What kind of Hermies are my crabs?

[Salt and Pepper]

we do have a gauge, but it doesn't work. how do you calibrate it again? well, the guy said at petco that heat couldn't excape from the mesh lid even though it has holes in it because its made for reptiles. they use the same lid and their temp and humidity is perfect. i am extremely sorry im typing like this but our spacebar is broken and you have to press this knob to get it to work but it doesnt work good and hurts your fingers.

saltandpepper

[CrabbyJo]

Happy Birthday SaltandPepper!
Darn that spacebar! Hey, you can pick up a keyboard at a thrift store for only a dollar or two, it's got to be a real pain to use one that doesn't have a spacebar that works!
Also, your post ended up too long since there are no spaces for the software to break it up, so everything ran off the end so we can't read it.

Calibrate your humidity gauge by putting some salt (you can use table salt) into a bottle cap (about a teaspoon or tablespoon or more) or tiny bowl, and wet it with water. Not sopping wet, not so it starts to dissolve, but so the salt is still whole but is moist, like damp sand. Then put the lid/bowl into a jar. If your humidity gauge has a cord on it, hang the cord into the jar so it is above the salt mixture, then seal the jar so it is air tight. Let it sit for 6 hours minimum, and read the gauge through the glass without opening it. If it is reading correctly, it will say 75%.

If it doesn't have a cord, that's okay, just put it in with the salt mixture but don't let it touch it.
It's better to have it above the salt mixture for a more accurate reading is all.

[ladybug15057]

I edited your post SaltandPepper to space your words so your reply could be read. (Moderators, in the upper right corner you should see a button/tab that says 'edit'. This can be used to edit postings as such above. By doing this all the words showed too that were run together, just remember to hit submit when done)
SaltandPepper, do you have a sewing thimble? This could help the tip of your fingers to press the space bar 'button' until you get a new keyboard.
As for what the pet store employess said about the mesh lid... sorry, he has not a clue as to what he is taking about! I have 3 40 gal reptile breeder tanks that have the mesh snap locking lids. The mesh lids DO NOT hold humidity or warmth within the tanks. You do need a lid to go over the screen lid as I posted earlier in this thread.
Please do go to the crab care section too. Wai has updated how to calibrate the humidity gauge and quite a few other areas in the crab care section.

[CrabbyJo]

Ooo that pet store guy makes me mad, taking advantage of a trusting young person!
SaltandPepper, Marie is very right, think about it - think of it like the mesh lid is a screen and the wind is blowing through - does the screen stop the wind? Nooooo so the wind will blow right through it, right? Same with the heat, it will blow right through it, as heat rises! So what I do for my lids is I have some pieces of cardboard cut so they cover parts of the tank lid, and I wrapped them with plastic wrap and taped it on, so it holds both heat and humidity in the tank! It works great.

So get your thermometer, and let us know how that humidity gauge is for you. (I say get the thermometer because I haven't seen you mention that you have one in the tank?)

Hope you can find a thimble, but if you can't we can try to fix the posts for you until you get a new keyboard (or a thimble! hehe)

[Salt and Pepper]

well the spacebar is missing on our laptop so i cant get a new keyboard! yes, i do have a thermometer - its on one side of the hygrometer - its a thermometer and highgrometer in one, the one by zoomed. i did not know that about screen lids.

also, i have some VERY exciting news for you!

i added a lot of natrual shells into the tank yesterday, and i went to bed that night. i was woken up at 7:29, "come see, hurry up! i hear a lot of noise under the log - it may be an emergency!" quickly, i jolted out of bed. the first thing i realized was jake and hermie's shells EMPTY in the middle of the tank. i freaked out and ran to the cage. "lift the log to see if their ok."
me: "ooh i dont want to see, im scared!" "why, that one of them died?"
me: "Yeah.." "well ill lift it for you." i looked and i was shocked! there was jake in a new natrual shell, looking beautiful and hermie in a nice white natrual shell. hermie was my jumbo who was too big for his shell, and now he can fit in all the way! jake looks very happy in his new shell.
i cleaned hermie's (natrual) shell and placed it back in the tank. i came back to look at jake & hermie in awe and saw luna's empty painted shell i saw hermie's old shell moving, trying to jam its way into the log. i picked it up, and it was luna!

im very excited jake and luna changed into a natrual shell and now hermie can go all the way in

[emmac350]

I'm glad that they're out of their painted shells! I'm sure your crabs are very grateful for their new homes. I hope you got those painted shells out of there immediately so no one goes back to them.

