hermit crabs anyone?

[kim01]

i want to see if anyone has any hermit crabs? one of my twins really wanted some so we went and got the items we were told we needed and such.
those 2 died,we tried again and they died. he wants more but i am not going to do that again until we figure out what we are doing wrong.

so can you talk to me like a brand new reshearching these. and let me know what supplies i need and how to take care of them.
thanks

 

[Zoey]

Wow I just deleted a long email I sent someone on hermit crab care. But I have time to type it all again.



Whatever sized tank you have, you should get an under tank heater, (anywhere from $6-$60 at petsmart) Just put that right under the outside bottom of the tank and adjust it to the right temps, I think its 65-70 degrees F.

Go to like the Lowes or the Home Depot and buy some ordinary play sand. It cost like $4 for a 50 pound bag, and it lasts a while.

So clean your tank, and add the sand, get the sand wet (this gets messy) so that the sand is moist so if the crabs so chose they can burry themselves to molt or hide or whatever they do when they have the need to dig, and it should be moist so that it doesn't cave in on them.

Hermits also burry themselves if they are too cold. They can become dormant, not dead but in a deep sleep until things warm up. It makes it hard to know if they are actually dead or not.

You should also get a lid that fits the tank well, with latches to cats/dogs/kids cannot get into the tank without you.

Humidity in the tank should be about 40% just mist with a spray bottle once or twice a day. The food (pellets) if gets wet will grow mold, and mold if eaten will kill the crabs.

Crabs should have two different types of water, Fresh and Salt. You can buy bottled water for the crabs which is recommended, I always use Tap and have no problem. Also at Petsmart they sell Hermit Sea Salt for about $2 a bottle, get that and follow the directions on the back.

Crabs also need sponges in their water to drink, and it prevents them from drowning. Crabs like to soak in their water sometimes so a bit deeper dish is a good thing to have, just make sure to put part of the Hermit sponge in the water so if they need too they can climb up and out.

Hermit crabs can eat store bought pellets/soft food. Or you can make them a fresh salad every night (I say night because they are more active at night. and they don't eat a whole lot of the food in one night, so if you make a big one (1/2 cup) it might be rotten by morning and would be a waste. I recommend about 1 tablespoon of salad, per night, but that might be too much.

Crabs LOVE to climb, so putting things in the cage that they can climb on or over is a must, they will climb out of the tank if so allowed. So again a good lid is a must.

Some crabs HATE being handled and will pinch a lot, most that I have seen are too scared to be out of the shell when there are people around and they will suck themselves back into their shells ASAP.

You need LOTS of selections on shells. Large, Medium, Small. Get larger then what your crab has. Some crabs are extremely picky and only want a certain type of shell and there fore they will refuse to change shells even if it gets too small, just until they find the one that they want.


I have probably forgotten something. But I will ad it later if it comes to me. If you need help, PM me and I will gladly answer any questions.

 

[xoiceox]

Super easy to take care of! The guy above explained it perfectly! I've had so many in my life time

 

[kim01]

ok great for the advice... this seems easy enough. i have some of those pellets and i could never get the crabs to eath them. but perhaps the salad is the way to go. i didn't know about the heater though,so that was something new. and the sponge we weren't told about.
thanks for taking the time to retype this out. this sounds like something we can surely do.

 

[Zoey]

Yeah they are pretty easy to take care of.

For the salad, you can use what you have in the fridge. lettuce, spinach, carrots, celery, blueberries, strawberries, cucumbers, banana's. Just cut them up small and remember do not feed the crabs the pits of fruits or veggies I read somewhere that it would hurt them.