Hermit Crabs

A bit OT.

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 06:19:30 GMT

I think I liked Wall-E so much because his movements and actions are very much like a hermit crab. My fellow crab owner agreed.

Correcting Petco re: hermit crab "breeders."

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 23:38:30 GMT

Hello again, fellow crabbers! I come to you with a request for assistance...

I emailed Petco a few days ago in the hopes that my local stores could order in some Ecuadorian crabs; I've read of other people finding Es, strawberries, and ruggies at Petco, but none of the stores in my area, sadly, stock any species other than PPs.

This is the response I received:

Dear Jess,

Thank you for contacting PETCO regarding your store inquiry. Unfortunately, we are not able to guarantee or special order a specific species of hermit crabs. These crabs are shipped directly from the breeder based on availability. You may want to speak to the a General Manager at your local PETCO store to see if a crab can be transferred from a location where you confirmed the availability. For the contact information to your local store, please visit www.petco.com/storelocator.
If there's anything further we can assist you with, please feel free to call PETCO Customer Relations at 1-888-824-7257.

Thank you again for contacting PETCO.

Sincerely,

Manny B.
Senior Customer Relations Coordinator

At PETCO, Animals Always Come First... Our People Make it Happen!

This is where you come in! I drafted up the following reply, but I wanted to run it by you guys before I sent it...

Dear Manny,

      Thank you for your prompt and friendly response; I sincerely appreciate it. However, I felt it important to reply and inform you that there is currently no such thing as a land hermit crab "breeder."

      Due to their unique life cycle, land hermit crabs of any species are notoriously difficult to breed (I know of one successful attempt, which was costly and labor-intensive), and thus land hermit crabs sold in stores like PETCO are simply collected as adults from tropical beaches: in other words, land hermit crabs are wild-caught. If your distributors refer to themselves as "breeders," they are almost certainly being deceitful, and telling PETCO customers that your land hermit crabs are shipped "directly from a breeder," therefore, is misrepresenting the source of these animals.

      I hope that PETCO is interested in being as open and honest as possible with its customers, which is why I wanted to correct this erroneous statement to prevent the spreading of misinformation in the future.

Thanks again for your time,
Jess

Thoughts? Is my information correct? Anything I should change?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated! :)

picture heavy ! :)

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:18:57 GMT

Finally, a picture post of all my crabs & my new and improved crabitat! I have 9 crabs. I believe 7 are purple pinchers & 2 are ecuadorians. I've been looking for more ecuadorians, but can't find them :( I may go to PetCo today to see if I can find a strawberry or two! :)

But before that, I wanted to show off the crab I gave away... the biggest crab I've ever owned, in comparison to my other two big crabs.

Her name was Capistrano. Here she is in my hand.

She was frightening as you can see! I gave her away because she was aggressive & just so big that it kinda creeped me out!

Okay, now onto the new crabitat & a TON of pictures! :)

1. My biggest crab- Kitty. When I bought her, they charged me for a strawberry. What do you guys think? I think she's a purple pincher.. but I'm bad at IDing them..

2. Another picture of Kitty, for size reference.

3. My old crabitat. (It's a 20G long) As you can see the left side of the substrate was all wrong, and it wasn't deep enough. I think I fixed that though!

4. New crabitat, left side. I'm going to add a little more sand too.

5. It looks like a fun place to hang out, right?

6. The right side.. I have taken out that log climber, and am going to put plants so they can climb up the plants to get to the hammock.

7. Another picture of the right side. You can see the cave full of moss that they love so much :)

8. Crabs go in, and start exploring their new home! Here are my two big ones, Kitty & Squeeky.

9. Here are 6 out of my 9 crabs, checking out the net. (It was in there before, but I guess their new atmosphere sparked some interest in it for them, cause they never minded it before!)

10. Here's Clem, one of my two Ecuadorians, as well as LuLu (under the tree), the first crab I ever bought.

11. All that exploring led to the net falling down on one side!

12. Kitty comes out of the cave while Charlie goes in.

13. Kitty says, "all right, that's it. I'm outta here!" and you can see Gypsy, one of my two babies, hanging in the plants.

