land hermit crabs
- Thread starter evelyn80
- Start date
DAVIDFBT
Extinct? Since when?
I would be afriad of the chemicals you could find in it and if it will turn into a goo with so much moisture. Why not just spend $4 for a 50 pound bag of playsand at a hardware store? Or if you can't find any, there are blocks of coconut fibers in the pet stores that you soak in water and it makes the perfect substrate for hermit crabs.
well ill c next time i go to the lfs if theres any. + ive never seen sand my local hardware store and the nearest place that sells it is waaaaaay expensive!
DAVIDFBT
Extinct? Since when?
Sand at hardware stores is usually in the concrete/cement part of the store, they use it for concrete mixes and to put texture on cement.
Sometimes you have to ask for the sand at the hardware store. At mine they keep it in the back because there's not much demand for it, but it's really cheap and a 50lb bag for $2-$4 should last you quite some time. I still have a good amount of mine left which I bought in april and I've been using for fish tanks, bird baths, and my tortoise.
Bed-A-Beast is one of the cheapest brands of coconut brick i've seen at the pet store. Bought a brick of it (from petsmart and I also saw it at petco) but I haven't used it yet so I can't recommend it or knock it down other than to say it only cost $4 and one brick is supposed to be enough for a 40g terrarium according to the packaging.
Bed-A-Beast is one of the cheapest brands of coconut brick i've seen at the pet store. Bought a brick of it (from petsmart and I also saw it at petco) but I haven't used it yet so I can't recommend it or knock it down other than to say it only cost $4 and one brick is supposed to be enough for a 40g terrarium according to the packaging.
i use eco-earth for the substrate, it holds moisture really well and keeps the humidity high. i've also used playsand from home depot in the past, the 50lb bag. it worked fine, my crabs had no problems. as for the temperature... i dont use a heater at all. in the winter, my house can get pretty cold, probably low 60's, maybe even upper 50's. but my crabs survive. i mist my terrarium like crazy to keep the humidty very high. the move less when its cold, but they'll survive.
Just wanted to point out, C.clypeatus may survive short periods of low temps (though I certainly do not recommend it) but other species absolutely need higher temps (C.perlatus for example).
They can drown but as long as you provide them with a way to climb out, this shouldn't be a problem.
