Anybody know how to contact this ss24 pet shop ?...

Because my place is soo far from there...

Gonna took 1/2 hour if drive...

But i'm gonna purchase it next year...

gonna revamp my tank 1st... (Redeco)

I shall get the phone number for you. Hope i do have the plastic bag

so sad one of my crab missing ! i try to seek around my house but couldn't found...

Haha have fun finding it, just look out for a moving shell I used to have hermit crab escapes. Ended up finding them as far as in the garden or kitchen.

Any luck in finding your lost crab? Escaped crabs usually hide under the cupboard, cabinet or any place that is dark.

couldn't i think should be lost forever already.

i saw 8 strawberries at ikano. big and red.

i dont dare now.. my previous crabs failed in molting.

Do not worry.. failed molting is a common thing and sometimes it is something we cant do to change it except for improving the crabitat, improve the humidity and changing of environment.

Most failed molting is cuased by surface molting with disturbance from other crabs or owner or burrow molting and got stuck and couldnt crawl up to surface for replenishment (that is how my very first crab died stucked below a log and didnt know till its too late, dug him out and witnessed him struggling for survival )

got the number ?...

what the plastic bag do for ?...

The plastic bag is where i can get the phone number from since i am away from home at the moment, its a Pet Family plastic bag.

One of my small crab is undergoing a tough molting session as many of its legs dropped off and i should blame the recent hot weather since there is no way to lower the temperature without drying up the humidity.

29c in tank temp. reading with 70~75% humidity reading is pretty imbalance.

If anyone have good ideas in lowering the temperature, do post up. Currently little Blackpepper is still surviving with only 2 pincers and hoping that it can pull through this tough session and get into molting stage for regrowth.

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Added on December 27, 2008, 10:39 pm

Time for me to put in the photo of my tank. Shot in segments and stitched. Blur focus is on purpose to create certain depth to the photo. It was another redone after the peaceful departure of BlackPepper, RIP buddy.



Image of my medium PP, Pinch, who hid in the new spot of the tank for 5 hours without moving. That proves that the new tank environment suits him @ 30c / 75% humidity. I have a standing fan blowing slightly above the tank opening to create a breeze.

This post has been edited by onscreen: Dec 27 2008, 10:58 PM

where can i get the meter for measure the humidity and temp.
does it costly?

Its not expensive.

RM8.90 each. The brand i use is Exo Terra. Can be purchased almost in any major pet shops. IMO, Pet Safari have the most stock. Check Pet Lover Center too, almost the whole rack of Exo Terra products.

hi people. just bought 2 strawberrys from the SS24 shop. as usual, cant depend on the salesperson to give good advice. he just said put water in a small bowl and some fish food, and its done. sold me some aquarium sand which i dont think is suitable for the crabbies.

after going through the forum, realised should have bought a bigger thank to accomodate all the things needed. luckily my mom-in-law has a big empty tank she's not using. sigh. anyways, will post pics when i move them to the bigger tank. hoping to learn somethings from the sifus here.

cheers

NO worries g-string. first of all, put the crabs in a temp tank first. Avoid using the aquarium substrate you bought for time being.

Make sure you have 2 water dish, sea salt water and fresh water. Sea salt MUST be real sea salt. Processed salt contain unsuitable minerals that could suffocate the crabs. Fresh water must be cooked / boiled water.

Food, don't give fish food as it have different diet values for crabs. For the time being, settle on fresh fruits and it is one of the main food source for strawberry crabs. Change your food dish every 24 hours and replenish it often.



For the big tank, its time to invest money into it. Depends on the size, get a moderately large driftwood for their climbing obsession. If you have a huge pocket, you can settle on some climbing toys for your tank decoration :

1. Exoterra fake jungle (lots of leaves varieties) Small and Large @ 8.90 ~ 12.90

2. Exoterra artificial vein (3 varieties) Fine / Medium / Coarse @ 10.90 ~ 22.90 *tip : if you are crazy enough , buy all 3 for the optimal combo.

3. Exoterra granite rock cave (variable sizes) @ 9.90 ~ 40.90 *tip : best to get medium ~ large cave, depending on your tank for optimal hiding spot.

4. Exoterra granite rock water / food dish @ 8.90 ~ 29.90. This is entirely optional as you can use any Tupperware as alternative solution. For the food dish, you can go natural by using shells.

5. River pebbles @ varied price. I bought mine @ RM4 for 1KG. They are good decoration substrate to separate dry and damp areas. Also a good "floor mat" to prevent crabs carry in excessive amount of soil into the water dish.

