Luna TailAnxiety, Dogs, and Life

Which, in any other context, might sound like a bad thing. I put the sand in the tank today and, of course, forgot my camera. I’ll have to take some pics next week.

I plugged in the UTH - Under Tank Heater - and put in my thermometer and humidity meter. So it’ll go all weekend and when I get back I’ll see what the temp and humidity are, and then adjust accordingly.

I hope some crabbies like this tank. I put about 2.5 inches of sand in. I have more, if the crabs I get are bigger than this. But I think I want hermit crabs about that size.

I have been too busy to set up my crab tank. Ugh. It still sits in the same state it did before I went on vacation. I got four rescue collies in from Houston and have been spending most of my time with them, and with my own dogs, and trying to manage our house at the same time.

So it waits for a while. I need to go read more about them and inspire myself!

Woo Hoo. My glass lid came for the tank, and my thermometer and humidy meter. So all I really need now is sand. Oh and to knit up some hemp climbing things for them… ugh, hammocks that is what they are called. LOL my brain is not too sharp today.

I plan on getting play sand this weekend. Then this coming week at work I’ll set it all up! I’m excited. I hope this lid fits. I measured and I think it will be okay, but not 100% certain. I guess we’ll see.

gauge

My under the tank heater came yesterday. Yay! So now I can start getting the temp right. Well, I need to get the sand in there, first. maybe today I can stop at Home Depot and get some play sand. I wonder if I’m supposed to boil all of it to sanitize it. Boiling a lot of sand is not my idea of fun…

Hopefully my temp and humidity guages will come soon, too, so I can really get those two things going, they are most critical!

Okay! I have a DIY humidifier made. Simple simple. I bought a whisper air pump for $12.99 at Petco (Sonny got to came with and he had fun). And some tubing, and an air stone. I hooked up the tubing to the pump and the airstone on the end, and plopped it into a Mountain Dew 2 Litre bottle from my husband (oh, filled with water not Dew).

So now it is bubbling away next to me. My tank is at work, so I’ll have to bring this to work on Tuesday. Actually, I need to seal up the tubing that goes in and comes out so the humid air only goes into the tank. I’ll do that later today.

I need to go buy some play sand, too. I think I’ll do that this weekend.

Well I finally measured the tank all three ways and figured out it’s a 20 gallon tank. I think it’s a nice size. It might be a 20 gallon tall but I’m not sure.

I ordered a couple more things the other day. I glass hood for the top, and a humidity gage from this place. I hope the top fits. It should, as I measured, but as my husband knows sometimes I’m not the best at measuring things. Oh well.

The crushed coral deal seems to be falling through, so I’m thinking of getting some play sand at Home Depot instead. And mixing it with some of the other substrate stuff that is good for Hermit Crabs.

I measured the tank today… to see what size of plastic lid I will need. It measures 23″ long and just over 12″ wide. Those are the opening measurements for the lid. One that will fit inside… though maybe lids fit outside? I will have to check on that.

The outside measurements are 23.5″ long, just under 12.5″ wide, and … oh crap, I didn’t get tall, because I thought I wouldn’t need it for the lid. But I’ll need it to know how many gallons it will hold. I’ll get that a bit later.

This is the Cholla Wood I bought off of a local paper. Only $10, too. I like the look of it! The crabbies should like it. It has been recommended on the various sites I’ve been reading about Hermit Crabs. They can climb up it. Not sure I will use all of it, but probably most of it. Depends on what else I get for their crabitat. I’m going super budget and finding cheap things, so we’ll see!

I don’t know if this wood is driftwood or dry wood, and if I can boil it or not. Hrm… anyone know?

This is just a test of the new PhotoPress plugin I just added. Since I hope to post many crabbie pictures as time goes by, I thought a good photo album plugin was in order.

Figured out how to post the images.. now I have to figure out where the album is so I can view it.

Well I was able to clean out my new (freecycle used really) tank today. Here is a picture of the tank before the cleaning. It wasn’t really bad. And I’m not sure what type of cleaner I can use on the inside that is safe. I’ll have to go and post about it on the hermit crab forums I joined. Lots of knowledgeable people over there.

And here is the tank after the cleaning. Didn’t take me too long, and i ended up cleaning the backyard patio afterwards. Man, that patio needed a good cleaning.

It still needs a plastic lid. If I actually decide I want to get out to a store and buy a lid, I probably can get one at a local Petsmart or Petco. But if I’m lazy, and not in a hurry (which I am in both counts) then maybe I’ll just order one off the internet.

Anyway… the steps are coming along. Crap.. forgot to call the guy about substrate. I hope it’s not too late.