HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello,

I am a prekindergarten teacher with a class of about 12 kiddos. I got a classroom pet, well pets, and set up their tank with substrate sand mixture, a freshwater dish and a saltwater dish, and a food dish and hide out (that takes up the whole tank, getting a new one this weekend). I got them Wednesday of this past week, so only had them for five days.

The tank, I thought, was big enough but seemed small once the dishes were in, and the hideout was in with extra shells for my crabs. On the first day, one was active and moving around. I haven't noticed them eating or drinking. I am also getting a heater this weekend since the tank temp only reads about 70 degrees, which I know is too cold for them. I checked their food and water daily at work; however, on the weekends, it's much harder to check those things since I work at least 30 mins from home.

I have a slightly bigger tank, a heater, moss, a temp/humidity gauge, another sponge, more sand, different hideouts, and climbing toys coming for them today, hoping to give them a little more room and some things to climb on will make them more active. (Can I mix the sand with the mixture I already have in the tank at work? As it was a very small bag that came in a start kit came with. Can I mix more sand into the substrate sand mixture I already have? Should I be worried they haven't moved much? I think it's because they are cold; hoping they won't die before I get the heater there.

As far as the classroom goes, the kids like to look at them, and I remind them not to tap the tank and look with their eyes only, but I have some asking about holding them, so I am not sure about that.

Also, when I can't check them on the weekends, what should I do for their food and water? ANy help would be so so appreciated!! Thank you!
Ms. Kiki

mskiki89 wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 25, 2023 7:47 pm

The tank, I thought, was big enough but seemed small once the dishes were in, and the hideout was in with extra shells for my crabs. On the first day, one was active and moving around. I haven't noticed them eating or drinking. I am also getting a heater this weekend since the tank temp only reads about 70 degrees, which I know is too cold for them. I checked their food and water daily at work; however, on the weekends, it's much harder to check those things since I work at least 30 mins from home.

I have a slightly bigger tank, a heater, moss, a temp/humidity gauge, another sponge, more sand, different hideouts, and climbing toys coming for them today, hoping to give them a little more room and some things to climb on will make them more active. (Can I mix the sand with the mixture I already have in the tank at work? As it was a very small bag that came in a start kit came with. Can I mix more sand into the substrate sand mixture I already have? Should I be worried they haven't moved much? I think it's because they are cold; hoping they won't die before I get the heater there.

I'm not sure what size tank you have, but a 20 or 29 gallon will help make sure there's space for adding things! You can definitely mix new sub in or even just add in on top. However, starter kits usually do not have very safe substrate in the first place. Also, spomges are not necessary and can harbor bacteria. Their only benefit is possible humidity boosting which your moss will do anyways and the sponges would require a more maintenance. Everything else sounds pretty good to start though!

As far as the classroom goes, the kids like to look at them, and I remind them not to tap the tank and look with their eyes only, but I have some asking about holding them, so I am not sure about that.

I copy pasted this from elsewhere but I hope it gives you some idea of handling!:
Note on handling: while it can be done safely, this can be difficult to gauge for inexperienced crabbers, so we disccourage handling (assuming experienced keepers who can do it safely would not need to be encouraged nor discouraged)

The main concerns of proper handling along with examples for how they may present as obstacles are:

Stress Levels
a crab may be more likely to crawl if it's comfortable exploring, but may also be trying to escape

as they do not show signs of benefitting from/enjoying the social aspect of human interaction (aside from very rare exceptions), all handling should leave the choice to the hermit crab

Temp/Humidity:
it may be uncomfortable to keep the room you would like to handle them in at an appropriate level for hermit crabs to be able to breathe/be comfortable in

Also, when I can't check them on the weekends, what should I do for their food and water? ANy help would be so so appreciated!! Thank you!
Ms. Kiki

As long as you have enough food, especially dry foods that won't attract pests, they'll be fine! Water may get a bit icky if you can't re-dechlor within the 48 hours that it works for, but I think if you have no other choice it probably won't be the end of the world. Hopefully, someone else may have a more pragmatic solution

Water doesn't need to be re-treated with dechlorinator for crabs. Treating it once is enough.
You don't need to change water daily - HCA recommends a couple times a week, but I have never changed mine more than once a week. As for food, if you feed dry food on a Friday, you won't need to change it til you get back on Monday. I have left mine for 7 to 10 days with just dried food (it's moldy when I get back, but that doesn't harm the crabs).

