New Crab Family

[eileen471]

Our crab family started out like many others. I was at PetSmart with my 3.5 year old daughter to pick out some fish for our aquarium. She asked the woman tending that section if she had a talking crab named Herbie. She found the hermit crabs, called for Herbie, and when a crab moved she very happily told me that she found him. I'm a sucker for this sort of thing, so we left with two hermit crabs (she also found a crab named Jeremy) and the supplies the PetSmart people told me we would need.

Later that evening I found this forum and learned how completely inadequate our crabitat was. Saw that coming, right? Anyway, I may be guilty of impulse-buying pets for my preschooler, but I make it a priority to teach her the value of all life, and our responsibility to care for anything that we make a commitment to. The next day we bought a 30 inch front-opening terrarium so she can help care for the crabs. We got heating pads, sand, ee, some driftwood, moss, a climbing wall, various pools and dishes, and some crab food. We also got them a pink castle designed for aquarium use. I was surprised that they actually seemed to like it.

Anyway, the bottom line is that five little crabs have a pretty sweet set-up thanks to you guys, and we have a fun new hobby. Thanks for being such a helpful resource!

Our current status: One crab buried somewhere after two days. She spent a lot of time in the salt pool, tried on some shells, and finally picked one she liked. When we bought her she was in a shell much too big for her size, so perhaps she was about to attempt a surface molt. The other four all disappeared after about 8-10 days (earlier this week). They consumed a tremendous amount of water (especially the salt) before they disappeared. They were burrowing together in the ee during the day, but judging by the piles I think they're all under the sand now.

[aussieJJDude]

Welcome to HCA! Hope you like it here.
haha, don't worry! I could name a bunch of people that started out just like you, it seems very common. Just be happy that you found this forum and now willing to make the change.
I would love to see pics of your tank and maybe some of the crabs! In HCA, we all love pics. Probably something you will notice in a short while.
Anyway, the tank sounds great. But for my peace of mind; what sand did you use? Play Sand or pet store brought sand?
If it's playsand disregard my next paragraph.
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If it is from the petstore, most likely it will be unsafe for the crabs. I would highly suggest getting it out of there as it is often mixed with calcium and for some reason tends to clump and harden when wet, almost becoming concrete like. Imagine the damage to will do so a soft hermies abdomen - aka, will puncher it.

[singlemomwithcrab]

I would love to see pics of your tank and maybe some of the crabs! In HCA, we all love pics. Probably something you will notice in a short while.

JJ is a picture fiend

And JJ - why do you have the "fine" print in your signature. Say it Loud Man!