- I use 5-6 inches of coconut fiber for the substrate.
- Temperature and Humidity gauges are located towards the top of the tank. Humidity usually reads 70-75 and Temperature is usually 70. I don't use a heat source.
- They have fresh and salt water, the freshwater is from my reverse osmosis sink. The saltwater is usually some tap water and a pinch of marine salt (or whatever the salt for crabs from the pet store is called) but in the past few days I've been using the bottled Thrive PetSmart brand.
- I feed spinach, Thrive hermit crab food medley, and sometimes blueberry. I put a little bit of hermit crab calcium supplement in the dish. I change it every other day if there is no fresh food and every day if there is.
- I've had one crab for 2 1/2 years and one crab for about a year. One is a definitely purple pincher and one is (I'm pretty sure) a purple pincher.
- I'm not sure when they last molted, but since it's been 2 years and they've changed shells aren't dead they must have at some point.
- They live in a 20-gallon glass tank with a metal mesh lid.
- There are 2 crabs, one is 1 inch (ish) and one is a little less than 3 inches.
- There have not been any fumes or chemicals near the tank recently.
- Usually, I keep 3-4 extra shells in the tank, 2 big-ish ones, and 2 smaller ones.
- In the past year or so it's only been cleaned twice but I cleaned it last month and again a few days ago. Before last year I'd clean it every few months. I don't use any sponges and I've added a few shells to my crabitat recently.
In the past 6 months they haven't been taken care of well. My sister wanted to take care of them so I let her, and though I tried to educate her on how to take proper care of them, I don't think she actually did. I wasn't checking up on them as much as I should of (my fault) but now I'm really trying to take better care of them.
I have 2 crabs, one small purple pincher named Bear, and one medium purple pincher (I think) named Bomb. Bomb won't come out of her shell, at all. A week ago she came out once or twice but now she won't at all. Just stays in the same place all day and all night. She smells like fish but is definitely not dead, because if you pick her up she'll pull her legs farther into the shell. But doesn't move at any other time.
Secondly, Bear won't burry. Before they went into my sister's care, all 3 crabs were almost always buried. They came up every night to eat and drink and be active but went under every morning. One crab, unfortunately, died recently (and I cleaned the entire tank) but the other 2 will not burry. Bear stays active all day, walking around and climbing, and of course, Bomb won't move.
Thirdly, I'm worried about Bear's shell. Bear has changed shells 6 times or so in the past few days. They keep rotating from 3 different shells, so I can tell they are not shells. I've gone to every pet store around and purchased shells that I think will be too small, and I found 2 painted (ugh) shells that might be the right size. It's my only choice for shells. I ordered some online but they wont come for 2 weeks.
And finally, I think Bear might have eggs. Bear was a boy when I first got them and checked, but now they have gonophores (I think that's what it's called). Also, I could tell that Bear was about to change shells, so I set up my camera. In the video, I was shocked to realize it looks like they have eggs on their abdomen! I looked up a picture of a crab with eggs and it looked pretty much identical. I might just be really overreacting but the hermit crab who unfortunately died was a boy, so it could be possible (my other alive hermit crab is a girl).
Anyway, sorry for this really long message. I'm quite worried about my crabs, and if anyone has any suggestions on what to do for any of these problems, it would be so appreciated.
Update 1/27: All is good now, I changed a few things in my crabitat and things have gone quite well
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