HCA: Hermit Crab Association

This is a question for crabbers who own Aussie land hermit crabs (Coenobita variabilis). How often do you provide your hermit crabs with access to salt water?

I have been given numerous opinions such as once a week, for weeks, and access to salt water all the time.

I am just looking for more suggestions so I can gather as much information as possible, and make an educated decision. The Coenobita variabilis I will be getting have been living with access to salt water only on Saturdays since they have been in captivity -- so if I find offering it more often to my hermit crabs more beneficial I will still have to ween them out of this schedule.

My Aussie lives in my 90 gallon community tank and has 24/7 access to salt water. I don't restrict it and she doesn't gorge herself. She's been living this way for 6 months and is very healthy. Just days ago she came up from another perfect molt.

sugarselections wrote:My Aussie lives in my 90 gallon community tank and has 24/7 access to salt water. I don't restrict it and she doesn't gorge herself. She's been living this way for 6 months and is very healthy. Just days ago she came up from another perfect molt.

Thanks for the input
I am going to keep my Aussies separate thou as I did make a promise to Bob

Good luck with that.

Hey i have 10 Aussie crabs and i give mine a salt water dish for 2 nights, and they love it, i reckon the best way to do it is give them a salt water dish for a weekend, i have had mine for 4 months and there doing fine. It's like a massive treat to them when i put the salt water dish in the tank, they go running to it and i watch them bath themselves and make a molt sack and then go down in the sand with it, so again i reckon they should have salt water for at least 2 times a week

Aussielandhermitcrabs wrote:Hey i have 10 Aussie crabs and i give mine a salt water dish for 2 nights, and they love it, i reckon the best way to do it is give them a salt water dish for a weekend, i have had mine for 4 months and there doing fine. It's like a massive treat to them when i put the salt water dish in the tank, they go running to it and i watch them bath themselves and make a molt sack and then go down in the sand with it, so again i reckon they should have salt water for at least 2 times a week

Thanks for the input, do you give it to them two days in a row (I think in your picture thready you said for the weekend) or do you give it to them for two random days?

Hermitcrazy wrote: Thanks for the input, do you give it to them two days in a row (I think in your picture thready you said for the weekend) or do you give it to them for two random days?

That would work to, but i meant 2 days in a row.

i have had Australian hermit crabs for nine months so far and i honestly don't think salt water needs to be restricted at all. My reasons for this is that in the wild they have constant salt water and they don't seem to die in the wild.

plus they are way more active with out restricted salt water.

?? I haven't even heard of it! I was advised to have salt water on demand and I can't say I've actually ever seen my hermies near the salt water(although I can tell they've been in it). I get up several times a night for my lovely son who won't sleep through and I've never noticed them beside it at all, so I doubt they are gorging themselves..

I agree, they are near salt water all the time in the wild.

I have a permanent salt water pool. The ones I kept as a child also had access to salt water at all times. I'm not comfortable denying them access to something they are access when they know they need it in the wild. So I leave it up to them. I rarely see them in there which leads me to think they are not going to gorge themselves on it.

happy hermit, bindyangel, and tnt4eva do you think you could tell me how many molts you have had?

Bob seems very educated on hermit crabs but it is better to ask Australian crabbers about Australian hermit crabs?

happy hermit wrote:My reasons for this is that in the wild they have constant salt water and they don't seem to die in the wild.

plus they are way more active with out restricted salt water.

I was wondering if all of the Australian hermit crabs went down to the ocean to drink themselves to death

I can't help because I'm only very new to this. I've had one unsuccessful surface moult (straight after I bought the poor little fellow) and I've got another one moulting that I disturbed and is now in the iso tank I hope he/she pulls through! Its been like 3 weeks or so and still no sign. No smell though, so thats a good thing.

Hope the others can help

All of my crabs have molted at least once. Others though have molted twice and all of my hermit crabs have molted successfully. so i have probably had about 15 or 16 molts in my time of crabbing and never have i restricted salt water.

Out of my crabs, i have had 1 very very successful molt from my teeny crab survivor, oh and Natalie just molted and i found her exo every where but i put her in ISO and yea i agree with the others, salt water shouldn't be restricted, to start off with i would give them salt water for a couple of weeks and see how they go. I think I'm going to start to put more salt water in the tank now.

Okay sounds good