Hiding In Shell For 4 Days

[emmac350]

hiddengrin, that was how my two PPs always were. They'd bury until I was asleep and then come up, so I wouldn't see them for weeks on end. Just recently, with my tank switch (10g to 30g high) and a thermostat controlling substrate temperature I see them even during the daytime! They still haven't dug down even a week later. I'm so excited! You should check your tank temperature to ensure it's in the right range - this may help. Does Caspian have friends in the tank or is he alone?

[hiddengrin]

I calibrated my hygrometer, and both it and the temperature hover around the 78* mark, I have a warm side to the tank with a UTH and a cooler side thats about 72*... Caspian has tunneled down somewhere on the warm side. I also have a saltwater & freshwater pools, deep enough to totally submerge in, but with gravel to climb out with. I'm looking at getting a thermostat, saving up the $$$
Of course he has crabitat buddies... Link, Hoss & Bri; all about the same size PP's. Link & Hosss are very active, day and night, I find them wandering around. Bri comes out to play with the boys occasionally, but she likes to sleep in the cocohut.

[CrabbyJo]

Hiddengrin,
Sounds like you're really getting things set up well for your hermies! It's crazy how much it takes to get everything you need, isn't it? I spent so much my first few months... gasp!

About your warm side - Hopefully your crabs cannot tunnel down on top of the UTH. Try this - get a kitchen thermometer (probe type) and put it into the substrate over the center of the UTH, all the way down to the bottom. The substrate temp should not go above 81*F. If it does, and your hermies can burrow down over it, they could be cooking themselves. The damage to them might not show up for weeks if they do it. I had a new addition that buried over the UTH, and I was ignorant and didn't know hot it was down there. I did unplug it when I saw he was on it for a couple of days, but by then it was too late, and I lost him to overheating a few weeks later. There were a few other conditions going on with temp, but he ended up being the sensitive one that couldn't survive it, likely because he had "cooked" himself a bit over the UTH.
I keep my fresh water dish and another shell shop dish over the UTH to keep them from burrowing, and the sand is dry there so they are less likely to burrow. Don't put a saltwater dish over the UTH as evaporation can cause salt crystals that are sharp and can get into the hermie shell and irritate the abdomen.
The water dish over the UTH helps with humidity also.
if it's too hot, you might unplug it until you can get the thermostat (try ebay, I got mine for less than $25 by swooping in last minute with my bid).

Good luck!

[hiddengrin]

Thanks for all your insight and help CrabyJo, I am indeed trying to give them a great home.

I hope Caspian doesn't cook himself! I've unplugged the uth. EEEEK.
I know that generally digging up hermies isn't good for him, but even with the uth off, the substrate is going to remain at the high temp for a while... should I dig him up just in case?

Is there anything else I can do to keep them from tunneling down over the uth, besides putting the water dish over it? Its a small UTH, but my water dish isn't big enough to cover the whole area...

[emmac350]

Do not dig him up. The temperature will go down, just be patient. Digging him up can cause worse damage than him being in too-warm sand could.

[CrabbyJo]

me I have a thick glass candle holder, meant for large pillar candles, on the section of the UTH that the water dish doesn't cover, and I have that full of shells for a shell shop. You can also push down some votive candle holders (glass ones) filled with dechlor fresh water, and space them so the crabs cannot dig down to the UTH. Make sure you put a pebble or marble or two in so no small crabs fall in and can't get out.

I'm sure you can come up with something creative!

Oh, and when I unplugged my UTH because that silly crab was dug down on top of it, he was moved the next day. Guess he didn't like it without all the heat.

I agree with Emma. Never dig up a buried crab unless it's a dire emergency. Usually you never have one of those.

[ladybug15057]

Problem with unplugging the UTH is if it gets cool and one needs the warmth. Then one should not plug it in again unless all hermies are accounted for. So in this case one should have a light for a back up as a warming source until they can get a thermostat.
I have used the votive candle holders for a few years now and do use marbles in them to prevent the little ones from falling in and drowning. But if one needs to, they could also use sea sponges to help boost the humidity level, but need to exchange them at least every 2 days for sterile ones. To prevent our hermies from burrowing down to the glass over the UTH wwe use the round glass craft stone over the UTH. (they are also sold in the aquarium department as aquarium glass but cost much more)
http://www.save-on-crafts.com/vasegems6.html
These I buy at WalMart in their craft area. (where they sell the candles and candle holders)

[CrabbyJo]

Marie, do you just have only the stones over the UTH? So I am picturing the glass stones and glass votive candle holders with water in them... I know I'm missing something How do you have the setup on top of your UTH?

[ladybug15057]

A layer of the round smooth glass stones (almost an inch) then my CaribSea sand on top of that. Then I have the votive candle holders pushed into the sand over the middle of where the UTH is located until they hit the glass stones. Why I like the glass stone is because glass does generate heat a little more so it really doesn't take away from the UTH warming the substrate on the warm end.

[emmac350]

I had those glass stones as a bottom layer in one of my upper layers and I found that one of my crabs wanted to dig down further and moved the glass up to the surface. Have you ever had that?