new crab problem

[bocoom]

I was at petsmart to get a new hermit crab. and in the tank these were two dead ones and the shells were mostly empty. the ones that were alive were very few and all I saw were tiny crabs. two of them were active when I messed with them but I did not want a tiny one. I saw a medium one with a shell to small for it. its legs and claws were still hanging out of the shell opening and it was the closest thing I wanted to a larger one. I tried getting it to come out of the shell but it wont respond to anything you do. its just frozen in place inside the shell and wont react to anything. I bought it anyway and its been a day and he STILL has not moved. is he sick or something? the crabs had no water with them in the place I got it from and it looked like they were feeding them nasty looking lizard food. my other hermit crab did not do this. He climbed around when I got him and would still bury himself so he could calm down but this one wont move at all. the tank is a 10 gallon with eco earth and tons of stuff to climb on. I think the other crab is molting underneath and I want him to be greeted by his new friend but it wont happen if he is in this comatose like state. He moved his leg a little bit and that's about it.

[YYWW]

Maybe if you just stick him in a hide and leave him alone for 3 days he will come out. He must have experienced a traumatic change when plucked from the wild, and is in his crab home thinking "there's no place like home, there's no place like home," wishing to be back home. He might just need a couple days or weeks to accept that he is in a new world now, and to realize that he is safe and will not turn out like those dead buddies at the pet store. In order to let him feel safe leave him alone and provide plenty of gooood food from the safe list, and let him enjoy darkness and solitude. Keep his water fresh and double check your tank conditions. Good luck!


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[bocoom]

thank you. hopefully your right. I even bought a new coconut wall thing the both of them can climb on to celebrate. I hope this does not go to waste. also were can I get shells from? the ones in petsmart are not even good or weird shape and even fit the ones I have and are a little to expensive. where do you or any one else get yours?

[moonbeam]

You can look at Walmart or even a craft store. They usually have baskets of shells that contain a few usable turbos and whatnot. We also having shopping resources here at HCA. There's a link to the resources on the left side under forums and whatnot (I think, I'm on my phone so I'm telling you from memory). I've heard good reviews about the hermit crab patch and Deltona. I've ordered from Naples a few times and love the shells I get. Just remember when ordering online you want to know what size you're looking for. I think the hermit crab patch has a link that shows you how to measure shells if you haven't seen it already.


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[bocoom]

thank you. im glad its not as bad as I thought.

[Brittanybaby22]

Give him some time to destress

[bocoom]

well I got some trouble. for some reason my tank now smells of rotting fish. I cant tell if it was the commercial crab food I left in there for a few days or the crab itself but I took the food out. is he dead or something because he STILL has not moved since I got him. his antennae is tucked in put I poked it and he STILL did not respond and the antennae was hard to the touch. what gives?

[CallaLily]

Give it time to see if the smell dies down with the food removed. If not, he probably passed.

[bocoom]

Now I have to go all the way back to petsmart to return him so I can get a new one. Im glad you have a 15 day warranty on the animals because they take poor care of them. I dont want to have to settle for those little scrawny ones they have in the tank because I had one before and its impossible to find shells for them and I dont think it will be a good tank mate for the one I have thats fairy large.

[CallaLily]

I'm so sorry. They go through so much being pulled from the wild and shipped around a few times before coming home with us. Many do not make it.

Crabs of all sizes usually get along just fine. I find more issues arise between similarly sized crabs. Check out the HCA's shopping resources link for a list of stores that sell shells online (it's to the left side of the forum). I'll grab a link if you can't find it.

[MuseCrazy]

It's really better to adopt crabs instead of buying from the pet store. Most of the adoptions I've done came from people who had done the research and had decent set ups so the crabs molted at least once, and were in better shape than any I've seen in the pet store.

[bocoom]

About that. dont you think its not right to pluck them from the wild? I did not know they did this until after I bought my 2 crabs. I always wanted to ask this.

[CallaLily]

I agree with MuseCrazy. Adoption is best. I haven't made a crab purchase since February 2010. I've since made a promise to adopt only and plan to stick to it.

[Drakezilla]

Agreed! I feel like the ones who were adopted have a higher chance of survival. They probably have had lots of time to de stress as well so the move shouldn't be so hard for them.

[wegotcrabs]

What's the best source for hermit crab adoption? We are new at keeping hermies ... the first one was caught by a local fisherman; felt so sorry for him, in light of the conditions in which he was kept. The next three were mail-ordered by one of our sons, who realized how lonely crab #1 was becoming. All of these guys (PPs) have been happy and healthy in a 40 gallon crabitat for the past 4 months. All are fist-to-baseball size. We now have a new 70 gallon tank we are setting up, and would be glad to add to our crabby family via adoption. (Also have 2 pet-store PPs which we brought home out of sheer compassion. They are still in quarantine in a separate tank).