Heater | All Kinds of Reptile Site

reptile bedding

December 16th, 2009 admin No comments

reptile bedding
how much eco fiber will be good for a 10 gallon hermit crab tank?

is this it http://cgi.ebay.com/Zoo-Med-Eco-Earth-Coconut-Fiber-Reptile-Bedding-3pk_W0QQitemZ120419341795QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item1c098d55e3&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116, and will this be enough for a 10 gallon. o and will it appear darker once a tad moist?
lol i bet u love answering my questions,

Hint, most answerers will do a search in Pets>All>All and that will pull up every search that has "hermit Crabs"in the title and body of the question, I hope this saves you a bit of time.

Here goes my confession I used hot pink aquarium gravel for two months before switching to coconut fiber or as it is also known as eco fiber, for a ten gallon tank a (approx measurements) 4 X 8 X 1 1/2 inch brick will yield 7-8 liters when reconsituted with 4 quarts of hot Water, I use a little less water and break up the stubborn pieces by hand so i do not risk a substrate that is too wet.You can always add water. You will pay from 4ish to 6 dollars per brick, it says enough for a 40 gallon tank.

I recess my water dish so the hermits can just walk in, so that will give you a bit more depth by the water dishes taking up room that the substrate would otherwise fill.

The average opinion is that this is the closest to their natural enviroment also the texture and consistancy is best for digging, burrowing and tunneling to prepare for molting.

Here is the part of the section on substrates, most books as well as experienced keepers reccomend this. If you live in an area where humidty is naturally high then you can get away with other material for substrates, but that leaves the question of digging and burrowing ability.

6.Various Substrates

Which substrate to use is what will make the hermit crabs happy. Many hermit Crab owners use coconut fiber called Eco Fiber and can be found in most pet stores, after researching many websites and hermit keepers the coconut fiber seems to be their first choice and I have used it for aproximenly two years.Coconut Fiber comes in compressed blocks that expands when reconstituted with hot dechlorinated water, hermits love to dig and pick through it for possible bits of food and at molting time hermits will burrow into it to hide and for darkness when a molt is pending.