u/Hollyjayneee

So I’m new to keeping crabs (honestly I haven’t actually even got them yet) I have spent a lot of time researching and finally started to set up my enclosure!

I have a 65L tank (15/20gal I think?) and have tried to stick to the 80 land 20 water, there’s some lava rocks and mesh with soil on the top giving them a lot of burrowing depth, I’ve added a filter and heater to my water to keep the temps right and today I added the branch, some creeping fig and polka dot plant and have a pothos on order, added my springtails and I’m waiting on some spikey Java moss for the rocks and some moss for land too, is there anything else I should add? I’m going to wait 4-8 weeks for everything to establish before I get crabs I just want everything to be good so they live a good life :D

Picture of where I’m at currently

I live in the uk and am currently like everyone else sick of this heatwave, however my humidity is spiking 75%-85% due to the heat and substrate change I did a week ago…

Normally my humidity stays between 40-60% but since I’ve changed my substrate (I use top soil/sand/coco mix) the heat hasn’t been in my favour :( my humidity is far too high and I am currently sitting on my bed with my boys viv open so my humidity can drop! My Viv is also 4x2x2 and if you look at my profile I should have a post with a picture!

Now for my actual question, I thought about meshing one side of his viv (probably the cold side) to allow for extreme airflow while my already fairly dry substrate dries out more 🤣 would this be a good idea? I’m thinking more how to secure it than anything (it will be fully closed normally at night time) I was thinking Velcro on the outside (so he can’t be hurt by adhesive) that I can attatch the mesh too?

Picture of my boy being a scarf yesterday and enjoying his big tree branch (AKA ME🤣)

Got my boy just over a month ago from a lady rehoming him! He was in a very basic setup when I brought him home just to monitor him for a while!

Finally created his “naturalistic” home today 🥰
Lots of fake plant clutter, sticks and moved him onto a nice top soil/sand/coir substrate! He seems so happy!!

His humidity is sitting a little high for me (70%) but I did expect that while the soil dries out a little!

Anything I should add?

My corn did his first poop with us today…. On my bed…. He ate on Monday so I expected a poop soon as he was showing signs but I needed to get in his Viv to cool it down… he was on the bed (not stressed/showing no signs of stress) with his dad 🤣 but I don’t really know if this looks like a good healthy poop 🤣

I went for a walk in my local nature reserve and found some lovely fallen London plane tree branches! I’m looking for the best way to sterilise them before putting them in my corns tank!

They won’t fit in an oven so bathtub job it is!
I don’t really want to use bleach and would prefer natural solutions!

Branch (number 1 of 3 in picture) has been sanded down to remove bark and sharp edges!

Also Google sais they’re totally fine to use for corn snakes but if you think otherwise please let me know! There a hybrid tree from the sycamore tree!

We got this beautiful boy today! We kept his OG name and are so excited to have him! (He’s our first corn snake and snake in general)! Can’t wait to give him the best life ☺️

He also decided to shed in the pillowcase on the way home 😫