Hi! New crabby!

[SassyHail]

Hi! Call me Sassy, it's my online nickname I recently got into crabbies. I had one a looong time ago as a kid, but we'll, I'm not sure what happened? :/

Anyway! I upgraded from a small terrarium to... I'm not sure how many gallons the tank is. It's nice, I'll have to measure it later. Anyway, today I got a new crabby so I have two. Red and Boss! Red has been kinda squirreled away under his branch lately, I think he's okay because I checked yesterday and he moved the branch... Kinda making me anxious.

Boss has tried to pinch me then attempted to escape his travel box as we're on our way home (I have a video!)

Anyway, that's my crabbies :3

Red LOVES green grapes BTW. He literally ignored the red ones and the small slice of banana I had out to attack the two slices of green grapes. It was hilarious XD

Edit now that I'm off my phone: Bought an all natural trail mix, most things were good for crabbies. Red now loves Mango!! He's eaten about three pieces so far Boss is huuuuuge. He's pretty friendly, I thought they were gonna fight but Boss turned away and ran to the other side!

[daws409]

Hi! Welcome to HCA!

Sent from my HTC6515LVW using Tapatalk

[Hermias_mom]

Hi Sassy! Glad you could join us!

Sounds like you have some crabs with fun personalities. They are each so individual, aren't they? My sister had crabs when I was a kid, and my parents managed to kill them twice, so she gave it up. Yes, you read that correctly. It was my mom who committed the deeds that led to their perishment, not my teenage sister. Mom meant well, but after the second loss, my sister decided that hermit crabs were just too much for my parents and chose not to get any more. Now my sister has moved on to dogs, snakes, amphibians, and the occasional reptile, and I'm the one with the hermit crabs. My biggest crab is also my most often visible, and doesn't seem scared of me at all. My middle sized crab just wants to hide all the time, and my smallest is getting more willing to interact with me now that he's finished his first molt in my care.

So I thought, since my sister had them twice when we were kids, and I knew like three hermit crab owners, that I had a good idea what they needed. I was so very wrong... Crabs can live 10-20+ years with the proper care, not just the 1-2 years the petstore markets them for. But they need the proper food and habitat conditions to do so. That's what I think is so great about this forum, is that it's been around a long time, and there are many experienced crabbers who are members who have crabs that are over 10 years old, and have tried to combine their experience with the latest scientific and evidence-based research to provide crab care guidelines that will give us the best chance of helping our crabbies thrive (not just survive, but thrive!). I've only been a member of HCA and had crabs myself for about three months, but I have learned so much!

Here is a link to the care sheets. It's a bit of reading, so please, if you have any questions, make a post here or in the relevant subforum, and folks will be more than happy to help you out. Congratulations on your new crabbie!

General and species specific care sheets: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... m.php?f=51
The first seven threads in this forum are super useful, covering humidity, lighting/heat, substrate, moss, tank size, crabs per tank guidelines, etc.: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... m.php?f=51
The safe and unsafe food lists, food pyramid, and water information (fresh, marine saltwater, dechlorinator use, etc.) is here: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... m.php?f=25
Molting: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... m.php?f=23
Shells (preferred types for your crab species): http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... m.php?f=24

[SassyHail]

I have their preferred food types list saved as a home page on my phone XD

I'm making a list as I notice they eat different things sometimes, so I'm keeping an eye out for their faves. Boss likes pecan tree leaves!

My mom says I need to chill on the food thing, she thinks they're like babies, that you should slowly introduce foods to them, which I understand. I just get excited when I learn they can have this or that and it's like HEY. I EAT THAT SOMETIMES!!

I got them a coconut hut, and they've been pretty rad roomies so far.

Ah I feel ya. Mine and my sister's first hermies were not our choices...our Uncle brought them from his trip in Mexico, painted shells and all @_@

Even then I was like 'that's pretty but wouldn't that hurt them?' And nooo, no one listens to ME. Anyway, long story short, I have a high doubt the ltitle ones survived

I like my dudes, because unfortunately I'm not a big cuddler even though I'm a person who just LOVES everything. So they're perfect for me when I pop in and just wanna coo over them and fill up their water.

Thanks for all the cool info!

[Hermias_mom]

FYI, I recommend giving your crabs as much food variety as possible as often as possible. No disrespect to your mom, but when we get them at the pet store most are 5-10+ years old. They are used to foraging/roaming wild, walking all night, and climbing high into trees. Before captivity they ate a wide variety of food anytime they wanted to (or could find it). In fact research studies have been done that strongly suggest that crabs have an instinct that prevents them from eating the same food more than a day or so in a row. It's hypothesized this is to help them get adequate nutrition. I have a collection of foods that I use as crabitat decor and as a food source, that I I keep in the crabitat at all times. (Oak, maple, and raspberry branches with bark/leaves, coral, cuttlebone, and moss). Every day I give a different protein, plus grain /fruit. When they have more variety, they eat more.

I don't think you'll stress them out by giving them lots of options. I think theyd love it!

[SassyHail]

Oooooh...I knew I was doing it right! Well. Okay. I take it back. I was just switching things around to see what they preferred more things to others, but still!

Thank you so much for the info! I'll be sure to fill their tank with loads of happy crab foods!

I'm gonna have to clean it up though...I've garnered the attention of fruit flies unfortunately...although I think Boss loves watermelon