HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Sea salt is not harmful, but it does not match the composition of natural seawater. Ocean water is made up of about 70 different elements, and Instant Ocean and similar mixes recreate this. These trace elements in their drinking water are important for long-term survival for hermits.

Distilled water for moss and substrate is safe for hermits. If you have really hard water it might be a better choice as there will be fewer minerals to cause build up when you need to rewet. I use tap for the sphagnum in my leopard gecko tanks and there's mineralization on the surface from it dryin...

I have my fingers crossed for successful 3D printing of shells. It would be beneficial in so many ways, and with specialty printers I'm sure a more natural blend of materials could be used to replicate natural snail shells. The first hurdle is finding a way to design and print to where they are comf...

It should be just fine, we just haven't trialed specific species of those flowers before. Cornflowers are in the same family as thistle. Ants destroy my cornflowers every spring so I know they are insect-friendly! Mallow is a pretty odd collection of edible flower species that not a lot of gardeners...

I bought a few with bad pitchers to rehab, had a couple from fights, and had a few that were obvious attack injuries from molting. I think most claw injuries end up being from other crabs - either while they are not quite hard enough from molting, or from getting into fights with larger crabs when t...

The exposed meat will turn black and shrink and become hardened over. It's very odd looking. I'll see if I have any pictures of it.

I've had this happen a few times and had no difference in outcome between leaving it alone, soaking it often in saltwater, or using honey. Either they drop it or attempt to repair it. As always, make sure it can molt undisturbed next time, and make sure it has access to a variety of good foods to st...

Soaking in a bit of hydrogen peroxide is the only thing I can think of that might work, but I'm not sure if it would cause any damage to the finish of the shells. You might want to test one just to see. Peroxide is unstable and breaks apart into plain water extremely quickly, so it wouldn't leave an...

It's looking like dry or not fully expanded patches to me as well. I think keeping an eye on it is a good call.

You generally won't smell anything until the substrate is disturbed if there is a problem, so don't go by that!

This all said, keep an eye out for released pets while at the lake beaches. People just think they'll be okay because it's a beach - not understanding that they need a constantly tropical ocean beach, not a lake beach covered in ice 6 months out of the year. There have been several people who have r...

All hermits are saltwater creatures and will only be found by the ocean, the Great Lakes are freshwater.

Land hermits are found within the tropics only, but species of fully marine hermits can withstand cold temperatures up into the Arctic.

The worry about fruit trees is that there is compound that digests into cyanide in the bark and leaves. The problem is that this is known to happen in mammals. Crabs are not mammals. Ants, for instance, can eat fruit bark and leaves with no trouble. I had a big cherry tree in my crab tank for five y...

Hey! The site is finally down after years of no responses. Now maybe no one else will be scammed.

I'm so sorry you got taken. Paypal should be willing to sort it out for you. They have dozens if not hundreds of refunds on file for this place stretching back years.

Venting it again will drop it back down to normal levels. You may need to go back and forth with covering and uncovering until it starts to even out. That should be pretty quick and not affect any molters. So long as you are certain your sub was mixed to the right moisture level and you haven't been...

Oliviet#1 wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 19, 2019 7:39 pm

Where did you get the crushed coral? I think that is a pretty good idea too.

It's a chicken feed amendment from farm supply stores. Super cheap, too.