Bathing

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 1:38 pm

I just got my hermies about 3 wks ago. They don't do much. I was wondering about bathing them. What exactly takes place when you bathe a hermit crab? Do they come all the way out of their shells? If so, how do you get them out of the bath water?

Elle · Post by **Elle** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 1:45 pm

bathing a hermit crab is easy, put room temperature dechlor salt water in a bowl, put your crab in for a minute, and they are happy! they do not leave their shell, but they will walk around. this should be done at least twice a month.

hermiefanatic · Post by **hermiefanatic** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 1:50 pm

it is not nessasary to bathe crabs unless the dished r not deep enough for them to clean ther own shells out. also if they r not active what are ur temp and hunidity? thats is usually the cause of inactiveness

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 3:29 pm

The temp is 76 and the humidity is slightly over 80% which is a little high I think. I have propped up the lid on the tat to lower it some. I have tried to get them going by offering organic pb, grapes, lettuce & carrot. I even resorted to trying the commercial food that came with them, but as far as I can tell they haven't eaten at all.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 5:12 pm

Bathing your hermit crabs... This is a debated subject with crabbers. I dont do it. I only do it when I first get them to flush out any mites or any other insects that might be in there. And to re hydrate their gills because the stores conditions are not that good. Bathing your crabs is not natural for your crab. It causes a lot of stress. Make sure your crabs bowls are deep enough so they can go all the way in and rince out their waste. Your crabs are still getting used to better conditions. Though I would try getting the humidity down a bit. But I see your working on it. Believe it or not, crabs can die because the conditions are GOOD! Its a shock to their system. Try to keep the temp and humidity stable. Also honey, and calcium powder is a good booster. (natural honey) and also mine LOVE crickets. They go crazy for those. Stay away from the store bought foods. Most contain too much of one tihng, and not enough of another.

hermietastic · Post by **hermietastic** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 4:20 pm

I don't. As long as you have deep enough water dishes (which you should) their is no reason and it puts so much stress on them. I only do it to new crabs, to make sure they don't have mites, and if I have mites. Although, this is a debated subject, and every crabber must decide.

Jedediah · Post by **Jedediah** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 2:38 am

Your crabs are probably destressing at the moment which is why they are not that active. I'm sure that they have eaten, but they eat very litttle and sometimes you cannot see it at all. Smooth out the substrate around the food bowl, that way you can see the next day if they went near it.

I'veGotCrabs · Post by **I'veGotCrabs** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:38 pm

i figured i'd jump in and ask a question since everyone's on the subject, what qualifies as "deep enough" for a water dish?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:30 pm

Deep enough for your largest crab to almost, but not totally, submerse itself. You also have to make sure you give your smallest crab a way to get out (ie. a rock, shell, piece of rope etc.)

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 7:53 pm

I don't have pools so I do bathe them periodically. I thought it was dechlor water....but then I read here (I think here) that warm salt water with a little Stress Coat would do wonders... This would be to rinse off food and defecation residue and moisten the gills. Any objections to Stress Coat by HCA members or is it standard practice by others here? I've only tried it once and they seemed fine afterwards....

Willow · Post by **Willow** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:31 pm

I think the general consensus is that Stress Coat doesn't do any harm, but doesn't do any good either. It's up to you. I used to bathe my hermies in Stress Coat water, and now I don't bathe them at all, and I don't see any diference in their health or moults. The thing that did improve their moults the most was switching to an all-fresh-food diet---the commercial stuff caused them to have deformities.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:05 pm

skyguyx5 wrote:Bathing your hermit crabs... This is a debated subject with crabbers. I dont do it. I only do it when I first get them to flush out any mites or any other insects that might be in there. And to re hydrate their gills because the stores conditions are not that good. Bathing your crabs is not natural for your crab. It causes a lot of stress. Make sure your crabs bowls are deep enough so they can go all the way in and rince out their waste. Your crabs are still getting used to better conditions. Though I would try getting the humidity down a bit. But I see your working on it. Believe it or not, crabs can die because the conditions are GOOD! Its a shock to their system. Try to keep the temp and humidity stable. Also honey, and calcium powder is a good booster. (natural honey) and also mine LOVE crickets. They go crazy for those. Stay away from the store bought foods. Most contain too much of one tihng, and not enough of another.

I just wanted to add my personal feelings about bathing are EXACTLLY the same as skyguyx5. I don't bathe, but provide them with dishes so they can bathe themselves.

Dawn · Post by **Dawn** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:07 pm

Only bathe straws in declorinated salt water. And if you are providing them with a pond to soak in that is salt water, then bathing isn't necessary. they drink the salt water and soak in it too so they should have a container big enough to get into completely in their crabitat.

as a matter of fact, straws like to completely submerge in salt water for 30 minutes or more...They love that.

HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Bathing

Bathing

Dont' bathe straws in stress coat