Clips from the Crabitat 2009

[Pickles12807]

That crabitat is awesome! I have a video of my 29 gallon on my channel.

[latieplolo]

What a paradise! Your hermits seem to love that water. I tried to do a "beach" like that in my 60g, but apparently silicone sealant doesn't adhere to plexiglass so I could never get a good seal. Did you use glass?

[sugarselections]

@latieplolo I used plexi. After about a year my pools began to leak and I had to pull them out.

[Dawnpaw]

Woww! This is hermit crab heaven! Beautiful crabitat!

[sugarselections]

@Dawnpaw Thank you!

[17Backslash]

I love this video. I watch it a lot. Just so you know. I sent you a message on HCA. The song is so perfect for it

[sugarselections]

@17Backslash Thanks!

[powerfulpup]

I love when the bubbles come out of his shell, haha.

[m0j0101]

your hermit crabs dont drown?

[sugarselections]

@m0j0101 No, they don't drown. They can enter and exit the water as they want.

[Wafflepwnfanno1]

Awesome! :D 

[sugarselections]

@Wafflepwnfanno1 Thanks!

[Lordhermitcrab]

OMG. the song is about the aquarium!

[Lordhermitcrab]

How much money exactly was all this?

[TheMightyChoob]

I plan to start shopping for my crabitat materials this week. If mine turns out 1/10th as nice as this, I'll be happy.

[sugarselections]

@TheMightyChoob Thanks! It's lots of fun to decorate a crabitat. Good luck with yours.

[crabteacher]

Sweet setup. I love how you decorated the tank. It shows how much you care about your pets. How deep is your coco fiber and how many hermit crabs do you have in the tank? What is the largest size crab in there?

[sugarselections]

@crabteacher The coco fiber is about 10 inches deep. Currently I have 29 crabs in the 90 gallon tank. The largest is a baseball-sized jumbo purple pincher.

[rszdemon]

...oh god this video and this song and this everything.

this may be the best video on youtube.

[sugarselections]

@rszdemon Thanks so much!

[Actionizeable]

Amazing, what filter is that?

[sugarselections]

@Actionizeable There is a Tom Dive Clean mini filter in each pool.

[Actionizeable]

Please explain how you got that slab of glass in the tank??

[sugarselections]

@Actionizeable I cut all the plexiglass pieces to the correct size. Then I just fixed them in place with GE 100% silicone sealant.

[prosk8ter85]

what substrate are you using?

[sugarselections]

@prosk8ter85 I use coco fiber. Specifically, the T-Rex forest bed brand.

[prosk8ter85]

@sugarselections thanks man nice 'tat!

[Lordhermitcrab]

When you are giving that hermit crab the pineapple chunk, he is like, "Gimme dat!".

[Stickfighter100]

tehe a 1:30 he reminds me of mario how did you get the really deep pool?

[sugarselections]

@Stickfighter100 I built the pools out of plexiglass and silicone sealant.

[Stickfighter100]

@sugarselections would you mind if i made somthing like that ?

[sugarselections]

@Stickfighter100 I wouldn't mind at all. Good luck!

[Escaped01]

Thanks for the response; got two more questions if you don't mind. Are the crabs that you've seen soak up to an hour all exotics? I was surprised by the lengthy time period and didn't think they could be under longer than 10, 15 min max. Do you have Purple PInchers or E's and if so, do they soak for long periods also?

[sugarselections]

@Escaped01 I have purple pinchers, Ecuadorians, straws, violas, rugs, Indos, blueberries, and an Aussie. At various times I've seen all the species spend extended periods of time submerged in the salt water pool. When I first installed the pools I was surprised by how much time all the crabs chose to spend underwater.

[TheGoonishMans2010]

Nice and expensive looking crabitat! XD

[sugarselections]

@TheGoonishMans2010 Thanks

[Escaped01]

I'm in complete awe of your talent. Fantastic video and an obvious bunch of happy crabs; I particularly like the little guy @ 1:30.

Are the siliconed rocks difficult to keep clean despite the filters? Do you brush clean them or does the filter do sufficient job? Is the submerged wood decorative or real? how is the right ledge suspended? I see a clear bracket above it. It is like an L shaped bracket the ledge seits on?

Thanks and sorry for the boatload of questions. Awesome job!

[sugarselections]

@Escaped01 Thanks so much! The crab at 1:30 is Aloha.

The gravel stays pretty clean with the filters. When it gets too dirty, the pool inserts are removable so I pull them out and clean them. The submerged wood is resin. The ledge on the right is a Magnaturals. Unfortunately, the glass of the tank is too thick to support the magnets so I used plastic over-the-door wreath hangers to suspend the Magnaturals.

