HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I recently got 2 hermit crabs and set them up in my crabitat. They are both in printed shells and won’t transfer to any new ones I put it. I’m currently waiting for new turbo shells from Etsy to be express delivered so they can get out of them. Both were extremely active and one recently became lethargic and now lost his claws. I separated him into the original wire cage they came in and he is outside with playsand substrate, food from the small creatures munchies for turtles that is OK’d in this group, and carrot shavings with both types of water. I isolated him from my other crab in the 20 gallon L crabitat with both types of water, same food with more veggies and coconut shavings and coconut fiber substrate mixed with play sand. One side is 8 inches deep and goes down to 1 inch deep, similar to Lori’s channel on YouTube. I used her channel and this page to create their habitat. The tank is kept at a constant 80:80 and I have a zoomed heater on one side of the tank. I have pictures of everything if anyone would prefer to see it all to give advice.
First question:
Is the crab who lost his claws dying? He did not molt As the claws were a strong dark orange, I have pictures of them. He is currently outside in my shaded patio isolated but will
He make it?
Second Question:
I live in Orlando, FL and have a large shaded area outback by the pool. I kept the cage out there for the first week as they seemed to love it since it’s extremely high humidity but I was worried because the temperature would hit almost 90 F in the shade. I moved it inside where we have AC on, so I wrapped the mesh lid in plastic wrap to contain the humidity( i have a small part in the middle i can open if humidity goes above 80) and attached a zoomed heater to the deep Substrate side of the tank. I have the 10-20 gallon heater, however it doesn’t seem to run very strong and never heats the entire tank up at night. I have a Zilla Temp. controller which is set to 80 and it never turns off at night since the cage stays at around 75-77. So i guess it doesn’t heat up the whole cage? Just that section? I’m just looking for any advice or help to make sure my second crab is in the best condition.
What are the best temperatures to leave My crabitat at?
Should I stop the humidity from getting above 80?
Is it safe to leave the crabitat outside permanently since they were so active?

The biggest issues that I can see with your tank is that you need a source of calcium for the crabs (egg shells, cuttlebone, ect.) and the substrate needs to be a least 6" at the lowest point. I don't know how to help with the crab, but I would post this in the emergency section because the experienced people tend to check there faster and this is clearly an emergency.

Vjsarlo wrote:I recently got 2 hermit crabs and set them up in my crabitat. They are both in printed shells and won’t transfer to any new ones I put it. I’m currently waiting for new turbo shells from Etsy to be express delivered so they can get out of them. Both were extremely active and one recently became lethargic and now lost his claws. I separated him into the original wire cage they came in and he is outside with playsand substrate, food from the small creatures munchies for turtles that is OK’d in this group, and carrot shavings with both types of water. I isolated him from my other crab in the 20 gallon L crabitat with both types of water, same food with more veggies and coconut shavings and coconut fiber substrate mixed with play sand. One side is 8 inches deep and goes down to 1 inch deep, similar to Lori’s channel on YouTube. I used her channel and this page to create their habitat. The tank is kept at a constant 80:80 and I have a zoomed heater on one side of the tank. I have pictures of everything if anyone would prefer to see it all to give advice.
First question:
Is the crab who lost his claws dying? He did not molt As the claws were a strong dark orange, I have pictures of them. He is currently outside in my shaded patio isolated but will
He make it?
Second Question:
I live in Orlando, FL and have a large shaded area outback by the pool. I kept the cage out there for the first week as they seemed to love it since it’s extremely high humidity but I was worried because the temperature would hit almost 90 F in the shade. I moved it inside where we have AC on, so I wrapped the mesh lid in plastic wrap to contain the humidity( i have a small part in the middle i can open if humidity goes above 80) and attached a zoomed heater to the deep Substrate side of the tank. I have the 10-20 gallon heater, however it doesn’t seem to run very strong and never heats the entire tank up at night. I have a Zilla Temp. controller which is set to 80 and it never turns off at night since the cage stays at around 75-77. So i guess it doesn’t heat up the whole cage? Just that section? I’m just looking for any advice or help to make sure my second crab is in the best condition.
What are the best temperatures to leave My crabitat at?
Should I stop the humidity from getting above 80?
Is it safe to leave the crabitat outside permanently since they were so active?

Hi!

Dropping limbs is usually an indicator of stress. Since you just got the crabs, the one could be suffering from PPS (post purchase syndrome). As long as you didn't see a fight occur between the crabs (meaning that one crab pulled the other crab's claw off), I would think it would be ok to keep the 2 crabs together. Usually you have to separate if a crab is disturbed while molting, goes shell-less, surface molts, or there is agression between crabs.
I would not leave the crab(s) outside, as temperatures/weather can change without notice. They are also vulnerable to predators. As long as your other crab isn't molting/buried under the substrate on the 1" side, I would increase the depth on the 1" side asap. Then add your other crab back in. The less you move him around the less stressed he'll be.
80/80 is good for the crabitat. The ideal temps for purple pinchers are 75-85°F and humidity 75%+, although 80%+ is ideal. My humidity usually reads 99%, so it is ok if it's high. It should never go below 70% though.
Make sure to check out the care sheets on the HCA, especially the safe and unsafe foods list. Variety, protein, and calcium are key.


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PS: The best thing you can do for both crabs is provide supportive care (good temps, high humidity, sufficient substrate depth, protein, calcium, places to hide, and good foods). Honey is a good healing food, to help the guy with the dropped limb. Try to buy local or organic. If he survives and molts, he will eventually regrow the limb.

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