Hermit Crabs - Helpful Tips for Care

First, remove from your mind the idea that these creatures are very low maintenance. Its not that they require a huge amount of your time, but they do require weekly bathing, new food every few days, new water every day, heat, and a regularly cleaned environment.

Habitat:

A hermit crab will be very comfortable in a 10-gallon or bigger aquarium with a few inches of sand or stones at the bottom. Two shallow dishes of water are required one for salt water and one for dechlorinated fresh water. You can buy additives at pet stores in preparing each water dish. Sponges sitting in the dishes work very well to help add humidity to the habitat.

Youll also need a thermometer and humidity gauge. The tank needs to be between 72 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit. You can use either an under-tank heater, or low wattage lighting to provide heat. The humidity must also be between 70 and 80 percent to keep your hermit crabs healthy.It helps to have a lid on your tank to keep in moisture, and to keep in your crabs. They can be quite the climbers!

Food:

Commercial hermit crab food can be purchased at any pet stores that sell the animal. Supplement their daily food regiment with assorted fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads, or small pieces of fish and meat. You can also offer some pieces of cuttlebone or boiled egg shells for calcium.

You will need to clean food dishes daily and remove any uneaten bits of food from the tank. Also rinse and refill water dishes daily.

Shells:

Be sure to provide plenty of empty shells in a variety of sizes. Make sure to also have a variety of shells in different shapes and styles, and with various opening sizes. You never know what type of shell a hermit crab may like, and if a good selection is not provided, crabs can fight over the best ones!

Bathing:

Hermit crabs need to be bathed once per week to stay healthy. (This is also a good time to clean the rest of the habitat) Fill a bowl about one inch deep with lukewarm tap water. Very slowly place the hermit crab feet first into the water. Often, the hermit crab will seek shelter inside its shell during this process. As the crab emerges, the water will go into his shell and rinse it clear of any debris. After a few minutes of walking around, take the hermit crab out and place it into his newly clean tank. (This may also be a good time for a treat of fresh carrots or any other type of treat)

Cleaning the habitat:

About once per month, do a thorough cleaning with hot water. Avoid detergents and chemicals as these can be harmful to your pets. Sand can be washed and boiled or baked to sterilize it for re-use, if desired.

Hermit Crabs are very friendly and fun pets. While they do require a good deal of care to keep them healthy, they are very rewarding pets and can be quite the stress reliever. As with any pet, research should be done before you make the decision to adopt it.

This article has been submitted in affiliation with http://www.PetLovers.Com/ which is a site for Pet Forums.

Tonia Jordan is a freelance Journalist and a writer on http://www.Writing.com which is a site for Writers.

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Moisture For Mealworms

Like all insects meal worms need a moisture to thrive and reproduce. There is a ton of info out there on the web on this subject. In our years of breeding insects we have tried all the methods of providing moisture. Adding water directly to the substrate will cause mold and kill your colony. We have worked out several methods to successfully provide moisture to our meal worm colonies.

First you can use a simple paper towel folded in half or quarters, add some water and squeeze out the excess. Place the paper towel on the top of the substrate. This can still cause mold. So you need to leave the top off the meal worm tray. Check the meal worm colony frequently and make sure there is no mold. Now the best way to provide moisture is from sliced vegetables. We have been using potato slices or whole carrots.

The meal worms get their moisture directly from the vegetables and receive nutritional value as well. In a few days all you need to do is dig through the substrate and remove the dried vegetables. In the last few years we have discovered what we believe is the best moisture source there is.

The nopal cactus (opunita streptacantha). We slice the nopal cactus pads into strips and place these on top of the substrate. When the worms are finished the only thing left is the thin skin of the cactus. This species of cactus has few thorns and the few there are can be removed easily with a knife. We have had absolutely no problems with mold and have found that the meal worms consume the cactus before any other moisture source. If you have access to nopal cactus we strongly recommend trying it as a moisture source for your meal worms.

For more pet reptile info and picutes visit healthy reptiles.com

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Salty Water In - Fresh Water Out

In many poor, third world countries, even having the resources to obtain electricity presents a problem. Due to the lack of logistics, as well as the finances even if all of the logistics were in place, alternate methods are necessary in order to have the basics that those in more financially fortunate areas of the world have.

A recent development at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands is a basic windmill that operates a pump, in turn utilizing reverse osmosis to output fresh water from the salty seawater that is put in. Reverse osmosis is a process used to purify concentrated solutions (often water with high levels of dissolved salts) in which pressure is applied to the more concentrated (or contaminated) solution on one side of a semipermeable membrane. The result is the movement of solvent, but not solutes, from the more concentrated side to the more dilute side, thus separating clean solvent from the concentrated solution.

So, basically, in laymens terms, reverse osmosis purifies the salt filled sea water so that it is able to be used for drinking water. This development by Delft University is a critical advancement for small villages located in arid areas near the coast.

Using windmills for desalination is nothing new. These contraptions have previously been utilized and have been marketed already. The windmills on the market currently use wind to produce electricity, and then store that electricity in order to begin the process of reverse osmosis. Due to the expensive nature of this, as well as the fact that energy depletes during the procedure, TU Delft contrived a method that is a bit different. Their technique is more energy and economically efficient.

Their method, unlike the others, runs directly on wind power. The middle step of storing the electricity has been completely eradicated from the equation. By storing water (which is more cost-effective than the electricity storage), calm periods, when there is no wind, are not as dire of an issue.

