Crab sitter care: how much to pay?

[Nutcracker]

So that I can avoid taking advantage of a nice friend ... How much would 2 weeks of care for 3 med-large hermit crabs be worth, with a variable amount of mess-making that needs cleaning up?
I'm taking an average of "mess" because right now, I have 2 med-lg crabs and 1 tiny/small who are up/active in one, 20-gallon tank. This is the tank that especially needs sitting and humidity-monitoring.
Another x-large crab is in another tank, but he will stay buried for a post-injury molt and will only need a spritzing and bowl-filling for humidity-monitoring (easy).
My friend is happy to take care of the crabs and finds them interesting, but it would be good to have some sense of what others might have paid their sitters. My friend is busy with her own job and life, too.
Given variations in national and local economies in this forum, maybe any respondents could compare sitting fees to those for babysitting or dog sitting? Or to other common jobs?

[aussieJJDude]

Have separated your post from a previous thread that was slightly old and also different question.

As for cost, at most they will have to come in every couple of days just to make sure things are going well, like

water is full - deep dishes will help, and could bump it to a week -

food is full - or at least not mouldy... food could be changed out once a week, especially if dried foods -

Temp and humidity is all good - if you dont have to do daily misting, then sitter isnt really needed to come in daily IMO


When i go away, I normally ask my sitter to come in around once a week to check on crabs and also my pet fish - to feed them as well. If they have other 'chores' like water the plants and whatnot, then they might need to come more regularly.

For me, a small gift as a thank you would suffice, such as mixed treats/food/trinket.... otherwise offering money for gas bill - to drive to your house if they live far - or around $5 a week will certainly be more than enough.

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[soilentgringa]

I've left my crabs for 2 weeks with no supervision and they were fine. Leave out plenty of dried food stuffs, large bowls of waters and have their lights on a timer.

If the habitats are stable there shouldn't be any issues.

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[HHIhermies1004]

So I have hired someone to watch my leopard gecko's and bearded dragon while on vacation before...i didn't have hermit crabs back then. They paid 20 bucks for two weeks, they came every 3 days feed crickets, shift sand and refill water. I know it doesn't hit your question 100% but i hope it helps

[Motörcrab]

I think every one else already hit all the main points. The biggest is time and how much they are going out of their way. If they live around the corner and it's a 5 minute walk to spend 15 minutes every 3 days taking care of them, it's not that big of a deal. If they have to drive say 10-15 minutes from their normal routine it's a bit more complicated. If they stop by every 3 days for two weeks it's 4 times, 15 minutes with the crabs each visit. If they live 15 minutes away it's 2 hours driving for the 4 round trips. A total of 3 hours.

Me personally if the person went out of their way I would probably get them something cool from your trip in the $20-$30 range, or maybe take them out for a decent dinner when you return, possibly even return the favor if they have pets.

With someone around the corner something from your trip in the $10-$15 range would probably be ok.

You can't really compare crabs to dogs or cats because they need to be checked on several time daily, well at least dogs. For the average person taking care of crabs they will probably change out the water, and empty the food and not do much else. To make it easier I would probably pre mix the food for each day, plus and extra few days to make it as simple as possible for whoever is taking care of the crabs. That way you know each mix is correct and the person feeding them won't freak out. "do they get this, no, that, maybe this, I'll just give them a lot of everything". You won't go through 2 months of food in 2 weeks either!

[mjjluver]

I paid my friend to come 3 times in 9 days for $50. she lives about a 8 minute drive.
we live in a pricey part of the US where a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom condo is rented for $3,000/month

[Nutcracker]

Hi, everyone,

I've been wanting to thank everyone for your great posts! I eventually settled on $30 for the near 3 weeks that we were away, but $15 - $20 would probably have been okay under typical circumstances in our area.

I increased the amount partly because my largest crab resurfaced in a large tank after molting to recover from a devastating injury and needed total care with honey, peanut butter, egg shell, algae, and the works, and my neighbor did an amazing job helping him! Also, she handled a mold-growth issue on some foods in the other tank with the other hermit crabs, and generally kept the tanks beautifully. This kind of clean-up and investment takes me 30 - 45 minutes on occasion.

My neighbor walks from across the street, so gasoline was not a factor, but I bought her a bar of dark chocolate for the effort!

I want to especially thank mjjluver for the comparison pricing for vs. condo rentals. Here, a 3BR/2BA house with garden is rented for $900 - $1,300/month! We were gone for about 18 - 19 days.

Thank you, everyone!