Goings On in Crabopolis

Alvin "Little White Guy", one of our small Es just came up from another molt the other day. It looks like he did a perfect job (unlike his partner in crime and fellow E, Simon "Little Brown Guy," who came up from his last molt missing his bottom leg segments on all but one leg).

We got a new thermometer/hygrometer as well. One of the little bugs must have found its way on top of it again (I don't think it was Coco like last time, I'm pretty sure he's down for a molt), because we found it face down in the coconut fiber.... the sticky completely covered in it. No way that was going back on the tank and staying up, so we just sucked it up and got a new one. Really, I suppose it's best to replace them fairly regularly anyhow, considering the abuse they go through - but we stuck this one up higher anyhow. ;) Just to be safe.

Mmmmm...

I have been somewhat lazy in the food dept. lately - lots of throwing together baby food or frozen fish food (marine cuisine or blood worms) for the fresh food dish rather than actual fresh food.

Tonight I made crabby stir fry. We human types had turkey curry tonight, so I took a one inch chunk of turkey breast and minced it, then did the same with frozen coconut, mango, and sweet potato, and I threw in a few frozen peas as well.

Once everything was thawed (easiest to do the mincing while frozen), I sauteed it for a few seconds in some coconut oil, then when the meat was almost cooked through (they were REALLY small bits), I drizzled raw honey over the top as the stir fry sauce. Stirred it up a little more, and into their fresh dish it went.

I also sprinkled on spirulina, wakame threads, red raspberry leaf, a few dried cranberries, and some "nut mix" (ground walnuts, almonds, and pumpkin seeds) for good measure.

I left in the dry food from before, it was gardner's mixed with broken up dried anchovy, dried carrots and parsley. Not sure the littlest dudes can break through those carrots since they're pretty hard, though they look like they've been dragged around enough.

I wonder how much it would kill my food processor to try to grind them up... probably a lot.

Feast night in the crab tank!

Tonight, for the first time, I offered the crabs tahini, which is a peanut butter like substance made from sesame seeds.

I tasted it too, and while I think it's much too bitter on its own, it would lend itself well to flavoring (honey, even garlic or something since it's not sweetened on its own).

For the crabs, I mixed the tahini with some local honey (pure and all natural), and some coconut. They've been taking turns at the little shell I used since I put it in (I got up to check a couple of times last night). When I got up at 6:30, there were even three or four eating out of it, and it's not a very big shell! I probably should have put it in one of the bigger ceramic dishes, just so everyone could get around it!

I'm seriously considering doing some kind of mix like that - maybe add some flax seed to it for extra carbs and some spirulina and kelp because they're crabby super foods - and freezing it for them in ice cubes. I can't imagine that I will use the tahini all that often, and it's a big jar just for hermit crabs! I'm kind of worried it won't keep.

Tahini is very good for the crabs because it's got a lot of the natural oils that they often lack on dry or commercial diets.

Toys!

We stopped at Petco Friday on our way home from work. We did manage to resist more crabs, and I wasn't sure we would when we went in. Mike has been joking the past few days how he's going to buy me a tiny _____(insert silly things at will)... that wears a shell.

However, we didn't even have an employee open the cage for us to look at the crabs. There were just none active and out being cute. While it didn't really figure into our decision, they'd also taken all the hidey's out of the hermit enclosure. :( I don't know if that was temporary or a new policy though - they had a lot of empty cages in the reptile area, there might have just been some weirdness going on due to impending deliveries.

We DID get new tank decor. I've been wanting to buy some stuff from the aquarium decor section for awhile, and last night I found a piece of decor made to look like a stone temple ruin (it's got a face, like a colossal statue, and some columny bits). We've got it nestled in with a hanging plant now so it looks all cool and overgrown.

We also got a moon light. Previously we've always used a black heat light at night, but not only did it not emit any light, but it was much too low wattage for our tank - it just wasn't doing the job. Now we've got a cool erie glow going on at night, and it's keeping the tank warm enough. I woke up Sat morning at 6:30 (because my body hates me on weekends), and the tank temp was right at 80, and the light was still on.

Now, we have a thermostat hooked up to our lights, so getting too hot wasn't a big problem, but I do prefer to use the least wattage that does the job so the light isn't blinking on and off all the time (poor crabs... "HEY! Where'd the moon go?").

The smallest moon light they had was a 75 watt bulb - much bigger than the 15 watt black light! But since the black light wasn't cutting the mustard, and we use a desk lamp on the top of the tank to administer night lighting (the hood only has one light fixture), so we aren't putting it directly on the glass or anything.

I think it worked pretty well, though obviously I wasn't watching to see if it was switching on and off again or staying on pretty steadily.

The hermit crabs also scored some frozen blood worms. I've never gotten blood worms before for them, so this will be a fun experiment (they've had a chunk in their tank since this morning).