Another Quick Update

The plants are growing very slowly. I discovered that the first sprouts actually were the lettuce seeds I had tossed in with the grass seeds. A few days ago I added some random seeds from last season to get a little more growth going.

I moved two of the four hermies in this afternoon. They explored, but showed absolutely no interest in The Garden. Hopefully, they'll get hungry and go after it later. I'll be keeping an eye on it them this evening, and as soon as the other two surface in the current habitat, they'll be moved in.

A few other notes, I created a 6" dish garden with grass seed and an assortment of seeds from last season. Then I created a 6" dish garden with nothing but vine vegetable plants. When the first two have been destroyed, I will unveil the vine garden. I picked up a small plastic basket, cut holes in two sides and it will make a great plant stand and cave once this gets going.

I'll update with pics and more info later!

Quick Update

The crabitat is coming along nicely. I'm starting to wonder about the seedlings that are sprouting in The Garden. They don't appear to be the grass that I planted and I can't imagine the lettuce seeds sprouting this quickly. Oh well, we'll see what happens!

Big Changes!

 I made some massive changes to the planted crabitat today. This morning, bright and early at 7:15am, I wandered into Lowe's and found three new plants for only $0.25 each and a deep 4" plant drip tray. Since it was only 17 deg F outside when I left Lowe's I brought the plants right home. Then I hopped right back in the Jeep and made my way to Walmart, where I purchased the soap dish with suction cups, suction hooks and a few groceries. My last stop for the morning shopping spree was the local aquarium and pet shop where I picked up a few new sponges for the water bowls.

The Plants
One of the plants I picked up today was a new ivy variation, it had 6 healthy stems in the original pot. The second is the dark leaved plant in the back, and the third does not yet have a home in the terrarium.

Each plant was carefully removed from the original pots, the dirt was cleaned off and the roots and leaves were rinsed thoroughly. The plants were then planted in the new pots with expanded peat pellets (outer mesh removed).

After settling these two into their new home, I have one stem of ivy leftover and some dead space in the back to fill. I found a tiny clay pot for the single ivy stem and placed it in the front corner of the terrarium. Then I chose one of my healthy asparagus ferns from the living room and removed and rinsed a small portion of the plant. The asparagus fern has a larger root system then the other plants and therefore requires more space than the small 2" clay pots would provide. I was out of terracotta pots anyway, but had a clean jar leftover from sweet and sour sauce. It has cool Asian markings molded in the glass.

The Garden
There is little to report. There is more germination and growth, but so far there are still no full fledged seedlings. While at Lowe's I also picked up a 6" tray should I ever choose to downsize The Garden or replant it outside of the terrarium.

I'm getting more and more excited about how this is going to turn out!!




Hermie Stuff
Shell shop! The suction cup soap dish will be filled with shells for the hermies to select from. I have quite a few ordered from eBay.

Then I discovered that the hermies will need a way to get into the shell shop, so I crocheted a custom ladder for them to climb and secured it with the suction cup hooks I purchased this morning.

Hiding underneath the shell shop is a deep 4" tray filled with peat and coconut fiber for the purpose of burying and molting. It's out of the way and large/deep enough for two hermies.

There are two glass water dishes, one for salt water, the other for freshwater. The sponges are new, picked them up this morning at the pet shop. Last but not least, the handmade shell food dish. I made this a few days ago using shells and sea glass :-)

Alive and Growing Crabitat

This is the new 10 gallon glass crabitat. Clearly, it is a work in progress.

The Garden
 The 8" round saucer is the garden. It has been planted with a mixture of ryegrass and fescue, as well as a few seeds of green leafy lettuce. The substrate is coconut fiber from one of those Hermit Crab Soil pellets.

It has only been 24 hours and a few of the grass seeds have begun to germinate. I hope that by morning I will begin to see full-blown seedlings.

Behind the garden are two clippings of English Ivy in a 2" terracotta (clay) pot. The substrate for the clippings is Jiffy Organic Seed Starter Mix. Research tells me that if using a rooting hormone, the ivy will have roots within two weeks. It will be at least a month before the hermies make their home in this new crabitat.

The tank is currently receiving light 24hrs with a 13W compact fluorescent bulb. This is not the best light for a planted tank, but my grow lights are currently in use in the seed starter greenhouse. Thankfully, all plants chosen require only moderate lighting.

Why Choose Live Plants in the Crabitat?
There are many great reasons to opt for a living crabitat over artificial decor.

Natural Cleaning. As long as all damaged, dead or dying plant material is quickly removed, this will hold true. Living plants will remove harmful substances from the substrate, including natural waste from the hermies. This will reduce the risk of buildup of harmful gasses. Also, on this note, the plants will help keep the air fresh for the hermies. It will remove the gasses from respiration and convert them to usable oxygen for the hermies.

Humidity. The substrate for these plants alone will help keep the crabitat humidity up. Of course, the plant leaves will also help hold in and disperse moisture.

Food source. The crabs will love to nibble on the plants. This will cut down the cost of feeding your hermies commercial food as well as provide them with extra nutrients they would not get from dehydrated crab bites. You will have to supplement the vegetation diet with crab bites or nutrient blocks to ensure they get the proper amount of calcium.

Balanced ecosystem. With the exception of adding water and calcium supplements, it is very possible to establish a completely balanced ecosystem which will require far less cleaning and maintenance than an artificial crabitat.

Small and Simple

My current hermit crab habitat is a 5 gallon glass aquarium.

There are 4 small hermies residing here, two of which just recently joined the family. They have just the bare essentials, basic sand substrate, a hut, a few extra shells, food and water. There is no heater, no humidity gauge, no thermostat, no light, and the tank is loosely covered with a piece of plastic wrap.

I own plenty of extras for the crabitat, but we're sticking to basics for now :)

The tank decor is cleaned weekly. Each piece is rinsed in near-boiling water. At this time the hermies take their weekly bath in a bowl of room temperature, dechlorinated water.