6. Sand substrate. Most pet shops used to sell fine beach sand around RM10 and recently they no longer have such item in their inventory. So, you have to settle on a slightly rough river sand.

Alternative solution is to wait for 18 days, and i can get some washed beach sand from Port Dickson


Lastly, you can start decoration the tank as you see fit. If you use tupperware as water dish, make sure its deep enough for the crabs to submerge and emerge and also some small rock for them to crawl in and out.

Avoid using pine wood, bamboo items as it is harmful to crabs if chewed.

So far this is what i could think of. Fire your questions away if i miss out anything

wow...thanks very much for the indepth reply onscreen u gave a lot of excellent pointers.

i'm going to change tank tomoro, so they're temporarily in the smaller tank first.

for the time being, i only have a little tupperware with fresh water, its from my filter, but not boiled. does it need to be boiled, or just filtered is fine? its RO filtered water.

will be buying the sea salt tomoro, any particular brand which is good? i guess one teaspoon to like a litre of water is fine right?

tank decoration i'll have to see whats in the shop tomoro. btw, any good shop to recommend with good tank decorations, empty shells for the crabbies to relocate and good supply of substrate? since i don't have the right sand, i thought i'll try the coconut fibre bricks, errm...forgot what its called. i read somewhere that its easier to maintain, plus they can dig and eat if hungry and smell like peanuts.

i'll gladly pay u for the beach sand if u can get some. i don't mind waiting as i can put different substrates in the aquarium. freedom of choice for the crabbies.

but a shop recommendation for the above stuff would be very useful thanks again for the replies.

cheers.

No problem, glad that i respond to your post in time.

Yes, coconut fiber is good enough for substrate. Make sure its damp else it will kill humidity. Make sure its deep enough for your crabs to burrow. Mist the fibers to keep it damp always.

Crabs chew damp coconut fibers. I am not sure why but my crabs do that very often.

One shop particularly you should consider is the Pet Lovers Center in Sunway Pyramid. It have nearly the full range of exoterra products ranging from terraniums to climbing toys for crabs / reptiles to feeding / water dishes and hiding caves. Also, they sell gauges for temperature and humidity reading @ 8.90 each.

You can try Pets Wonderland, Pet Safari as well. Who knows they carry something else that fits in your tank

You can get those large shells in Pet Family, SS24. RM7 with 20% off. If i remember correctly, last counted is 4 available shells.

About the sea salt. Look for Red Sea sea salt. It come in small bottle t huge 2KG bags. Buy the smallest bottle available and yes, 1 tblspoon per liter. You can taste the saltiness as the sea salt is safe for us humans too. (i once accidentally drank the water and i am still alive now :cool:)

Regarding the water, to be safe, i did boil it . IMO, all water filter wont filter the water 100% as some microscopic elements could bypass the filtering process.

Dont worry on paying for the sand, take it as a best wishes token from me to your strawberry crabs.

Oh before i forget, balance up the strawberry crabs diet and in time to come, when they do their molt, the exo-skeleton will "glow" even redder.

This post has been edited by onscreen: Jan 3 2009, 12:21 AM

oh..I totally forgot about this thread. haha.

btw, straws need high humidity. And they are certainly good diggers and climber. So make sure your substrate is DEEP enough.

If you want them to retain their red colour after every molt, you should feed them carotene rich food. such as dried hibiscus flower/rose petals etc etc which includes fruits also. Just make sure the flowers are free from pollution.

And last but not least, can post some pictures of your babies?

and onscreen, I must say your tank looks very lovely. I am happy for your crabs.

This post has been edited by prophet007: Jan 3 2009, 03:21 AM

hi...finally bought some stuff and got the tank setup. i've got no sand, but i'm using the coconut fibre thing. is this enough? its deep enough for them to dig i hope. otherwise i'll wait for the beach sand, courtesy of onscreen thanks mate

my temp is hovering around 24-26 celcius (72-74F) and the humidity is around 74-76hG. is this ok? i'm thinking of getting a fan for the breeze, but afraid might make it drier or colder. the tank is indoors, not near a window or anything. but the cover of the tank has many slits, like a typical aquarium cover.

so far one has managed to climb to the top of the driftwood. but they're not taken a dip in the salt/fresh water pool yet. maybe its too humid in the tank.

so far so good...


This post has been edited by g-string: Jan 4 2009, 08:05 PM

hmm...not sure why my post above replaced my earlier post. must have clicked the wrong button.

anyways, now to go shell hunting. can't seem to find any shops that have shells. grrr....those that have are either too small or giant size. sigh. going to midvalley now, see if the shop there has anything.