing the sand first then baking it to kill any possible bacteria, etc. I'd feel better doing that first. our pet store only has the expensive tiny bags of colored sand for hermies (Pet Zoo) which really makes me wonder if they have any clue what hermies really need, as in large amounts of sand. Darn capitalists. They don't even have coconut fiber bricks!

[emmac350]

If you look in the aquarium part, you can see if they have aquarium sand. I think it's called Aragonite or something like that. It's a very good sand, although a bit expensive. My hermies love digging in it.

[ladybug15057]

Emma's right, and a couple days ago I bought a 30# bag for about $15 with my petsperk card. But it can be washed and baked until the hermies come home and never loose its constancy! By washing and baking playsand not all impurities can be removed:

http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-index.php?pa ... Substrates

and some other reading about play sand too:

http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-browse_categ ... =off&type=

[Magnum]

The tank has a strong odor of a “lit match”.

Isn't it obvious? One of your hermies is a smoker! Put him on the patch right away!

I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself. The image of a "lit match" in a crabitat just cracked me up to no end. I needed a good laugh today. Thanks!