Question: how deep is your substrate?

And if you have dried food available then you can leave that in there for a few days and it'll be fine.
Assuming itself all playsand it should be find to add the old with the new.

curlysister wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 26, 2023 12:44 am

Water doesn't need to be re-treated with dechlorinator for crabs. Treating it once is enough. You don't need to change water daily - HCA recommends a couple times a week, but I have never changed mine more than once a week.

Do hermits not generate any ammonia? /gq
(I mean https://seachem.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/ar ... rime-work-)

As for food, if you feed dry food on a Friday, you won't need to change it til you get back on Monday. I have left mine for 7 to 10 days with just dried food (it's moldy when I get back, but that doesn't harm the crabs).

Yes that is 100% what I was attempting to say, apologies if that was unclear

myllkti wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 27, 2023 8:20 am

Do hermits not generate any ammonia? /gq
(I mean https://seachem.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/ar ... rime-work-)



Yes that is 100% what I was attempting to say, apologies if that was unclear

No, they don't pee/poop in the water like fish do. We don't need to re-treat water when using it for crabs.

Yes, I guess it's not a necessarily strict standard, but seeing as they hold poop in their shells and they sometimes go in the water, even if they're not dumping it straight in there, it's still coming in contact (I think? Not sure how much they tend to scoop-submerge rather than submerge-sumberge), so I just like safe-rather-than-sorry with it. I hope it's a given but added disclaimer that I hold zero judgment towards anyone who feels otherwise!!

I'm like Curly, and only change my water once/week. I don't re-treat mine either. When you change the water 1-2x per week, you are getting rid of anything harmful that may have started to build up (if there happens to be any poo in the water). For toxic levels of ammonia to build up in a pool, I would think there would have to be a lot of poo, and you'd have to go a long time without changing it.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

Mm interesting thank you!

It's perfectly fine to mix substrate, get more of a dry crumby food for them, you only need to change out water when it starts looking gross. You can get a smaller hiding place for them they have coconut shells to use for hermit huts you can get on Amazon if they don't sell it where you got it, and if you still need to get a larger tank then you can definitely do that but for only 2 just as long as they have what they need it shouldn't be to big of one

Liv.da.crab.lover wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 08, 2023 4:09 pm

It's perfectly fine to mix substrate

Definitely! It could even be beneficial to combine their pros and minimize their individual cons. Totally unnecessary addition on my part, I just get excited about substrate sorry XD

you only need to change out water when it starts looking gross.

I do realize my previous suggestion veers on the stricter, less bare bones side, but I'm a tad concerned about using visual dirtiness as a rule of thumb. I'm sure not being able to change the water until that point every once in a while wouldn't be terrible, but I know from my temporary aquarium phase that visibly dirty water has already been building up, maybe that doesn't apply to smaller hermit water containers?

Genuinely curious to more thoughts on this as I'm on the more "aahhhhh!!" side with water (as established lol) so I'm wondering how much my bias is impacting my gut reaction to this

if you still need to get a larger tank then you can definitely do that but for only 2 just as long as they have what they need it shouldn't be to big of one

Sorry in advance if I'm misinterpreting you! Just in case, I want to point out that this (intentionally or unintentionally) could imply that a tank that's too big would be bad for the crabs, and I just want to point out that hermit housing goes by minimums and not maximums - extra space will benefit their exercise needs if that's something one is able to provide! Not to say that humungous tanks are necessary, but just to clarify a bit of extra tank space is not discouraged