Vampire Crabs

[siva]

The tank they are in right now has a standard lid, with no cut outs so it's pretty tight, lots of condensation builds up so I think the humidity is good and the heat from the lights prob helps too I'm thinking. A full hood for a 20 long would be pricey too though and I'm trying to keep the bill down.

Also just a peice of glass sounds kind of akward...I'd hate to drop it in the tank trying to get it off or something..I'm notorious for stuff like that lol

I can't seem to figure this part out....

 

[LemurLad]

What size were you planning on? I bet they have a glass top in your size at your local Petco/Petsmart. They've got a hinge so no need to worry about dropping it in the tank. As for hood coloration, you can paint your tank to match a black hood. That or get a hood with the faux-wood panel on it. Terrestrial plants are a lot easier/forgiving than aquatic plants so the light doesn't have to be anything super intense/expensive.

 

[siva]

It's a 20 long. I want to do aquatic plants in the water part too. I didn't know they sold glass tops like that, I'll have to look. But that doesn't sound like it would accomodate a light. I may just have to fork out for a full hood...sigh.

I sent my husband to home depot tonight to get the acrylic cut, sealant, and great stuff. The sealant he brought home he researched and said we couldn't use for it after all. Have to go back tomorrow and look some more. Can you tell me what exact sealant I need to seal the acrylic peice in and cover exposed foam with the brown?

 

[LemurLad]

Use GE Silicone I for basement/kitchen/attic. It's the one that will give you the least hassle because it doesn't have a toxic anti-mildew agent.The glass tops are made to have a light on top of them,don't worry! I covered my exposed foam with clear silicone and then with rocks and gravel. In almost every paludarium set up, you are gonna be stuck with low-light aquatic plants like java ferns,crypts and anubias because the light is farther away from the water.

 

[siva]

So you didn't use brown sealant?

 

[siva]

I must have seen that in the other guys thread.

I was thinking I couldn't use a light with it or the glass would get too hot and break. The turtle I just rescued came with a broken glass lid they said it shattered in one spot from the light..that's what got me thinking that.

 

[siva]

I'm thinking if I can't find anything called aragonite sand, maybe hermit crab cacli-sand would work..?

 

[LemurLad]

I didn't use brown sealant because I couldn't find 100% Silicone sealant in brown that didn't have an anti-mildew agent, but I think the gravel ended up making it look great!

Were they using a florescent strip light? I couldn't see one getting hot enough to break glass. But a heat lamp or a halogen lamp would definitely get hot enough to shatter it. Use a regular old aquarium light or even a shop light since you're on a budget, they shouldn't crack any of the glass tops they have at the pet store.

Hermit crab calci-sand would probably work just fine, I was thinking you might be able to get a little baggy of aragonite from a local fish store or maybe some from someone that tore down a saltwater tank. In my substrate I used a chunky sort of aragonite that kinda looks like this:

Hope that helps!

 

[siva]

Awesome..we can't find brown either so that's great.

Of course, yes, it was a heat lamp, so I was concerned since I was originally thinking I'd be using one, but now I'm just going to do flourescent which doesn't get so hot. (I'm talking myself through this lol).

Ok it can be chunky like that, good to know. I'm betting my m&p lfs has it, I'm sure petco doesn't since it's a SW thing and they are limited in that dept.

So to clarify, with a glass lid on, and a heater in the water, the land part is going to stay warm and humid enough? With occasional misting? I don't need any type of fancy misting or fogging set up though?

One thing confusing me is temps because everyone seems to say something different. What is the minimum temp their land area should be at? And humidity level..do you use a guage for that or just wing it?

And is there some type of regular cleaning required of the land area..how would I go about that?

I promise I will stop bothering you with questions now

 

[LemurLad]

Heheh, no problem! I just love these crabs and wanna make sure people know how to take care of them.