The windmills that are in use for this process are slow-moving and strong. The estimations that have been done up to this point on the windmills in question gauge them to be able to provide drinking water for a small village of around five hundred people. This is not per week, or per month. These estimates are on a per day basis through the reverse osmosis process of one windmill. University of Delft is aware that an emergency supply needs to be in place to consume during the inevitable calm periods when the windmill is not able to use the wind power to operate the reverse osmosis procedure.

The first test run for this new development is set for the beginning of March, in which the windmill that has been operating near Delft will be dismantled and relocated to Curacao. The prospects of this succeeding will be monumental for villagers who lack fresh irrigation and who have to employ manual techniques to obtain any semblance of drinkable water. The economical aspect, along with the quicker, machine-operated abilities villagers will now have to acquire such a basic need, will surely have colossal effects on poorer, third world countries.

David Tanguay is dedicated to providing research, reviews & helpful information to consumers and businesses. For more information related to Green Energy and Alternative Energy please visit http://greenenergyonline.org

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No More Teary Onion, Thanks to Genetic Engineering

The blog, Rael the Prophet, reports on an article in the UK Telegraph about a research on a genetically engineered tear-free onion being collaboratively conducted by researchers from Japan and the New Zealand Institute for Crop & Food Research. We're all aware how teary an onion can be if mishandled when chopping. To men and women who spend considerable amounts of time cooking, this, definitely is news worth celebrating.

In addition to ridding onion of the gene that causes teary effects on our eyes, these researchers promise that this new variety will be sweeter and healthier.

What an exciting research? Indeed, it has generated quite a buzz. The journal Onion World, in its December edition, has featured this work, which is being piloted by Dr. Colin Eady. The popular environmental blog Environmental Grafita gleefully proclaims, GM onions means no more tears, with sarcasm:

Anti-GMO activists may soon be tearing up after a New Zealand company announced the development of a genetically modified tear free onion.

I can't also wait to see their [anti-biotech activists] reactions. Instead of inserting a foreign gene into the onion, which has been the practice in crop genetic engineering, researchers in this project will be working to suppress the gene that makes onions teary.

The key is not to introduce a foreign gene but to silence one using a phenomenon called RNA interference. By stopping sulphur compounds from being converted to the tearing agent and redirecting them into compounds responsible for flavour and health, the process could even improve the onion.

So, which direction will the debate on safety of this new onion variety take? We're always told there's no guarantee of safety of genes inserted into crops such as corn, cotton, or soya. Will the anti-biotech groups now claim removing a gene from a crop, and onion onion for that matter, will compromise human health and the environment? Let's wait for the debate to start.

James Wachai specializes in agricultural biotechnology communication.

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Testing Different Relationships With DNA Testing

DNA profiling technology has come a long way in the last few decades, and it is now possible to identify a number of difference biological relationships between any given person. Through using slightly more in-depth matching processes than with traditional DNA paternity tests, the wider testing methods available are nevertheless accurate enough to determine whether or not there is some biological connection to establish relationships and afford peace of mind, allowing families to greater understand their actual setup and resolve legal and medical disputes.

Paternity Testing

Probably the most common relationship examined with DNA testing is paternity testing. The methods used in this type of testing have improved to mean a greater degree of accuracy in judging where relationships do or do not exist. Whether it be for legal, medical or even just personal reasons, paternity testing is by far the most effective way of determining in just a few days whether or not a biological relationship exists between two people.

Grandparentage DNA Testing

In the absence of the alleged father of a child it is possible to determine a biological relationship with grandparents where either one or both are available. This can be particularly useful to determine biological links where the father has predeceased or alternatively where he is otherwise unavailable through testing. Whilst it is desirable for both grandparents to be present for testing, for reasons of ensuring greater accuracy and more conclusive results, it is also possible for the test to be carried out on one grandparent with a degree of accuracy in matching DNA.

Siblingship DNA Testing

An alternative testable relationship is that of siblingship - identifying whether two particular people share the same parents, where neither parent is available for testing themselves, for example having predeceased or having emigrated abroad. Whilst the most effective determiner is through testing both the mother and the father of the alleged siblings, it is more than possible to test the siblings on a DNA comparison to work out whether there is a relationship there.

Y-STR Male Lineage Testing

One of the most innovative DNA testing methods refined in recent years is the Y-STR male lineage test which allows identification of male biological relationships through testing the Y-chromosome which is passed down paternal lines and rarely changes throughout generations, allowing for more straightforward DNA comparisons. With Y-STR testing, it's possible to identify grandfather/grandson relationships, or even further relationships along vertical family branches.

Avuncular DNA Testing

It is also possible to examine where Avuncular relationships may be exist by testing the brother or sister of an unavailable parent, to determine whether a particular two people share a relationship of aunt or uncle with one another. This can be particularly useful in helping assess paternity where a father has predeceased with living siblings, who can be matched to the alleged niece or nephew.

Whether you require a DNA test for medical reasons, legal reasons such as determining inheritance in intestacy, or just for your own personal motivations, testing biological relations has never been easier than with DNA testing.

Top writer Kevin Camilleri writes about dna paternity. The author focuses on topics about dna paternity testing and dna testing. Additional resources and articles written by Kevin Camilleri related to paternity test kit are accessible on the net.

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