Um.... more 'foster' crabs...?

[LadyJinglyJones]

I re-commisioned the ten-gal again yesterday.

Reason?
I found out about a pair of crabs whose child-owner had lost interest in them.... yet again. So surprising. Why wouldn't a kid be fascinated by a nocturnal animal that avoids human contact??

Bu seriously, why don't these people just get small rodents? Mammals like people who feed them!

Mother was talking about just taking them back to a random pet store. And I am a crazy person, who seemingly can't stop collecting reject crabs.

Is there a support group for people like me? I think I'll really have to find a good home for these two... and not just end up keeping them. I'm only planning on a 90 gal in the summer, and I've already got five. When they become jumbos - what the heck then?

Anyway, I have no idea what shape these dudes are in or what sort on conditions they're comming from... but the situation feels like a 'kids first pet: crab cage scenario'... we'll see.

I'll post picks when I've got the temp & humidity stabilized, as I don't want to lift the lid til the tank isn't fluctuating anymore.

Man, I hate ten gallons.

[GotButterflies]

It's here....the HCA
Congratulations on your new crabs!! I'm not buying that you are not going to keep them. You will fall in love will them. You are not crazy, you just have a beautiful heart of gold!

[Hermias_mom]

Sending you hugs, LadyJinglyJones. The crabs thank you!!!

[LadyJinglyJones]

I 100% never bothered to update the deets on these guys.

Here goes...

I picked up both crabs on April 3rd.

I let the partner name them. He named them after characters from Magic: The Gathering. (Lesson learned.)

Chandra, the male, pinching me:




Jace, female, hiding.


Barely 48 hours in the tank and both crabs dig. I will see neither for another 5 weeks. Much crab food goes mouldy.

I found a curb 20 gal, which was handy.


Fast forward to the 13th of May... Jace is up! Chandra follows three days later. Set up the 20 gal, and the next week they're moved into a half decent space.



They've been switching shells so often I keep losing track of who is who. I noticed this, though :



Is this:
A) a weird crab spit bubble?

B) eggs that haven't developed enough to be pigmented?

C) a weird camera thing?

And this is a photo I liked. I dunno who it is because both of them have been in & out of that shell s couple times. I've seen a lot of crab butts this week.




And yeah... I'm not giving these guys away, either.

Largely because I just haven't found other Toronto crabbers who really want more crabs. Need to network more, I guess.

[GotButterflies]

Thanks for the update! I figured you would keep them! They have a great home now!

That is neither of your guesses. It is....A MOLT SAC!

[LadyJinglyJones]

Oh yeaaaah.... duh. I guess I wasn't thinking along those line because it looked detached in another picture, but that was probs just the image being fuzzy.

[wodesorel]

When they get big they can look reeaaally funny, even if you've seen a molt sac a hundred times before.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Hermias_mom]

Man those crabs are pretty!!!

[aussieJJDude]

Congrats... Speaking from a recent child prospective, some children dont mind having a hands off approach to pets; and dont exactly mind that they more nocturnal... Rare for certain, but children across the world keep crabs, and do fine..... but in saying that, those children are weird (self acclaimed weird)

[LadyJinglyJones]

@aussieJJDude
This little boy was super cute... but only about five or six years old. His mom said he loved them at first but never looked at them anymore, so she was getting rid of them.

Four of my seven crabs are from kids who lost interest. It bums me out - just because it bugs me that parents are getting animals for their young children but they themselves aren't interested in these critters. I can't relate to that. My own partner's mother did this. I have to bite my tongue a lot.

I totally loved keeping fish as a yong'un (still do), and might have liked crabs too... my parents say that I could watch an ant hill like it was tv, and that kicking me out the front door was all they had to do to preoccupy me when I was being a brat in the summer. Not much has changed. :roll:
We may be the same kind of weirdo.

[LadyJinglyJones]

So, today in laughable denial, we have new crab Pax. I'll totally find a new home for him, right guys?

(Actually picked him up Friday, but I've been busy costing out my new tank stand. ... math is hard... why with the numbers? Always the numbers. )

Actually, I'm not even pretending I'll find homes for them anymore.

This little dude came in a painted shell, is male, and has a ginormous moult sack. His owner contacted me through the HCA, so this is my first HCA adoption.

[Hermias_mom]

Congratulations on the new crab! The more the merrier, right? Can't wait to see pictures!

[ROSIEonFIRE]

I know this thread is a little old but jeez, where do you find all these guys?? Ive been looking for crabs for like 2 months now and only found the 3 i have right now, louis wu, nessus and chmeee. I know the feeling tho regarding parents who purchase these animals after having done literally 0 research for kids who get bored of them after 3 months. Im pretty sure thats how my 3 amigos made it to me. When i saw hermit crabs for sale at the beach in the beginning of august i went home, spent about 2 weeks doing research, then spent another month setting up my tat and getting everything just right before i even had any idea where id be getting them from!

Also, its really funny that ur partner named the girl crab jace and the boy crab chandra. This has given me another great idea for a nerd tastic gender bending couples costume for me and my boyfriend. And also i too am wondering what the heck im gonna do should all of my crabs be lucky enough to make it to jumbo some day. Rehab the guest cottage on my imaginary property for them?

[LadyJinglyJones]

I know this thread is a little old but jeez, where do you find all these guys?? Ive been looking for crabs for like 2 months now and only found the 3 i have right now, louis wu, nessus and chmeee. I know the feeling tho regarding parents who purchase these animals after having done literally 0 research for kids who get bored of them after 3 months. Im pretty sure thats how my 3 amigos made it to me. When i saw hermit crabs for sale at the beach in the beginning of august i went home, spent about 2 weeks doing research, then spent another month setting up my tat and getting everything just right before i even had any idea where id be getting them from!

Also, its really funny that ur partner named the girl crab jace and the boy crab chandra. This has given me another great idea for a nerd tastic gender bending couples costume for me and my boyfriend. And also i too am wondering what the heck im gonna do should all of my crabs be lucky enough to make it to jumbo some day. Rehab the guest cottage on my imaginary property for them?

Yeahhhh.... I guess if i grow enough jumbos I'm going to eventually build some monstrosity of a crab pavillion in my tiny living room.

When I describe one of my crabs by their sex, my boo likes to tell me to stop imposing my archaic gender binary on them & that they should be free to choose the pronouns they prefer. He thinks he is very funny.... though incidentally, intersexed crabs do occur. So maybe he's on to something. :roll:

As to where I'm finding crabs :

I have a standing alert on Kijiji (Canadian buy & sell) that sends notifications of adds containing the words "hermit" & "crab". I live in a large city. People get rid of their crabs quite a bit. I'm actually trying to network with other Kijiji crab-seeking lurkers like myself, see if we can help each other transport needy crebs & stuff.

You can try adoption pages in the big Facebook groups too, if your having no luck though the HCA... may find something in your area. Trust me, a lot of hermits need re-homing.

[broke669]

i cant wait to get more $$$ so i can get my 80 gallon up and running. christmas is just around the corner, and my pet shop just got in some hermit crabs a few weeks ago (first time in at least 6 months), so i'm sensing that very soon there's gonna be a lotta unwanted/neglected crabs in my city. as soon as the new tat is up, i'll be posting in the local online classifides