HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I had to bury one crab after having him for a week.. He wasn't doing much and he just hid behind the plants :/ I did everything to provide for them in the tank :/ I recently found one crab hanging by the salt water dish and saw that his claw came off him ! He's still alive but he looks kinda depressed.. I put him inside the hut.. The other two crabs are cuddling next to each other at the corner of the tank... I thought they all was doing well but I guess I was wrong .:.


Temp is at 82f...and humidity is at 80

I just feel so bad .... I feel like I'm not doing anything right ...

Crabs often die soon after bringing them home from the stress they endured from their beach all the way to your rank. We call that Post Purchase syndrome or PPS. It is not your fault and many don't recover from the stress. I have lost several to PPS. They aren't in the clear until they have 1 normal molt with you. Please don't blame yourself.

Just to double check everything. Here is the emergency template. If you could fill it out maybe something will stand out that could be tweaked.

Since you've come to the emergency forum, we know you want a fast answer to your question. In order for us to figure out the problem as quickly as possible, we ask that you answer the following questions. Some of them may seem odd, but they're all designed to give us the information we need to give you a good solution for your problem. Thanks!

1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it?

2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read?

3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?

4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)?

5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced?

6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known?

7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen?

8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing?

9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they?

10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any?

11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently?

12. How often do you clean the tank and how?

13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned?

14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently?

15. Is there any other information you would like to share that might be helpful (anything that is regularly part of your crab care, playtime, bathing, etc.)?

16. Please describe the emergency situation in detail.

KellyCrabbieLove wrote:Just to double check everything. Here is the emergency template. If you could fill it out maybe something will stand out that could be tweaked.

Since you've come to the emergency forum, we know you want a fast answer to your question. In order for us to figure out the problem as quickly as possible, we ask that you answer the following questions. Some of them may seem odd, but they're all designed to give us the information we need to give you a good solution for your problem. Thanks!

1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it?

2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read?

3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?

4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)?

5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced?

6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known?

7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen?

8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing?

9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they?

10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any?

11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently?

12. How often do you clean the tank and how?

13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned?

14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently?

15. Is there any other information you would like to share that might be helpful (anything that is regularly part of your crab care, playtime, bathing, etc.)?

16. Please describe the emergency situation in detail.

Thank you :/ the one that lost his claw recently passed as well but the two big ones are still here with us.. One did molted ( i think he's going to molt again because he started digging) the other hasn't molted yet.. I took the two out and cleaned up the tank and changed water and added more coco to the sand to make it more moist.. :/ here's the answers to the questions ..




1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it?

Play sand and coco...6inches

2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read?


In the middle of my 10 gallon tank... It's reads from78-83 and humidity is currently 87


3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?

UTH and regular bulb



4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)?

Both fresh and salt are available ... I'm using tap water conditioner API and I'm using instant ocean sea salt

5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced?

apples,strawberrie,bananas .. Peanut butter ,honey, oyster shells.. Worm casting

6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known?

I think it's purple pinchers

7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen?

One crab did and it was a few days ago for two days (I think he digging down again)


8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing?
It's a log hut and it's small/medium


9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they?

There was four but now two


10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any?

About five but will get more in two weeks

11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently?


No
12. How often do you clean the tank and how?

I just cleaned it.. Since I got the crabs last week..I changed water and moisten the sand/coco .. And I removed old food.. Changed things around ..

13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned?

No sponges

14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently?

No

15. Is there any other information you would like to share that might be helpful (anything that is regularly part of your crab care, playtime, bathing, etc.)?

I'm using air pump.. Foil is on the UTH .. I have hemp net.. I also have cholla wood.

This is how the tank looks like now ...

That looks amazing! My first tank was a 10gal and mine was awful. You made such great use of space. I love it! How large are the 2 you have left? How long have you kept hermit crabs? Crabs don't molt in 2 days so he was probably digging for fun, practicing locations for an upcoming molt or just exploring in general.

KellyCrabbieLove wrote:That looks amazing! My first tank was a 10gal and mine was awful. You made such great use of space. I love it! How large are the 2 you have left? How long have you kept hermit crabs? Crabs don't molt in 2 days so he was probably digging for fun, practicing locations for an upcoming molt or just exploring in general.

Thank you!! It's my first tank as well and I had them since last Tuesday.. So I'm all new to hermit crabs and I'm not sure exactly how large they are so ill just post pictures of them from the other day..

Aww. Little guys. In a 10 you shouldn't really go above 3 at that size to avoid overcrowding. Overcrowding never ends well. To make you feel better. Of my first 6 crabs, only 2 made it past PPS. It isn't just you, every crab has a threshold of stress that they can take and over that PPS takes over. It is all up to the individual crab.