Odd Crab Behavior. Need help.

[CrabbyJo]

Well I do know he's getting calcium from the sand..the calci sand is good to put in their food dish. have you noticed any change in his color? In the color of his eyes or his exo?

[feuerhammer]

All three of my older crabs have been getting deeper and richer color. I can't get a real good look at his eyes. I don't have any lights on my cage so when they come out there isn't much light to see them. I thought the other night though they did look a little funny. By funny I want to say it looked like one of his eyes looked cloudy but without real good light I can't say for sure. I will be changing the sand tommorrow sometime. Is there anything I need to do with the play sand before i put it in their tank.

[emmac350]

Yes. Rinse it out with dechlor. water until the water runs off mostly clear, and bake it for half an hour at 350.

[CrabbyJo]

I haven't got experience with molters myself, but I do remember reading that their exo and their eyes may start to look more grayish or cloudy.

He will probably like it if you put warm, moist sand into his habitat. Test it with the inside of your wrist to make sure it's a comfortable temperature, not too hot. Good luck!

[feuerhammer]

We will see what happens in the next couple of days. I just got a 55 gallon tank from my mom. I have my play sand which i am in the process of sanitizing the sand. I will be adding a second level also. I will post pictures when it is comepleted.

[feuerhammer]

Ok update. I moved all four of my crabs last night. They were all pretty active when i moved them. They seemed excited to change homes. This one has play sand instead of cali-sand. The thing is when i checked them this morning I have no sight of Sebastien. Now on to the problem. My humidity is above the yellow and my tempture is too low. I am getting a fiberglass top tonight. I just have the top that was on the fishtank, so it has some open spots in it. I also have a heater on the side which i don't think is doing it's job. I think Sebastien is down for his molt. So i am panicing. I have no access to the website all day. So if you could email me with suggestions that would be great. I can get email on my phone and that way when i am in the city i can get the things i need. my email is tiffanystiller@hotmail.com

[CrabbyJo]

I have a 55 gallon with a 55gal size UTH under the end of my tank that has Eco Earth substrate. That substrate is only about 1 - 1/2 inches thick to help the UTH heat the air in the tank a little. I also have a 75 watt red heat bulb (so it doesn't bother them too much at night) sitting on the wire mesh lid over that area. The other end of my tank has a range of 2 1/2 - 4" of damp play sand, with a little dry sand between those areas.
I have cardboard wrapped in saran wrap over most of the lid, and I prop one chunk of it up when the humidity gets too high.
The temp stays nice but I want to add another small lamp or higher watt bulb - it's about 76 at the warm end and 72 at the cooler end. The crabs seem to be going back and forth between ends, haven't really settled on where they like most to be.
the red in these pics is the heat lamp shining in. I plan to get more froo froo and build a couple levels eventually.




ok if you decide to put a large UTH under one end with a thinner substrate, hopefully you know where your little guy is dug under, and you can thin out the substrate at the other end and place a UTH there. If you don't know, then that won't be an option for now.
I'm still new to crabbing myself, so hopefully some others have some good ideas for you.
So congrats on the 55 gallon, it's a world of difference isn't it! I love mine!