Newbie with adopted crabs

[sasha2]

Hi all. I just tonight adopted a pair of hermit crabs from a neighbor whos kids lost interest.
Now I took them because I have an empty 20 gallon aquarium that I can use.They are currently in a critter keeper.
Now I had hermits many years ago and they all died, one by one. I seriously thought I was doing everything right back then.
I really really want to do this right.Tomorrow I will go to the petstore and outfit the 20 gallon with everything they need hopefully.

Okay so I want to use a mix of eco earth and sand. Is it possible to put small real plants in the cage like pothos or ferns in small pots?
Do they need UVB? I plan on using overhead heat, possibly a small bulb during the day but what do you use at night?

Ive had lots of fish tanks before I moved but still have most of the stuff so have dechlorinator, aquarium salt, lots of decorations and fake plants.

[LadyJinglyJones]

Heya! Congrats on your new housemates!

I have recommendations:
Don't get your sand from a pet store. They mostly only have calcium sand, which is poop. Hardware stores have playsand - this is what you want.

'Aquarium salt' is just meant for treating ailments in freshwater fish (and is really not great at that for many fish species, but I digress). Make sure you purchase Marine Salt, for salt water tank set ups - this has trace minerals that the crabs really need for proper metabolic function. So tres important!

UVB can be controversial. .. though imo, what scant evidence there is points to it being unnecessary. The verdict is still out, but it certainly isn't as important as having 80°/80% temp & humidity, deep enough sub, etc.

There are a couple of fern species that produce phytochemicals that mimic ecdysone (the moulting hormone for both craboos and bugs) as a way of messing with their insect enemies. I personally wouldn't add them, but there are crabbers who do.

Pothos is okay. The thing about plants is that you need ones that are grown without fertilizers & pesticides, which rules out greenhouse & florist specimens. Also, crabs notoriously destroy greenery. The roots shouldn't be a problem in little pots, but bear in mind how much sub space the pots take up... and you need to use an organic soil, not regular potting soil - it gots ferts in it.

Good luck!

[sasha2]

Hey thanks so much. We just bought some playsand at the hardware store tonight but the petstore is closed so have to wait till tomorrow. I can put off the plants and uvb until later. I just want to get the basics down first. Thanks for the heads up on the salt, Im sure Ive only have the regular aquarium salt so will look for the right kind tomorrow.

BTW both are in painted shells and are about 1.5 inches long..I hope they move out of those shells soon, cause they are ugly.I prefer natural.
It might be fun in the long run to plant some wheatgrass or something in organic soil for them to destroy on purpose.

[HermitHound]

Hey thanks so much. We just bought some playsand at the hardware store tonight but the petstore is closed so have to wait till tomorrow. I can put off the plants and uvb until later. I just want to get the basics down first. Thanks for the heads up on the salt, Im sure Ive only have the regular aquarium salt so will look for the right kind tomorrow.

BTW both are in painted shells and are about 1.5 inches long..I hope they move out of those shells soon, cause they are ugly.I prefer natural.
It might be fun in the long run to plant some wheatgrass or something in organic soil for them to destroy on purpose.

The painted shells are also toxic to your hermit crabs so make sure to get rid off them as soon as they change out of it. Good luck! Keep us updated

[sasha2]

Thx, one is painted with red spiderman thing and the other is red with a lightening bolt thing. Im pretty excited about getting together a nice setup for these guys.I will post a pic if I can soon. I just switched from photobucket to imgur so still trying to figure out how to use it.
I just hope they dont die, Im sure they havent had optimal care since they belonged to kids.

You see by my join date that I had looked into getting some hermies a few years ago but never actually got them. Its been at least 10 years since I had some now.

[HermitHound]

Once you get through the first molt with each crab, you should be out of the woods. As somebody earlier said, as long as you maintain 80/80 humidity and temperature as well as provide a minimum of 6" substrate or 3x your largest crab and feed plenty of the right foods they will live a long and happy life. If you haven't checked out the care sheets yet you should! There's heaps on info on them, and any questions you have would probably have been asked before, just search the forums and see what you find.


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[Hermias_mom]

Lots of crabbers recommend Moonglo bulbs for nighttime heat production. The blacklight bulbs (made for people at parties) do not heat properly and could be harmful to crab eyesight.

