(Re)New owner....just rescued 5 hermies!!
Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2021 11:08 pm
I haven't had hermit crabs for over 30 years!! Back then, information wasn't so easy to get!! So, needless to say, they didn't last very long. I've always felt it was wrong how they sell SO MANY in the beach shops, in the tiniest little enclosures, and send you away thinking it's the easiest thing in the world to take care of!! Not that they are difficult, but there's a lot more to it than what we were told!!! Fast forward to Friday.....Saw an ad onlne for 5 hermit crabs with enclosure.....just clicked it out of curiosity......I was horrified!! There were 5 hermies in a 10 gallon tank.....everything bone dry!! Like, it was made for a desert animal, minus the heat lamp!!! There was only a shell with some commercial food, the obligatory fresh water dish with a sponge, and two empty shells (painted at that) that were WAY too big for them to change into!! I noticed the ad had been up for 23 days. I had to contact them! No one had inquired about them at all! My soul could not rest!! I went yesterday morning at got them!! My closest guess as to the species was Ecuadorian, with the coloration of their visible body area. I have no idea how long they were without proper water dishes.....zero salt water! She said the people that SHE got them from didn't mention anything about salt water, and there was nothing in the supplies that they gave her to indicate it was needed. She had them for four months, and no idea how long the previous owner had them!! I removed everything from their tank, added a tiny bit of water to the EE substrate, gave them both kinds of water (although just small dishes) and 4 of the 5 sat in the salt water for about45 minutes. I gave them some fresh food from my kitchen, then sprinkled just a little of their commercial food for familiarity. I'm not sure if they have eaten anything at this point, but this morning, they actually had some color!!! they are in fact PP's. Today, I made them a new food tray so I could separate the different foods I'm trying, frantically went to the stores to find a few shells (orders ore on the way also), made them much better water pools, and de-cluttered the tank a bit. They were much more active today. Now, the new tank set-up will begin!!