You can go the extra mile and get a misting or fogging system, but really, just a couple of mistings a day will be sufficient with the glass top. And a misting can be just a 10-15second spraying with a spray bottle. The misting set ups are generally for those folks who have whole menageries of tanks that would get really tedious to mist. I don't keep a humidity gauge in my tank because I don't see the point if I'm gonna be misting a couple times a day regardless. The humidity will be high, it's a glass box that you're spraying water in, 'nuff said.

With a heater in there, it will be easier to stabilize the temperature which is what's really important. As long as it doesn't get too hot like above 80 or too cold like under 60 you should be okay. 70-75 is the ideal range.

As for major cleaning of the land area, you might want to change out your substrate every few years, haha. I recommend you look into a local reptile shop and see if they sell springtail cultures. These are little bugs that live in the soil of your terrarium and help keep it clean; the crabs will snack on them too! If you can't find springtails near you, you can buy cultures online. Like here: Josh's Frogs. Or here: AAAFrogs. And maaaany other people and places have them. You can even get woodlice (also called isopods and sowbugs) as they make a great clean up crew.

BUT!

You don't need them to have a successful vivarium, and the nice thing about the crabs is that they will eat decaying material too. Springtails are just a nice bit of insurance between feedings. You really don't wanna do much cleaning in the terrestrial portion as it can stress out the crabs. And no one wants stressed crabs!

As a disclaimer... I've only had my crabs for a few months, but I did a TON of research and talked with some of the folks who breed the crabs. Happy to regurgitate the info I learned for you because, really, the info on them is few and far between and often in german.

 

[siva]

Fantastic! Do you think I need a fancy misting bottle or will any spray bottle work?

I like the sound of trhe springtails..they won't like...come out of the tank will they? LOL this tank is going to be close to my bed

It looks like 3rd times the charm with the silicone..finally have GE I for basement. First ended up with DAP and then GE II with mildewcide. Did a bunch of research on the GE II and boy is that stuff controversial..some ppl say they use it with no ill affects but I wasn't going to mess around, so finally, found the right stuff, yay!

I got the glass top at petco, wow I didn't even know those exsisted! If I hadn't talked to you I probably would have done something super silly

For lighting, I went with the absolutely cheapest solution I could that would allow me to atleast do some low light plants..I already had one cheap little clip on desk lamp so I bought a matching one..I'll be able to clip them onto the dresser the tank will be on and aim the lights at it, 2 13watt 6500k CFL's.

I couldn't find exactly what I wanted in the substrate. I got the sphagnum moss and coco fiber, I knew those would be easy. I could not get my hands on aragonite, instead I purchased ProCalcium Sand. It says it's 100% digestible calcium carbonate. Is this a suitable sub for the aragonite? And the bark..couldn't find orchid bark, got a bag labeled "forest bark", it's Exo Terra brand, it says it's 100% natural fir bark, is this a good sub for the orchid bark? I also purchased a bag of beaked moss..is this appropriate to use as well?

I bought some beautiful peices of driftwood. Unfortunately I couldn't get my hands on any small scrap type peices like I wanted though. I remember when I set up a paludarium of sorts for my fidder crabs, the driftwood that was on the land part got moldy. Was I doing something wrong/is that going to happen in this paludarium as well/is it preventable?

My lfs was surprised I was buying all this stuff for my vampires. After all, they sell them out of a fish tank. They are pretty good too, as far as lfs's go, but they seemed to think I was crazy picking these substrate choices for crabs. Poor little crabbies, how miserable they must be stuck at the bottom of an aquarium

 

[LemurLad]

You should try to convince them to put the crabs in a paludarium set up! My LFS keeps them in what's mostly a terrarium with a small water pool. Save those crabs!

Springtails are suuuuuuper tiny and live in the soil, I wouldn't worry about them escaping. They're about the size of a two grains of sand. Chances are, in buying your plants, you'll get springtails anyway. (But a culture is a good way to get a lot in there asap) And you just reminded my of the #1 reason most people get springtails! THEY EAT MOLD! You weren't doing anything wrong, mold on driftwood in vivariums tends to appear for a few weeks and then go away, but springtails will also eat it up and keep mold from getting out of control.

