Dinner by the Pool
These are my three jumbo Straws. I have found that they like to do everything together, including eat. Tonight they’re enjoying a platter of fresh fruit ( cantaloupe, pineapple, grapes, honeydew, and apples), carrots, and krill. Surprisingly honeydew seems to be their favorite; I’m surprised because my other crabs have never really enjoyed it.
Monster is also loving the red grapes.
I’m battling humidity in their tank. I have a large pool, 9″x5″x2″, with an air stone and the humidity has been very high. I was using analog gauges in the tank and I suspected that they were low. I bought a digital gauge today and the humidity was 88%, way too high! I added some dry sand to the substrate; since my largest straw still refuses to change out of his shell with holes, the sand was very moist. I turned off the UTH under the pool since it’s warming up here in the bay area and the humidity is down to 82%. I would like to get it closer to 78-80% so I may leave a slight crack in the glass to see how it does. While I know the straws like higher humidity, more so than some other species, too much above 82% for extended periods of time is too high and can make them sick or kill them. You can read more about heat and humidity issues in the What causes bubbling in hermit crabs? HCA FAQ.
