HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Knuckles wrote:Any chance of nasty parasites when you have pillbugs in your tank? I know that you can't feed turtles wild worms because of parasites, but is this problem also present between pillbugs and hermies?

I don't know much about mites that infect pillbugs that can be passed to other arthropods, such as land hermits.

However, I'm a bit more concerned about the iridovirus that seems to infect pillbugs, cause the blue color, and cause short lifespans:

Blue Woodlice
An iridovirus can infect woodlice and at advanced stages of infection virus accumulates in such large numbers that it forms crystallinel structures in the diseased tissues. These crstalline structures give an intense blue or purple colour to the woodlice.

Individuals infected to this extent will usually die within a short time.

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/ ... liceod.htm

I'm wondering if it can be passed to land hermits who might try to munch on their live or dead bodies. (I'm also curious if it's this iridovirus that causes the "blue morph" Purple pincher hermits.... )

A pic of the blue pillbug can be found in this link:

http://www.whatsthatbug.com/Pill.html


Some more pillbug funfacts from the link up there:

Drinking through the anus
Woodlice get water with their food. But they can also drink it through their mouth parts and also by using their uropods. The uropods are tube-like structures on the posterior (back end) of the animal. When they use them for drinking they press their uropods close together and touch it against a moist surface. Capillary action pulls the water up the uropods and into the anus.

Changing [Gender]
Male woodlice infected by Wolbachia bacteria will turn into female woodlice! The bacteria upset the normal action of the woodlouse male hormone.

As the bacteria are passed to the next generation of woodlice in the cytoplasm of the egg cells this process means that there is a better chance of Wolbachia survival as all infected offspring will be female and therefore will allow infection of the third generation of woodlice.

Heheheh...interesting....

woah that was a BLUE bug! lol

wickedannabella wrote:I have those danged springtails...they're so annoying, but I hear they do pretty much the same thing.

What's a springtail???
but i do love rollie pollies still lol ^_^

Woodlice have been used as tank cleaners by German herpers for a long time and so far I haven't heard about any transmitted disease. It's true that it would be a lot easier with the crabs, since they are both crustaceans. But I think that the virus affects only woodlice, from what I have read so far.

Springtails are primitive, wingless insects. They look like tiny, moving commas and can jump very high when disturbed. They flick themselves into the air with a sort of fork beneath their body.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collembola

I'm thinking that, as a precaution, it'd be best to raise several generations of woodlice in a little tank and then put them into the crab tank. Try to remove adults as much as possible to decrease the transmission of viruses or parasites.

omg!! gross gross gross!!!! i am so totally sorry i asked! LOL i hate bugs..hate hate hate!! i would be so terrified taht they would get out of the tank and crawl into my bed while im sleeping or something!! all i have to say is: you guys are CAH-RAY-ZEE!! LOL

I just cannot bring myself to put these things in my tank! I'd be so afraid they'd climb out and then I'd have them in my house! *shiver*

EWWWWW

haha you're such girls

Woodlice die in the house, it's just not humid enough for them. They would walk out of the tank on purpose and if they escape by accident, they just suffocate.

And just for the record: I'm a girl and I keep bugs that gross out most guys I know

Did you know woodlice have gills like hermit crabs?

Yup.

They are the only crustaceans that live completely on land and can even breed there, somethng that no other crustacean can do.

Just a quick question. Are millipedes crab safe? I have allot of them around my house and since my mom won't let me have a gaint millipede this is the next best thing.

Not crab safe, as Jedediah mentioned before, their burrowing habits may disrupt the own hermit crabs own burrowing/molting habits (as if a group of crabs isn't bad enough...) Plus there is this:

Please note that ALL millipedes can secrete a liquid that can be dangerous to some people. Although most people are not affected by this species, some people may be allergic to the liquid, or just more sensitive, making it a dangerous situation, especially if put into the eyes or mouth. Affects of this millipedes' natural defenses may vary between people. All millipedes can secrete this liquid, so be careful, because you don't want to find out if you are allergic or more sensitive the HARD WAY!

http://www.petbugs.com/caresheets/A-gigas.html




By the way, I just added pillbugs to my land hermit crab tank, and my lone LHC on the surface proceeded to munch on a couple of them.......

MudCrabDude wrote:By the way, I just added pillbugs to my land hermit crab tank, and my lone LHC on the surface proceeded to munch on a couple of them.......

Lol thats great! mine haven't gotten eaten yet but I keep having to save them from the water pools hehe