Aquarium decor and fake plants is usually great for crabs, but you have to be careful. Copper (in anything but extremely low concentrations) is toxic to crabs. If the aquarium and decor has been exposed to copper (often used to treat fish ailments), the copper is often still bonded to all surfaces in the aquarium (plants, tank, glass, etc). I found an interesting post that discusses this some: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forum/inde ... ems.23130/

I believe you can clean your aquarium and plants by using products that are supposed to rid the aquarium of copper. Rid-Metals (by Kordon) is one such product that inactivates the copper, but you'll still need mechanical filtration (water filter) to remove the inactivated copper compounds from the aquarium. I suspect that if you're just wanting to get the copper off of/out of things so you can use your tank and decor for crabs, and don't have to worry about keeping fish alive while you clean, a soak of the tank and decor in something like RidMetals followed by a good scrubbing and a rinse in dechlorinated water would be effective, but I don't know - if I were to do it, I'd see if there's some test kit out there to test the surfaces after you clean them.

I assume you've read all the care sheets - there've probably been a few changes since you were on here last, so if not, you might want to check them out, IMO they're pretty awesome: http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... m.php?f=51

My sister had hermit crabs when I was a kid, and they died too - I feel bad now, knowing what awful conditions they had, but we just didn't know any better, and we were kids. The internet was in its infancy, and the care info available for hermits was not the best. So don't feel too bad, life happens. Super KUDOS to you for wanting to make your new crabs' home the best ever! Sounds like you are on the right track. Let us know if you have any further questions.

Welcome back to HCA!!!

[sasha2]

Yes Ive read the basic care sheet and skimmed a few others. There is alot to read and remember,lol.

BTW after reading about the copper Im a bit concerned as I think they were feeding them crushed rabbit pellets or guinea pig pellets and I know they usually have copper in them.

I cant find sea salt at the petstore except in a giant 45 dollar amount. They only carry aquarium salt which I have. Also no Shells and I really want get them some new ones.So where do you order this stuff from, Amazon has salt but the shells are ridiculously overpriced for just a couple.
Also they only have one kind of hermit food..I did buy some algae wafers, our fish and snails all loved those things.

I got eco earth and sand. I have a several uths from my reptiles(I recently upgraded them to RHPS)..I can just use one of the Uths for the tank but they generally dont raise the ambient temps much. I have light fixtures as well but with daylight bulbs so would need to turn them off at night.

[Hermias_mom]

Yes Ive read the basic care sheet and skimmed a few others. There is alot to read and remember,lol.

BTW after reading about the copper Im a bit concerned as I think they were feeding them crushed rabbit pellets or guinea pig pellets and I know they usually have copper in them.

I cant find sea salt at the petstore except in a giant 45 dollar amount. They only carry aquarium salt which I have. Also no Shells and I really want get them some new ones.So where do you order this stuff from, Amazon has salt but the shells are ridiculously overpriced for just a couple.
Also they only have one kind of hermit food..I did buy some algae wafers, our fish and snails all loved those things.

I got eco earth and sand. I have a several uths from my reptiles(I recently upgraded them to RHPS)..I can just use one of the Uths for the tank but they generally dont raise the ambient temps much. I have light fixtures as well but with daylight bulbs so would need to turn them off at night.

Hang in there! I know, it's like drinking from a fire hose trying to understand all the care sheets and remember them all at once. I can't even tell you how stressed I was the first month I was crabbing! It does get better. Sometimes it just helps to ask a question.

So what I'd recommend for the marine salt is a product called Instant Ocean (Reef Crystals or Sea Salt, doesn't mater which color box you pick, although the orange one has more minerals, so several crabbers prefer that one, here's a link: http://www.instantocean.com/Products/Se ... Mixes.aspx ). The small box should be about $10.00 at Walmart. There are other brands of marine salt too (check out the care sheet on this). Instant Ocean is known to be safe and effective for crabbing.

