HCA: Hermit Crab Association

What do I do?

My solution to fighting is to make sure there are plenty of shells for them to change into, and a salt water bath for all of them. That always seems to sort them out.

Salt water?! But they are freshwater, won't that killl them?

What do you mean, they are freshwater? There are two types of hermit crabs, marine and land hermits. Marines live in saltwater and land hermits need both fresh and salt water. If you bathe them all in a saltwater bath at the same time, they will smell similar, leading to less fights hopefully. Hope that answers your questions

Ug, I'm really screwing up here. So I'm going to have 3 bowls then. One of fresh, one of salt, and one of food. Bedding wise, I should just use coco fiber? Can I use distilled water or do I need to dechlorinate tap water?

Hello and welcome to the HCA Terpulus! Don't worry, it doesn't sound like you are screwing up! At least you are doing your research and trying to fix it. There's a bit of a learning curve with the land hermits that can be overwhelming at first.

You should have 3 dishes. 1 Freshwater, 1 marine salt water (not table salt--use a marine aquarium salt mix like Oceanic in the fish section), and 1 food dish.

You can use dechlorinated tap water, just make sure your dechlorinator doesn't contain slime coat for their drinking water because too much slime coat is bad for their gills.

Crabs usually fight for shells or because one doesn't smell like the others. Krusty's recommendation to give them all a quick bath in the salt water was a good one.

There are some care sheets to the right of your screen with more info about how to set up a crabitat. >>>>>>

Actually I'm currently using distilled water. Is this acceptable?

I prefer to use bottled spring water myself, since distilled removes all the beneficial minerals from the water. Be sure the bottle says 'Spring Water' on it and not 'drinking water' which is just filtered tap water and may contain some residual chlorine.

The basic guide said not to use distillied water. I have ice mountain natural spring water. Will that work? Can I use distilled water for the salt water? I have a gallon jug of distilled water and can I just add the salt to that?

i dont know anything about ice mountain natural spring water, but it sounds ok. again, don't use distilled water because all of the beneficial minerals are gone.

Gotcha, I will give them fresh spring water. What abotu the salt water? They don't need minerals to salinate themselves. Can I use distilled water for that?

Wow, everyone is giving you good advice! Yes, I use pure bottled water with marine grade salt for the salt water bowl with my hermies. Basically, you cant use tap water for anything. It contains anti-crab evils!
Feel free to ask any of us anything, or even pm if you like. Its a bit tricky at first with land hermies, but once you get used to it, its awesome!

If you could please fill out this template, we would all be glad to help you even more and give some suggestions. (copy and paste)

1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it?

2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read?

3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?

4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)?

5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced?

6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known?

7. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing?

8. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they?

9. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any?

10. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently?

11. How often do you clean the tank and how?

12. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned?

13. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently?

14. Is there any other information you would like to share that might be helpful (anything that is regularly part of your crab care, playtime, bathing, etc.)?