On to substrate! The calcium sand should be good, being sand it will probably be taken up by the crabs and the springtails a lot easier than my chunky stuff.
As for the bark, RETURN IT. Fir contains a chemical that can harm the crabs. Orchid bark seems to be harder and harder to find these days... Coconut bark substrates can be an okay substitute. The beaked moss should also be fine.

Can't wait to see some pics of your set up!

 

[siva]

Well, so far I haven't had any luck getting them to give air access to their fiddlers, but I will definitely be trying.

Thank goodness I asked. On most of the bags of bark they had, I couldn't find any note as to what actual type of bark it was. I'm searching online..if you know exactly where I can find some of the good stuff, please let me know Yay for the sand though..atleast I have that part figured out. Then I'm on to finding some springtails, they sound well worth it.

Thanks for taking the time to help me with this...you've really helped me with a crap load of questions. I've been doing so much research, and still haven't even come across alot of things you've told me! Have your crabs had babies yet?? I do SO want that to happen

 

[siva]

OK...I haven't sealed anything in...I chickened out..I'm worried..is a 20 long too small?

 

[LemurLad]

A 20 long is plenty of room for crabs! They really don't need too much room to be happy. Keep in mind they'll utilize the whole tank area, water included.

As for springtails, bark, and whatever else you may need, I've gotta give a shout out to my local reptile shop that I absolutely love: LLLReptile. They ship all over and their prices are awesome across the board. They should have everything you need. They say they only ship springs with live reptiles, though. You could probably tell them what's up and they'd let you get some.

I think a 20 long would make a great palu personally, because with paludariums you're always sacrificing floor space, but with that size you can have plenty of land and water without having to focus so much on the height like with taller vivs.

I wish my crabs would have babies! Don't think I haven't made mistakes either... These crabs can be super stressed from how they're imported. I've bought three pairs of crabs so far, lost one crab due to disease and one with a molting problem. So I'm at 4, with either 2 males and 2 females or 3 and 1 of the other. Supposedly they have gestation periods of 6 months... Here's where I found out the bulk of my info, just by asking a breeder: CB Red Devil Crabs for sale - Dendroboard. You can see my posts throughout the thread.

 

[siva]

Wow this site is freaking awesome. I'm definitely ordering from them. I'm going to go ahead and use the 20. I got so excited about everything that the idea of a bigger one started to appeal to me..ah but really..I need to use this tank I have! lol

Speaking of stressed..I felt so bad because yesterday I had to move them into a different tank, and right after doing so one molted! First time that's happened, that I've seen anyway. His claws are a light pink color now..is this normal?? Also I don't see him eating at his old shell at all..shouldn't he be? My fiddlers always eat the whole thing.

 

[siva]

So...later I noticed that during/after the molt sometime he lost 2 legs. Then noticed in one of my other tanks a CPO with a missing pincer. I freaked and went to net him out thinking he must have been attacked, and during the chase I found his shell and realized he had just molted as well, and lost a limb as well. I started really worrying. I have lots of inverts, so this isn't good. I put peices of cuttlebone in the substrate of my tanks with crabs, shrimp, and crays...something I had already done for my apple snails with cracked shells but stupidly didn't even think about my other inverts! I must be having a calcium deficiency issue.

Well this morning I found the vampire crab dead Gosh darnit!!!!

Got my acrylic peices sealed in..just waiting for that to stop stinking to continue.

 

[alLexX]

will they kill ADFs?if i have a heater is a basking light nescissary?or vice versa.can i just powder shells instead of getting the calcium sand?

 

[siva]

LOL allexx you clearly didn't read the thread. I don't blame you, it's long. They don't live in aquariums like ADF's, they need a paludarium But yes, it seems they would kill ADF's.

 

[alLexX]

i know they need palaudariums,but the only non leaky empty aquarium i can find is fairly big,so i could put enough water for ADFs and stii have land.