For shells right now in your area, check out hobby lobby, joanns fabrics, michaels, and other craft stores. Look in their seashell section (decor) for bags of bulk shells, and then inspect the individual shells in the bags as best you can, and pick the ones that are the right type, size opening, and without any holes in them. If there are holes, the crabs won't pick them because their shell water would escape. I've found a lot of green turbos, gold turbos, indian top (magpie or pica shells), and several apple murex at the craft store, and my crabs have been happy with them. One thing I'd caution you about - the gold turbos are a non-preferred shell due to their weight - if other options are available the crabs will almost always pick lighter shells that fit them and match their other requirements. However, there are tons of gold turbos around in the decor section of the hobby stores. Because they're not easy to damage (due to being solid and pretty heavy), they are around a lot, and it can be easy to mistake a gold turbo for a green turbo. At least, that's what I've found. The shell guide is working again, so take a good look at the pictures before you go shopping, it will save you hassle and frustration. http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 24&t=92552

For good online shell vendors, check out the HCA vendors list. Richard's seashells is popular, also Naples seashells, among others.

Shells will need to be clean, without paint or varnish (polished is okay), then boil them for at least 10 minutes in dechlorinated water to kill any bacteria/viruses and help remove any dirt that might be hiding in the shell. Once you empty them and rinse them out, you can dip them in marine (Instant Ocean) saltwater and let them air dry. If they're a little wet, that's okay as long as they're not hot. The crabs will love you forever if you give them new attractive shells!

For food, organic is best, with no added salt. Crabs love organic coconut oil or fresh coconut meat, bee pollen, organic raw honey, cuttlebone, egg shells, scrambled/boiled egg (with no seasonings - I like to microwave mine in a clean dry bowl to be sure there's no salt or oil getting into it from the fry pan), and protein. For protein, try dried krill or river shrimp (this will be in the reptile section of the pet store) and be prepared to grind it up with a mortar and pestle. For some reason, they eat a lot when it's ground up, and not so much when it's not ground up. You can buy a single cooked crab leg or shrimp over the counter at the seafood section of the grocery store - be sure they don't have any added preservatives - the frozen seafood has lots of preservatives sometimes. Organic chicken, fish, duck, steak, raw, cooked, or dried have all be a hit with crabs. For ease of feeding (less bacteria to deal with in the tat afterwards), many people cook or dry their meat before feeding.

Many veggies can be fed to the crabs raw, if they're organic and washed in dechlorinated freshwater. Or you can peel fruit, if you're worried about pesticides on the skin that may not have washed off.

My crabs go crazy about oak and maple leaves (I live in an area where they don't spray for mosquitos and there's no pesticides or herbicides applied to my trees). They also love fresh and dried raspberry canes. They'll eat the leaves and the bark of trees. They also love to climb and are known as tree crabs, so I make sure to give them plenty of branches (after I check the branches to make sure I'm not introducing unexpected pests into the crabitat). You can freeze or bake branches if you like, or put them in fresh/rinsed and take your chances. For permanent tank decor, I soak in saltwater and bake in the oven, for a snack I put branches in straight from the tree after I rinse them off.

Basically, anything off the Safe Foods List (and check out the Food Pyramid) is a good thing to try. Please don't feed them pellets. Most pellets have toxic ingredients. In fact, most items marketed for hermit crabs are ineffective or harmful. It's pretty crazy, actually. The only commercial hermit crab food I've found that's safe is FMR's Fruit Treat. It's a blend of nuts and dried fruit.

Ultratherm and Flukers make UTHs that work for crabbing. Most other brands just don't provide the heat input into the tank that we need. Also, these UTHs can be insulated to increase the heat input into the tank (many of us insulate year round). Other brands, if you insulate them you could start a fire. If you search HCA for "Ultratherm" you'll find more info. Vendors for the Ultratherm are www.reptilebasics.com and www.beanfarm.com

[sasha2]

Thank you so much Hermias mom, I put in a sliver of boiled egg with some shell and a few dethawed peas. I didnt think to check Walmart for sea salt, will go there this afternoon. We are very rural and all we have is a Walmart as far as big stores go, although they are building a hobby lobby but it will be awhile before it opens..Im pretty sure the one crab is too big for his shell so Im in a bit of a panic to get him a new one.

Im buying all new decor so I dont have the copper issue on the aquarium stuff I have, one less thing to worry about. I made the tank half sand and half eco earth with a hide on each end so they can decide what they want.

