Hermit Nets

[Foxydiva3]

I have A Question. I Have Knitted Hermit Crab Nets For Years Out Of Hemp. I Have had All sorts of sizes and shapes, A Have done all kinds of bridges and ladders. I Like the Hemp Because it is Natural and My Hermies love it as a second level However. Over a period of time My nets get mangled and dirty, They get alot of traffic because I Have a Large crabbitat with Many crabs of all sizes. Even When I didp Them In Salt water, After A month they Get a little Moldy and I Have to Knit Another one. Not That I Mind But I think I Have found A Solution and Wanted to know what Others have thought. We all at one time or the other have used plastic shower caddies for moss pits or shell shops so plastic is easy to clean and doesn't hold mold. I have found this Plastic Thread on large spools, It comes in many differnt colors and in the eighties people made bracelets and keychains out of it. So I Have started a net out of it not finished as of yet but I will post pics when its done. It will look just like the Hemp nets just plastic and colored And I Figure Mold resistant and easy to clean! So let me know what you think I may just throw some on Ebay. I Had some Hemp Nets on there at one time but they never sold, I Guess People Don't shop there for hermie stuff?
Anyway Give me some Input Just trying to make our Hermie lives Better!

[Jedi_Sena]

Well, I love the hemp, myself. But I don't think there would be any problem using a plastic string product. I used to make bracelets and zipper pulls out of those lacing products when I was a kid. It was fun. Just make certain that the materials are safe. Plastic would be, but a leather lacing product would be cured with chemicals.

Those are my thoughts, but you may want to wait for a few replies before you jump in.

[emmac350]

I am astounded that you have gotten hemp to mold, especially if you soak it in salt water. Is your humidity really high? Do you spray the net with non-salt water? I have a hemp net I've been using for almost a year that has never molded at all. I've seen no signs of impending mold on it either, although the salt in the salt water makes it a bit stiff and changes the color somewhat.

[Foxydiva3]

My hemp net doesnt mold persay But It Does get chewed up rather quick and Quite dirty. I Have a lot of traffic on that night and often have the larger crabs bring up food sometimes they dont eat it all and it falls in the craks and molds. I have a 48 gallon crabitat and it has alot of active rabs in it so I will continue to use the hemp but just thought this would be neat to not have to continue to rehemp. I Also have Large crabs with thier weight Stretch the hemp down. There are pics of the nets in some of my past posts, They are more tightly woven then the ones at the addictions store.

[emmac350]

I knit my own nets too (and my biggest needles are size 8, so you know how tight those nets are knitted), so I understand the stuff getting in the cracks part. That's why I use mine as a climbing wall on the back - I attached a big one (a foot high by about a foot and a half wide) to the back wall and they climb all over it - up and down it, across the top, etc. Maybe you could do something like that? And please give pics of the plastic ones - I'm interested to see how they turn out and how they work with your crabs!