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? Yes. Hanging up at the top of the tank. Temp: 80-83 degrees. Humidity: 75 at lowest 81 at highest. I also accidentally bought a temperature reading device that tells the temp of your water and their pools are 83 degrees (I thought it was something else)
3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what? 3 uth (2 small ones ~ 1 on each side of the tank) (3rd one is the largest and placed on the back wall of the tank) i plan on getting one giant one to cover the entire back wall once I have an opportunity to do so
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)? Fresh & salt. I’ve been using my refrigerator purified drinking water source for their water. I asked a while back if this was ok and told yes. I’ve been crabbing since October and this is what i’ve been using. If it’s risky though please let me know what you use to dechlorinate. I use instant ocean for their salt pool. I use the ratio they have on the box.
5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced? For months I’ve been ordering food from etsy from the popular hermit crab groups like HermitGrub & HermiesKitchen. I placed an order for a large food mixer bundle (it includes all of the mixes thats best and achieves all of their diet/nutrition needs) on July 1st and I have not received it yet. I contacted HermiesKitchen and they replied that they’ve contacted USPS and to check back in with them soon (USPS has been losing packages lately). HermiesKitchen already even began preparing another bundle for me just in case
. So pretty much for the whole month of July i’ve been having to scrap items together from my kitchen that were safe to eat (I checked the list for safe & non safe). My family always eats out and so we never have anything in the kitchen. So far what i’ve fed them: a bag that contained organic dried fruits. eggs/shell. lettuce. watermelon. rice. raisins. crushed walnuts. oatmeal (before u cook it lol). crushed peanuts. tuna in water from can. ham (no spices or anything). sausage (no season/spice). carrots. peas. tomatoes. grape jam. strawberry jam. cheese. & i’m sure other items that I can’t think of right now. I’m trying to make do with what I have at home right now till their regular food source is delivered to my house /: but I can definitely tell the crabs HATE me being their chef cause they don’t swarm to the food bowl like they normally would lol. I leave the food in for about 24hours & then replace it. 6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known? October. She was my first crab. She’s a purple pincher & she is definitely a female.
7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen? Since October she has been molting as normal. This is the first time since i’ve had her that she is acting this way. I believe she came up around the beginning of July. So maybe a little over 2 weeks?
8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing? Glass 75gal tank kept inside my bedroom. It’s a glass lid that you lift up to open. The only time fresh air/oxygen enters the tank is when I lift the lid up when i’m feeding or cleaning.
9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they? 8. Small (the only one of that size and they’re about the size of a water bottle cap), the majority are then up to a medium/average size i’d say, then I have 3 baseball sized ones (the mediums are not even close to being this size) so I have 3 groups (small, med, large) the crab I’m concerned about is medium by the way. & all of the crabs are purple pinchers.
10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any? About 40-50 and they’re all natural turbo seashells that are kept in a shell shop.
11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently? No never.
12. How often do you clean the tank and how? I have never changed the substrate out i’ve only added more over time since I’ve upgraded tanks multiple times. I only wipe down the inside of the tank walls with a paper towel occasionally when a lot of moisture builds up & substrate specks get on it & I want a better view of the crabs. Sometimes I rearrange the decor to give them something interesting / add more stimulation
13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned? Nope
14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently? No but I did do a major rearranging of all their decor (same decor I just moved their largest hiding spots from one side to the other and hung items in another spot) a week ago
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.)? In the beginning when I first started crabbing I used to take out the crabs and let them walk around on my arm or bed for a few minutes and put them back, I was super obsessed and always took them out to show my friends but i’ve calmed down and that hasn’t happened since January. Every so often I will take out a crab that I know is super friendly/active and put them on my bed to crawl around for a few minutes & then i’d put them back (but this is not frequent). Only other time they’re out of the tank is when I scoop up the ones not burrowed and place them in a temporary bucket that I have for them when I am cleaning or moving things around. Again I don’t do it often. I don’t bathe my crabs either by the way.