[GotButterflies]

Hello! Welcome!

Safe food list: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 25&t=92557
Unsafe food list: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 25&t=92556
Food pyramid: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 25&t=92554

Looks like a lot of things have been covered!

You can buy the small boxes of the instant ocean off of Amazon if you cannot find them. Also, make sure you use a dechlorinator. Most of us use Prime.

[Hermias_mom]

Thank you so much Hermias mom, I put in a sliver of boiled egg with some shell and a few dethawed peas. I didnt think to check Walmart for sea salt, will go there this afternoon. We are very rural and all we have is a Walmart as far as big stores go, although they are building a hobby lobby but it will be awhile before it opens..Im pretty sure the one crab is too big for his shell so Im in a bit of a panic to get him a new one.

Im buying all new decor so I dont have the copper issue on the aquarium stuff I have, one less thing to worry about. I made the tank half sand and half eco earth with a hide on each end so they can decide what they want.

Awesome! Sounds like you've got stuff sorted!

You might be surprised what they sell that you can use for crabs at Walmart. They might even have dried krill.

Unless the one crab is trying to take the other crab's shell, you've probably got a bit of time on locating some new shells. Yes, we want them to leave the painted ones as quick as can be, but he's survived in it for some time, another week should probably be okay until your shell order comes in (if you end up ordering online ). Also, sometimes the large crabs like their shells to be small on them. I dont' know why a crab would change into a shell which won't allow them to retract their legs all the way instead of a shell that would (all other things being equal), but I've seen it happen. Your crab might like having a smaller shell... So try not to stress too much if you're not able to get some new shells immediately.

As long as you moisten the substrate (sand AND eco-earth) to sandcastle consistency with dechlorinated marine saltwater (or dechlorinated freshwater, but the saltwater helps to keep the mold down), having half and half playsand and EE should be fine I think. EE can be a bit tricky, I've only ever mixed it 5:1 with playsand (Playsand to EE 5:1 by volume) to help my sand retain moisture. Keeping the substrate moist is to help their molt caves hold up so they can molt safely. The thing about EE is to try not to over-wet it, as it has a tendency to grow mold. At least, that's what I hear. I've heard of crabbers having separate layers of sand and EE, the crabs tend to mix it together after a while. They should have fun doing that!

[sasha2]

OMG I went down to check on them this morning the large one was out of his shell and trying on the one single shell I found in my stuff. I think its a gold turbo though so not sure if he will like it. I had it in my house plants as a decoration. I hope he likes it. I didnt see the smaller one but the egg and peas were all smashed and looked like they had been eating at it...I use the eco earth with my other reptiles so am pretty familiar with it.I know it molds easy but usually only if its got food or poop in it.
I am going to walmart after work this morning so will get the sea salt and look around to see what else they have for hermies.
I did use dechlorinated water to soak the sand and eco earth, I have a big bottle of Prime still from my fish tank days but no salt.

I will try and get a pic later today.

[sasha2]

well she didnt take the shell, I went down and it was empty. I found some shells at walmart but they all look too small. IDK, cant find the salt at walmart either, just aquarium salt.

[Hermias_mom]

well she didnt take the shell, I went down and it was empty. I found some shells at walmart but they all look too small. IDK, cant find the salt at walmart either, just aquarium salt.

Sorry to hear that she didn't take the shell. At least you tried. I'm sure she had some fun investigating it. Maybe she'll change her mind later. Sometimes they're funny like that. BTW, it's great that they're eating the food!

For a while I used to take calipers shopping. It was harder than I expected to judge the size of a shell compared to what my crab was currently wearing. Now I judge based on the size of my finger in the opening.

Amazon also sells the Instant Ocean sea salt for about the same price as Walmart I think. And Walmart can do a ship to store a lot of times.

If you have a saltwater aquarium shop (aka reef or reefer shop) in your town or in any surrounding areas they should have a lot of great things for use with the crabs. I get some of my larger turbos from a reef shop. They use mexican turbo snails (no idea what the correct name is, but it's a mexican turbo shell they've got) to clean the saltwater aquarium tanks, and the oldest snails often have shells with about 1" to 1.25" openings when they pass away. My crabs are just starting to grow into those.

Good luck!