As for your laptop keyboard, all laptops at this point have USB ports that allow you to plug in mice and other such things. You can plug in a keyboard from a non-laptop computer in these ports and then you'll have a spacebar! Ask your parents about it; they should know what to do.

[CrabbyJo]

Congratulations on the new shells and the shell swaps! See, they really did want out of those shells, they just didn't have the right shells to choose yet! You're doing great getting them what they need.
Do make sure and calibrate your hygrometer though, and let us know what the readings are on the hygrometer and thermometer. Check them several times a day.
One thing, the humidity will change in relation to the temperature, so if you have a big temperature change, the humidity will also change. I've found that the warmer it is, the higher the humidity will tend to be.

[Salt and Pepper]

"Excuse_me,sir._What_kind_of_lid_would_be_best_to_conceal_humidity_in_a_Hermit_Crab_tank?"
"A_mesh_lid."
"Won't_a_mesh_lid_let_the_humidity_OUT_because_of_the_holes?"
"No._See_(Points_to_Hermit_Crab_Tank)We_use_a_mesh_lid_and_it_works_perfectly."
"Ok,_Thank_you."
"Mmm_Hmm.."

And_they_didn't_have_non-mesh_lids,_cause_I_looked_and_none_the_less_the_fish_tanks_didn't_have_lids..


So,_What_can_I_do_to_conseal_humidity_with_a_mesh_lid?

[emmac350]

S&P - just put something over the mesh lid. You can use cardboard wrapped in plastic wrap, books (if you have big guys that like to try to escape, this works especially well), plexiglass, etc. Just cover it with something, but leave a little room for some air to circulate into and out of hte tank.

[Salt and Pepper]

Big news here! With the mesh lid not keeping humidity, we covered it with plastic wrap. With the plastic wrap, the water in the water dishes were evaporating and covering the mesh lid. They would not fall off. We open the lid daily to let air in. But, the moisture wouldn't fall off! Now, lately, this past week- the tank smells SO bad! It's not a death or chemically smell- it's an expired water or rotten-egg smell! It smelled so bad when I changed the water, we went ahead and opened our spare pack of Eco Eath. We took all the crabs out the tank and put them in a carrier and scooped out all the rotten Eco Earth by hand with Latex Gloves and thru it all away. While cleaning it our I saw a big silver bug with a black tail! I soaked the Eco Earth in a bucket for 20 Minutes. It was facinating watching the Eco Earth expand- the water was almost all gone and there was a huge brown brick in the bucket. The crabs were in a wire cage, I know it's terrible, but it was a short time. They were climbing on the walls and hanging upside-crab (upside down crabs!) It was just Kawaii at the time though. I got my aunt to watch the crabs while I put in the Eco Earth particullarily Kawaii, spider-crab. It was a pain digging through the bucket- the brown muddy coconutty water was getting in my gloves and the Eco Earth had split in 4 pieces- one big piece, one medium peice and 2 small pieces. I had to reach all the way down into the bucket and grab the Eco Earth- the water and stuff was in my gloves on my hand and I had to quick- the crabs were on each other. I had to wait for the 'Eco Earth Juice" to pour into the bucket so it wouldn't pour everywhere. The underside of it was bit hard so I had to rip it apart- not so easy. Once I got it in it was terrific! I placed all the food, water, and ornaments back inside moved the tank back to it's spot. I was quite proud. We then put in all the crabs in the warm UTH'ed tank. We also taped the background back up but on the oppisite side-the Fish one. Our background is reversible and one side has a green forest (In my pictures) and the other is a pretty underwater ocean scene. It was a bit fishy but it was blue and green and maked our water dish of the same colors stand out boldly in a Crab-Tastic way. It was thundering outside but still, me and my aunt went outside- she threw away the plastic wrap and I emptied the remaining water out. The tank looks great- and there's no more "White Hermit Crab" Sand infused with it.


And to speak of my Calibration, my grandmother doesn't see and moved the container with it in it and knocked in the the Salt and Water. It didn't work though, because it read '40' on humidity.

Wow, that's some big news huh?