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New crabs recently surfaced, aren’t going in water pools

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2023 11:16 am
by Chickadee23
We got four hermit crabs a couple months ago, and within the first couple days they all burrowed and we didn’t see them for quite some time. Within the last week, 3 of the 4 have come up and seem to be doing well! My only concern is that they haven’t gone into the water pools, and I’m not sure what to do.

I use dechlorinated tap water for the fresh water pool, and add Instant Ocean to that for their salt water pool. The pools are Tupperware containers, and I drilled tiny holes at the top to zip tie a craft mesh ladder in place. Each is weighed down with pebbles and sea shells. The water is replaced every 2 days. I just added bubblers a couple days ago to try to entice them, but there’s still no evidence of them having gone in (water is totally clean, no sand), and I haven’t seen them go in, either.

Is there anything I can or should do?


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Re: New crabs recently surfaced, aren’t going in water pools

Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2023 10:17 pm
by myllkti
Chickadee23 wrote:
Wed Jul 26, 2023 11:16 am
We got four hermit crabs a couple months ago, and within the first couple days they all burrowed and we didn’t see them for quite some time. Within the last week, 3 of the 4 have come up and seem to be doing well! My only concern is that they haven’t gone into the water pools, and I’m not sure what to do.

I use dechlorinated tap water for the fresh water pool, and add Instant Ocean to that for their salt water pool. The pools are Tupperware containers, and I drilled tiny holes at the top to zip tie a craft mesh ladder in place. Each is weighed down with pebbles and sea shells. The water is replaced every 2 days. I just added bubblers a couple days ago to try to entice them, but there’s still no evidence of them having gone in (water is totally clean, no sand), and I haven’t seen them go in, either.

Is there anything I can or should do?


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Ur good! Not all crabs will submerge, and even if they do submerge, you may not get the chance to see tgem for a while! Nor is it guaranteed to get to see them even just toe dipping, as long as you provide the necessary water and entry/exit points (which you definitely are from the sounds of it!) then they'll do what they need :)

(I'm also not sure if there would be sand or not solely from toe dipping as my crabs have always been more than ready to not drag sand in but also dump poop there haha)

New crabs recently surfaced, aren’t going in water pools

Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 1:46 pm
by Chickadee23
[mention]myllkti [/mention] thank you for the reassurance!! Makes me feel a bit better I guess I need to adjust my expectations lol. I did see a tiny bit of sand on the ladder today, though!! I hadn’t been checking that, previously. Now I know to check the pools for poop, too!


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Re: New crabs recently surfaced, aren’t going in water pools

Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 1:55 pm
by KyMart
Chickadee23 wrote:
Thu Jul 27, 2023 1:46 pm
[mention]myllkti [/mention] thank you for the reassurance!! Makes me feel a bit better Image I guess I need to adjust my expectations lol. I did see a tiny bit of sand on the ladder today, though!! Image I hadn’t been checking that, previously. Now I know to check the pools for poop, too! Image


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I feel you! My biggest crab, Frog seems to not know how to walk on craft mesh! He has cubes made out of it and will get on top of them, but the moment it's the way into his water pools, and moss pit he won't go up them! But, he will carl over the sides and go up the craft mesh into one of his two shell shops, it can be so frustrating! I'm sure he will come around tho! I hope your guy does too!

Re: New crabs recently surfaced, aren’t going in water pools

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2023 11:16 pm
by Chickadee23
[mention]KyMart [/mention] thanks for the well wishes!! Haha… I hope Frog gets the gumption to explore the water soon I’ve been seeing more sand on the ladders, so I’m thriled!


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Re: New crabs recently surfaced, aren’t going in water pools

Posted: Sat Jul 29, 2023 1:06 am
by KyMart
Chickadee23 wrote:
Fri Jul 28, 2023 11:16 pm
[mention]KyMart [/mention] thanks for the well wishes!! Haha… I hope Frog gets the gumption to explore the water soon ImageImage I’ve been seeing more sand on the ladders, so I’m thriled! ImageImage


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Yay, so glad about the sandy latter's! He walked up the latter into the moss pit last night (I put him about half way up so he knew he could walk on it), he dug down to the bottom of it and took a little nap in his nice extra humid place, it was so cute! I woke up this morning, and he was no longer in the moss pit, so I hope he walked down the ladder! He left a little hole under the moss rom where he sat under it, it's cute!