14. Close up of Squeeky, my big male.

15. My two Ecuadorians - Clem & Tex! I am in love with them, and called around today to see if any pet stores had any. To no avail :(

16. My newest crab, Cupid. I chose her because of her interesting color (It's almost a blue/green) and she was most active in the store. She's since changed shells.

17. A blurry picture of LuLu.

18. Before my tank upgrade, Squeeky, Tex and Clem drink. Ahhh those eyes, Tex!

19. Charlie & Sadie on the bottom, and LuLu on the top of the net.

20. I think they like their new home ! :)

Thanks for looking, and any suggestions are welcome too!

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:01:47 GMT

Thanks so much for all of the help on my last post! I checked prices today and am really excited to start buying the equipment for my first crabitat. :D

I'm not exactly a huge fan of pet stores. I always feel guilty walking into one because I know that somewhere in the store, one of the animals is not getting the proper care. The first store I went to had excellent prices on supplies for hermit crabs but when it came to the little creatures, they were not well cared for. There was one water dish in the tank. The store was rather chilly and the glass of the tank was cold when I touched it. My sister moved to pick up one of the crabs and it was dead. It made my stomach churn.

The second store, PetsMart, was a lot better. The crabs had two water dishes, the tank was warm, and the crabs were very active. I wish now that I could've bought everything today and taken a few of the crabs home!

I just wanted to post about my day of researching hermies and tell you how excited I am. Thank you again for the help! :D

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:24:21 GMT

My crabs got a new home, and a new friend! Their new crabitat is half play sand, and half shredded forest substrate. Their sand side is their tropic little hangout. It consists of: two hanging plants, a terra cotta pot to hide in, the salt and fresh water pools, two different kinds of food, and a palm tree :) The forest side consists of a few things to hide in and climb on. There is a cave and inside is moist moss, with the heater underneath that area. They seem to love their cave! It has been amazing so far; they love their new home! They've been incredibly active, climbing everything (they never used to climb!), and I've had THREE change shells in the 2 hours that everything's been set up! I'm really excited, needless to say. They definitely love it, and so do I! Thanks to everyone for their advice. I have a TON OF PICTURES that I will be posting tomorrow!

Random question for those of you who know the sex of your crabs- Do you notice whether gender has anything to do with activity? I have a couple crabs who are always out and active, and it may be a coincidence but they're also the females, and the ones who are way shy and never come out to play, are males. Just wondering if anyone noticed the same thing!

My 20g L crabitat -- pic heavy!

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:35:42 GMT

I finally managed to take some newer photos of my crabitat; I put in fake foliage, a shiva lingam stone, and a few river rocks a while back, and I wanted to post pics of what it looks like now. :) There are a couple of older photos mixed in (like the close-ups of the shark jaws and "Mara head" aquarium decorations) as well as pictures of the crabbies enjoying their 'tat.

Sorry for the poor quality of some of the pics -- taking photos of the aquarium itself has proven unusually challenging, I'm sad to say. At least the hermit crab pictures turned out decently. :)

My twenty-gallon crabitat.

A good view of the second level, full of moss and shells.

The aforementioned shark jaws.

The "Mara head," a favorite hidey-hole.

Sweetpea exploring by the "Mara head."

Puck making his way up the net.

The Perilous Beast contemplating life on the second level of the 'tat.

If you look on the left-hand side, you can see Sweetpea hanging upside-down on the underside of the netting.

An old picture of Max checking out the shark jaws.

Fennel peeking out from behind the shiva lingam stone.

Nirnroot chowing down.

Nirnroot scooting up to the second level.

Skooma climbing upside-down on the inside of the aquarium lid.

Skooma sitting on top of the "Atlantis house."

Long-shot of Flax in the leaves.

Close-up of the above photo.

I C U!

I wish the 'tat was a little neater... whoops... but I haven't had a chance to do a deep clean lately. All four of my PPs are buried at the moment; while Puck, Max, and Sweetpea have all come up for late-night visits within the past couple of days, I suspect the Perilous Beast is molting. He's my largest crab, so I'm guessing it's going to be a while before he comes back up and I can scrub down the crabitat. In the meantime, I'm off to change out their water bowls... messy little boogers!