16. Please describe the emergency situation in detail. Big Poppa is the crab i’m worried about. She holds a very special place in my heart. I love all my crabs but she was my FIRST one so she is special to me and reminds me that everyday that i’m becoming an even better crab mom because of how far my tank and experience have become. I don’t think I would have gotten into crabbing so serious if it weren’t for her because if she had died a long time ago (like when I first got her) I wouldn’t be known as Crab Girl on snapchat by all of my followers & friends lol. I would of gave up. Big Poppa has always been SUPER active. She is awesome! She loves humans (I think?) because she is not the type of crab to shy back into her shell when she sees a human/shadow from inside the tank or even outside of the tank. She’s a fan favorite by all my friends & followers that know of her. I’m hyping her up because this crab is a SAVAGE. I’m talking you can wave your arms and hands near her/over her body when she’s on my bed and she does NOT care. My bestfriend and I have an inside joke we like to say to eachother “I came to pinch and not let go” because of Big Poppa lol. Not that she has ever pinched me or my friends when being held but because she is known as an O.G (original gangster) like this is the crab i’d feel nervous around if I were a crab. Typically all my other crabs or crabs i’ve seen or read about shy away back into their shell real easily if you even look at them lol. Nah this is not Big Poppa. If she were back in the wild i’d hate to be the bird (or other threat) to try and mess with her. Overall she is a friendly crab to my other crabs. Though there was this one incident where she killed my SECOND hermit crab Henry and I have no idea why. I got Big Poppa and a week later I got Henry. I thought they were bestfriends because they were the only crabs I owned for a while before I started adding more to the family. Henry is also way smaller than her so i’ve no idea why she did what she did because if it were over shells she couldn’t possibly fit into his. I also at the time had other crabs in the tank that she could have chosen to bully but no she chose little Henry. I gave them proper food, they had the proper water pools, all the proper shells, all the proper substrate, all the proper humidity/temp. Everything was golden in my tank in my opinion. Was this out of cold blood? Who knows. Over time I did see her act as a little bully to others but it was never anything serious and it wasn’t continuous. So to later explain her, she is very active. She will be in one location of the tank and 2minutes later I see her on the other end of the tank. She is quick. She loves to climb and play in the shell shop too. She will calm down though and camp out in a spot on the second level and then she gets back to her usual of climbing and running all over. I’ve also realized that she is not like the others. She enjoys being seen. She is never hiding or burrowed (unless molting). If you ever look at my tank and look for a crab she is always the one that’s out. A little disappointing because I have 8 I wish they all did this lol. Anyway sorry I just thought y’all should get an ideal picture of the kind of crab I’m describing. Her current behavior since she has came up from the molt is worrisome which is why I’m posting in the emergency thread. This is nothing like her. I’m scared she is slowly slipping away from life. I noticed after her molt her colors were very pale and sorta faded (like a water paint drawing i.m.o). Which is normal because she just shed her exoskeleton and her colors will return normally. I posted previously in another part of the group (non emergency section) about her behavior and I was given great feedback and I told them i’d keep an eye out for her and I have. Now like I said I’m genuinely concerned because out of experience with her and other crabs she should have returned back to normal, right? She is SLOW! Like she is very sluggish and she just sits at the bottom level of the tank in one spot for hours. Maybe just maybe i’ll get a glance of her walking a few steps to a different spot and she just parks again. She walks like a little old lady with a cane. She looks very weak like if you were to poke her she’d fall apart or even breathe on her she’d blow away as if she were dust. I know crabs are fragile but even my littlest crab looks more tough and “sturdier”. The only time i’ve seen her eat is when I very carefully pick her up and place her in the bowl, she actually eats for a couple minutes but i’m thinking if I hadn’t of put her there she just probably wouldn’t of ate. & I know she must be interested or hungry because if she weren’t she would of done what any other crab would of and climbed out of the bowl but no I can very much tell she is consuming the food. I also have put her on the mesh ramp of the water pools so she can atleast get some water if needed (the mesh ramp has a little water thats very shallow so she was not completely forced to submerge, just her legs were in water). The only other thing that has happened with her since she came up from her molt is when I placed a few empty shells around her and other spots in the tank and she changed into a smaller shell. Other than that her behavior is just completely different (like she was a wild reckless teenager before her molt and after her molt she became a 90yr old weak woman in a retirement home that needs to be bathed, fed & changed.). BUT what isn’t different is her shyness. She’s still very much friendly when it comes to me. She isn’t hiding in her shell when she sees my hand or shadow, she’s still out and saying hello. Please is there anything I can do to help? Is this normal? I don’t understand because she didn’t act like this before with her other molts. I know things can take time to return to normal but this has taken much too long i.m.o. Other crabs who went down at the same time & came back up at the same time are back to their usual routine. She’s the only one. What can I do to help? Thank y’all
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