[captmicha]

Are the pools constructed of plexi-glass siliconed into place? I have a 55 gallon and I really want to copy your idea :)

[sugarselections]

@captmicha Yes, the pools are made of plexi and siliconed into place. There's also separate inserts made of plexi and silicone that sit inside so the pools can be lifted out and removed for cleaning.

[captmicha]

@sugarselections That sounds awesome. How did you do the inserts? Do you think I could get a picture of them? I can't wait to make your pool idea. My crabs are naughty and keep piling their sand in their water bowls, like every single night and then they wander around in the bowls like, "Hey, where's the water?!!" Did you do something special for a feeding area too? My crabs like burying their food.

[sugarselections]

@captmicha I didn't do anything special with the feeding area. However, I do feed large chunks of food instead of chopping it up. They still drag their food around, but it's much easier to find one big chunk than lots of little bits.

[GreenHermitCrab14]

Are these hermit crabs under water?

[sugarselections]

@GreenHermitCrab14 There are large pools in the tank that the crabs can enter and exit at will. Some of them enjoy completely submerging and walking around on the bottom of the pools.

[CaineNova]

awe your one straw crab looks so content with the coconut you gave him/her :3

makes me happy to see such happy pampered crabbies :3

[sugarselections]

@CaineNova Thank you. All my straws really love coconut. Much more so than any of my other species.

[jabenflobenbob]

is that big tree artificial ?

[sugarselections]

@jabenflobenbob Yes, it's from the reptile section of Petsmart.

[jabenflobenbob]

I'm so envious !

[sugarselections]

@jabenflobenbob Thanks!

[farfinmosker]

SO awesome!! I love when the bubbles come out of the viola's (?) shell. And what a cute straw grabbing onto that coconut! :D Great video.

[sugarselections]

@farfinmosker The "bubbling crab" is my largest Indo, Bali. The crab grabbing the coconut is named Ipo, although all my straws love coconut and will take it from my hand.

[Ameretatt]

Could you tell me the measurements you used? I really like the tanks and trying to recreate for our 55 gallon one. Also, how is the clean up with the water done?Thanks in advance.

[Ameretatt]

Could you tell me the measurements you used? I really like the tanks and trying to recreate for our 55 gallon one. Also, how is the clean up with the water done?Thanks in advance.

[sugarselections]

@Ameretatt I didn't really use measurements. I just built it to fit in the space available. There are filters (Tom Dive Clean Mini filters) in the water to keep it clean and I did partial water changes once a week. I used aquarium test strips to make sure my levels were good. I basically cared for the pools as if they were fish tanks and did all the maintenance associated with aquarium keeping.

[darkcastlegoer]

can they go under waer for a long time?

[sugarselections]

@darkcastlegoer I've seen my hermit crabs choose to spend over an hour underwater at a time with no problems.

[captmicha]

Wow. I really like how you attached the pebbles or tiny shells to the ramp by the water. How did you do that?? Do you think it would allow enough grip for their claws and feet if I did the whole back wall of my aquarium like that? Vertically, I mean.

[sugarselections]

@captmicha The aquarium gravel is attached to the ramps by spreading a layer of silicone sealant on the plexiglass and then just sprinkling the gravel on it and pressing it in. I'm not sure if that setup would work on a completely vertical surface. For climbing, I like to use fish nets and sheets of cork bark along the back wall of the crabitat.

[captmicha]

@sugarselections Where do you get large enough sheets of cork bark?

[sugarselections]

@captmicha I get my cork bark from an eBay shop called Tilly Stuff.

[HermitCrab5]

Nice Crabitat!

[sugarselections]

@HermitCrab5 Thanks!

[MaritaBarita]

Very nice setup =)

(thumbs up)

[sugarselections]

@MaritaBarita Thanks!

[sugarselections]

@kidle102 Yes, I siliconed the plexiglass into place at an angle. The wood with the holes is actually a type of dried cactus called cholla. I got the cholla at Michael's craft store.

[cyszaii]

just as i thought this is the tat that i have seen on the site. i donno wat its called. but it has a dog and sugar gliders. i love your tat

[sugarselections]

@cyszaii Thanks. I do have a blog where I occasionally post about my pets, including the crabs.

[thewongguy2]

Nice setup how'd you make the fresh and salt water pools and what was the total cost?

[sugarselections]

@thewongguy2 I made the pools with plexiglass, silicone sealant, and gravel. I think the whole project cost around $100.

[hatermyname]

So it has yo be salt water and not fresh water?

[sugarselections]

@hatermyname Hermit crabs need both fresh and salt water. They like to be able to completely submerge in both pools.

[hatermyname]

Nice...I thought they couldn't be in the water like that..?

[sugarselections]

@hatermyname Deep pools are fine as long as you make sure there is an easy access/exit point so the crabs can enter and leave the pools at any time. I've seen crabs spend up to one hour completely submerged in the salt water pool. They love it.