So! That's my 'tat. :D I can only hope our crabs have as much fun living there as I do setting it up!

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:13:03 GMT

Ok... a few questions, again.

1. I bought jungle bed premium blend forest substrate. Should I mix that with play sand, or just have half & half? And should I bake the sand first?

2. Extra shells... if they're just hanging out on the sand, will they be fine? Because sand will end up inside of them & the crabs don't like dirty shells. Maybe I'm just overreacting... But what do you guys do with your extra shells? I've seen them up on hammock type deals which is really cool, however my crabs rarely climb.

3. What do you guys do to keep moisture at the accurate level? I have to spray multiple times a day & it doesn't stay moist because I have a screen top. I know I could cover it somehow, but I'm thinking about putting some moss in there & perhaps a pool type deal. Oh, and with the water dishes, you're supposed to have it open so the crabs can climb in, but also a sponge for the small crabs? How do I know if it's too deep? I have two tiny crabs and I don't want them to drown in the open water part.

Just thought I'd ask because tomorrow I'm throwing away all my old substrate, cleaning out my cage completely, boiling/cleaning/baking everything... I'm so excited! hehe. Oh and I bought a new crabbie today :) No name yet but I will do a picture post real soon!

Questions

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 02:32:20 GMT

Hey everyone! New member here with a few questions. :)

I do not yet own a hermit crab but would like to. I am thinking of getting two hermit crabs but do not feel adequately prepared to buy the little creatures yet!

1) What are the necessities that I need to buy when I purchase the hermit crabs? I already have a twenty gallon tank but despite my internet research, I'm not really sure what else I need.

2) I have heard that having one crab at a time is not good. Is there any truth to this?

3) Any tips regarding things I should know would be greatly appreciated. :D

Pic Spam!

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 00:20:44 GMT

Crabtopia, the second generation, as seen from the back. What you are seeing are two ten-gallon tanks with a lego construction on top as a bridge between the two tanks. On top of the legos is an old humidifier tank, on its side, with dirt and a peice of coral. The crabs can enter it from another peice of coral within the "atrium".

From the front corner.

The tank cover is presently foamboard, cut to allow passage into the lego chamber. The atrium itself has a carpet of moss, some toys, food, and both kinds of water. My largest crab seems to really enjoy it.

The only concerns I've had have been about maintaining humidity and regulating temperature. A long flat container of water between the legos and the window keeps things moist even when the attic fan is sucking air through everything. A thin blanket on cool nights keeps everything cozy and damp.

I was going to post pics of my crabs, but half of them are molting and the others were not being cooperative. That's also why I'm not posting any pics of the inside of the tanks--they little devils went on a bit of a digging frenzy and I can't straighten up until they all come up from their molts.

This set-up will be changing soon because I have a larger table... and can add a third tank. :-D

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:32:31 GMT

Hello there! I got my first crab in March of 2007, and he's still with me going strong along with 7 others. I love my little guys & want to make the best environment for them as possible. Right now I have a mulch type filling mixed with that real fine brown stuff that comes in bricks. I'm re-doing my entire set up tomorrow as a birthday present to myself, and was wondering what the best substrate to use was? I know a lot of people mix two things, so if you could just suggest what I could find at PetSmart. Also, question. Underneath where my water dish sets it's really damp and it never dries out. I'm scared mold will grow there. Does anyone else have this problem? What should I do to avoid this when I redo my set up tomorrow? I'm also planning on buying a new crabman! I'll post pictures of my crabitat and crabs when it's all done!

Salt water

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:07:20 GMT

I'm setting up my new crabitat and I was wondering, should I add salt to thier water bowl, or will they do just fine without saltwater?

HEY!

