My daughter and I have two right now, need to get a couple more. We lost our big strawberry recently, he was our first one. He was already really big when we got him, they didn't have shells big enough for him at the store tank so he was making do. I immediately bought the biggest shell I could find and he happily moved in. He was about the size of a very large store sized apricot or small nectarine. I was a little scared to get any more because the store has been carrying little guys and he was so big. I was very sad when he died, but now we can add some new friends.
There are lots of websites with helpful suggestions for fresh foods that hermies will love. I also add in a few tiny pieces of egg shell for them to nibble on for the calcium.
Sounds like you are off to a good start with your new crabitat. You may not see them much during the day, but you will probably hear them at night wandering around and knocking their shells against the glass. Mine also make a weird squak like sound at night sometimes. We hadn't noticed it until we spend a week out of town with family and I had them living in a little critter keeper for the week. I couldn't leave them behind, but couldn't take the whole crabitat so they had to make do with temporary quarters. That whole week, we kept hearing a squak sound coming from the cage.
Did you get some extra shells? Hermies love shopping around and changing homes.
I think you can fit around 4 hermies in your crabitat. That's how many I'm planning on having. Also, I don't keep my coconut substrate soaking wet, I just keep it moist. It's moist, but fluffy I guess, LOL. I did a change out today and some rearranging and when I put the crabs back in, they went nuts. They ran all over, climbed up and down the "hill", ate, explored some more. They finally settle down and found a resting area.
Ya, i found scaping terraruims is more fun than scaping aquariums
I got 3 extra shells, one a little bigger, one a little more bigger, and one big conch. I also got 2 fake silk plants, 1 tall one, and one for groundcover. I got 3 big river rocks, and tons of little river rocks. I also got a log for him to go in. Its not a half log you see with turtles, it looks like something youd find in the woods (but soon he'll probly get to big to fit in... Lol
I got 5 lbs of black sand, 5 lbs of white sand, and somewhere about 7 lbs of white sand from the 5 gal before the goldies got shoved in. I also have a huge water bowl, but i burried it mostly so they can get in. Itnalready had stairs, but i added my own rock stairway with the small rocks i got just in case he couldnt get up. I got a thermometer/humidity thermometer, too. I spent 92.85$. I forgotnto get a hood though, so i covered the top with a huge pillow and some books.
Ill get 3 more hermies, probly small so they can easily fit in the log.
I find crabs to be more interesting then fish. Its something about there being more to do, more options, but less work. Its fun.
Ive also got bad news-the goldies are fighting. They have been for the last 15 minutes. They started after i fed them (a little too much... Oops) what can i do?
Also, i was planning to do a WC tonight on the goldies, but i ran out of distilled water. Im also out of prime. Can i quick cure some tap water?
Thx,
Spencer