Burried crabs

[Wai]

What are the brands of the sands that you bought? If you want to, show us a photo of the packaging.

I thought you had bought the dreaded Calci-Sand or the Crab-Island stuff, that's why I was alarmed.

[ravencreek9]

Uhhh...Its not a brand. The owners of the store go to FL a few times every other month and bring back beach sand, live rock, and other marine critters. They have all the permits and happen to own the slice of beach property they get it all from. The live sand I bought and put in my (fish)tank was Indo-Pacific Black sand by Arag-Alive. No worries on buying that calci-sand crap. I wouldn't even use it for my kids sand box! I make a point to bring up the heath problems it brings to ALL living creatures with both customers as well as the staff of pet stores. Since most pet stores tend to keep geckos, bearded dragons, snakes, skinks, tarantulas, scorpions, and their crabs on it. All of our local chain pet stores as well as the 4 mom and pop shops have taken it out of the enclosures. I even caught one employee at Petco telling a potential customer the EXACT info on impaction I had told him a few days prior. It felt good. Knowing I possibly saved a critter from the agony of such a horrible fate.

[Wai]

I'm impressed! Just to be safe, run a magnet through the sand in case there are any metallic particles that may cause a health hazard over time.

[ravencreek9]

EEEEEEKKKK!!!! They aren't hiding anymore!! I upped the humidity and gave them a deeper bowl to play/bathe in and placed it over the under tank heating pad. THEY LOVE THEIR POOL!! I also gave them one of the extra strawberry cuttlebones. They sat on that thing for a good 20 minutes. I even rearranged their tank a lil bit. They seem to like it more than before. I bought some of those cholla wood climbs and used zip ties to tie them into a triangle shape for vertical climbing. One stays on the top of it and chirps. Scared me the first time I heard it. So I came to this site and found out that its perfectly normal/safe and that they will be fine. THANKS HCP for easing my mind!

[emmac350]

Are the cholla logs colored? If so, be careful - the dye comes off into the substrate when they're wet (I adopted crabs that had one, had to throw it away immediately because it was turning the sand blue). You can get big pieces of cholla that you can cut yourself at Michael's craft store, or online at the Addiction store.

[ladybug15057]

Please do dispose of choya if it has been painted. Hermies do like to munch on wood, and it is healthy for them to do so as well. But the colorings and dyes very well could be harmful to them. This link is to research I have done, and the results were from human studies. I began researching due to the colorings used in substrates, but... :
http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-index.php?pa ... n+the+dark

Please also be careful about buying choya logs in a craft store as opposed to a pet store. Some choya sold in craft stores has been treated.

I have an E Squirmy who on occasions will scoot to the top of the choya wood in the baby pool jungle gym and just chirp away and quite loudly too. Not sure why she does this on occasions but is cute as all get out. Nothing bothering her, she is just being vocal.

[Wai]

That reminds me... is anyone here concerned whether their painted climbing toys are safe for hermit crabs? They're designed for fish, but I wouldn't be surprised if the paint would wear out over time.

[ravencreek9]

No they aren't dyed, treated or painted. I did buy them at a petstore though. I don't want to use anything unnatural in their tank. I have spent a good amount of time searching and researching different things about what they like(mostly here on this forum) and what they might like but could be bad for them. Like fruity pebbles cereal. I gave them each 1 pebble and they LOVED it. But I only gave them 1 each because I read on here that the sugary cereal isn't good for them in large amounts. I figure just 1 as a treat can't hurt. Cause 1 pebble to them is pretty much like having a whole bowl for me.

Ladybug thanks for the interesting links. The information was shocking to say the least.

[CrabbyJo]

Ravencreek, it sounds like you are doing awesome with your crabs! Great job researching and asking questions when the research doesn't pan out enough!

I found that when I added some cork bark (you can buy it in chunks in the pet store sometimes, they sell it by the pound, instead of those expensive small packages) my crabs were all over it, eating it often.
I also crushed a beef rib bone open and set it up on a level in the tank, and since it isn't molding, I leave it there, and from time to time I see a crab just sitting on it, spending hours munching away.
They also love the cuttlebone.

Keep at it, you're doing great!