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 06:22:02 GMT

Its been about 2 weeks now since my crabs have gone under the substrate. Before they went under, I saw that they both had the nutrition sacs which I thought was a partial clue that they would start molting so when they dug and made caves, I was glad. There's only one problem. It's been 2 weeks already! Has anyone ever had their crabs under for that long of a time molting? I'm starting to worry. I hear them moving under there but they never come up. Any hints or advice?

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:59:58 GMT

I've moved my crabs into a different tank that we cleaned out and everything. At first they were really happy. Now they just sit in a corner huddled together. I'm worried that something is wrong. They aren't running around at night like they usually did. Can someone tell me what wrong please?

crab looking for shell but won't switch

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:36:22 GMT

Hello!

I have 2 hermit crabs, one that I got pretty recently as a companion for my other long-lived crabbie that has outlived at least 5 others. My long-lived crab's name is Tiny, and he's (she's?) very small, and still in the shell he switched into the day I got him about 7 years ago!

For the last month or so, I noticed Tiny being very active in the cage, checking out different shells, and even temporarily switching into a couple, but he always goes back into his original shell. I bought a variety of shells online and have collected others over the years, and have always rotated them into the cage, about 5 at a time for a few months per group (including the larger shells for the other crab, who has switched a couple times in the last year after molting). Since he's been looking, i've been switching them out every week or so lately.

I have various sizes of various varieties of shells, and he doesn't seem to like any of them - any suggestions for helping him find the right one? I don't want to spend much more money on shells!

I'll post pics in a minute...

Thx,
Renee

EDIT: Pictures after the cut

A variety of shells for Tiny in size order. His current shell is about the size of the green turbo, though the opening is smaller and not round.

The open side of the shells in opening-size order, plus Tiny for size reference, and the 3-pack of shells I bought today up at the top. His current shell opening is about the size of the 2nd shell from the left in the upper left corner of the picture.

Tiny with some of the shells

EEEEE for Es!

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:02:28 GMT

Hello, fellow crabbers! =)

I've owned hermit crabs for a few months now -- two small PPs, one medium, and one large -- and I finally got my hands on some of those elusive (well, around here, anyway) Ecuadorian crabs! I found that taking pictures of these guys is much harder than photographing my PPs, so I figured I'd share the few that turned out decently. =)

Flax

Nirnroot

Skooma

Fennel

I have a fifth E, Leek, but he's acting as though he may need to molt and he's currently in iso.

Oh, I just can't get over how cute these little guys are! :D I love my PPs (and I'll have to post a few photos of them at some point, as well), but there's something about those big Ecuadorian eyes...

The new guy

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:35:49 GMT

Hi everybody, I'm sure as you guessed I'm the newbie. I've owned hermies a few times before but I really want to get serious about this. I'll post pics of me hermies and their crabitat when I get it set up.

I just picked up my second pair of hermies from a store at the beach, yah I know, it's probably not the best place to get them, but the hermies I picked out seemed active and healthy, so I went with it.

hermit crab food

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 04:47:48 GMT

I find that my hermit crabs don't get much varity when it comes to what foods I give them.

I know they probably don't care as long as they are fed and healthy but I thought i would just ask you guys, what sort of things do you feed your hermit crabs to me more ideas.?

Sad Time in the Crabitat

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:12:45 GMT

I left my hermit crabs food for the weekend while I was gone. But when I came home my Paxy was dead -face pillow- I never wanted this to happen. Why did it happen? The other two have always picked on my poor littly Paxy ever since I got him. I don't want to get anymore hermits. Not after what happened to my Pax.

Why did my other two do this?

question?

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:23:14 GMT

Hey!

One of my hermit crabs molted without me noticing. Usually when they molt, I catch it in the early stages and put them in a little ISO tank. However, since I missed it this time I was wondering what I should do? He's still a bit pink, but he's already moving around, and eating/drinking. The other crabs don't seem to be bothering him, although I don't know what happend to his old ecto-skelton.

Should I put him in ISO, or should I just leave him be since he seems to be doing fine as is?

Thanks!
-Langen

My crazy Herman

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:25:10 GMT

I have a tennis ball sized hermie named Herman. He was in a shell that was too small for the longest time. He finally changed into one bigger so he could hide completely. I was so happy for him! I woke up this morning and noticed that all 3 of the larger shells I put in there for him were empty, as was his original shell. I started panicking!

In the same tank is 3 smaller crabs so there were smaller shells laying around too. I started counting and noticed Herman had changed into a small shell which was way smaller than his original shell! His claws are all hanging out and he seems cramped. I know you cant pick their shells for them but I was wondering... has anyone ever had a crab take up home in a shell atleast 3 times too small for him??

Ecuadorian crabs? Also, a question about bad store housing

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:08:33 GMT

The first crabs I got, which were four purple pinchers, I picked up about two months ago at a pet store I am familiar with. They've been great--two finished up molts, and my other two are down right now. Yesterday I went shopping at a combined hardware and craft store for some craft supplies that just happened to have a pet section too. The pet section was really upsetting. The birds were in too small of cages, the fish were in dirty tanks, and the hermit crabs were set up so there were about 7 (all different sizes, large and one that was in a shell smaller than a dime) in a 5 gallon tank with less than 1/4 inch of sand with no water. I figured I should at least try to save one of them, but I'm not sure what to do about the rest of the situation. I can't save them all (even though they were really cheap to purchase--I just don't have the room right now). Who would I call about the poor living conditions for the crabs? I did get the sales associate to give them some water, but if I walked in on that, I'm sure it's a common occurrence. Even when they gave me the hermit crab, they just put it in one of those cardboard SuperPet boxes with nothing damp.

So, right now I've got the new crab in an isolation tank. Is there anything special I need to do for the Ecuadorian crab if I put it in the same tank as the PPs? Right now my substrate is a mix of coconut husk and sand, which the PPs really seem to love, but do the Ecuadorians prefer something different? I already put both saltwater and dechlorinated water in for my other crabs, so I think I'm set there. Should I buy a second Ecuadorian, or will it be fine with the PPs? I know that the Ecuadorians prefer different shells than the PPs, too.

Thanks for any help!

First Molt

Sun, 10 Aug 2008 05:53:04 GMT

I've noticed the water sac on my hermit crab. How long will it be before she starts to dig under and molt? If the hermit crab starts to develop the sac does that mean he/she will molt soon after? Or could it be even weeks from now? Thanks for any input!

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:54:33 GMT

Oh no...

Today I noticed that one of my hermies was missing. He was new. I had bought him from Ocean City about a week ago. This could have been wrong but I put him right into my cage with my other two crabs. He was a lot smaller so I figured none of the others would bother him for his shell. Anyway he was a climber and stayed in his usual spot on the wall for a few days till yesterday when I noticed he wasn't there anymore. Then today...I decided to actually look for him and was REALLY freaked out at what I saw. There were legs underneath my bigger crab Sherbert. All the legs but the one smaller claw was all the little guy had. Can someone tell me what the heck happened? I think the bigger crab must have chopped it to bits or I've read a lot on hermie stress and how they will shed legs. Either way I was so sad so I put the little guy in the freezer cause i heard it was the most humane way of killing them. I feel so bad. This is my first death after a year so I'm pretty surprised. Any suggestions on what happened or how I can do things better? I was gonna get another crab but now I don't even think I should.

What to do?

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:09:52 GMT

Hey All-

I'm definitely new to this. Live Journal AND this community I guess. Anyway I've been reading a lot of comments and need some help myself. I've owned three hermit crabs for about 11 months now. One of them dug way under(more than usual) the sand and has covered himself up. Assuming hes starting to molt. The other hermit crab is showing signs of molting. I see she has a water sac which I thought was cool cause I had been waiting for my crabs to molt and they are finally showing signs. My question is what to do. Should I leave the one already buried in the sand alone and iso the other crab that is showing signs? How long will it take for the buried crab to come back up? Thanks to whoever comments and hello again to this community.

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:28:42 GMT

Ello.

I have three boys. Rame, Pax and Duke. Love them all. I've bought a few things of sand from the pet store and I've been wondering how good it is. I've read in a few books that it's easier to clean and may have bits of calcium in it. So is sand the best?