hamster balls?

[TheCrabLord]

anyone have opinions on hamster balls for crabs? i want a solution to let them get walking excersise while not having to deal with the stress of possibly losing a crab again. ive heard good stuff on them, but also some bad things as to their legs getting caught. any personal experience? or a good way to get my crabs some more walking excersise without risking losing a crab? ive read online that the more exercise a crab gets the longer they live. i know that carol of crabworx had crabs that she let wander that lived well past 30. thoughts? i used to make leashes out of yarn (lol) but theyd fall off their shells alot bc i just tied it on.

[Rawrgeous]

I'd worry that they could get their legs caught and break off. Plus, unless you live in a humid area like carol they shouldn't be out of the tank unless necessary for maintenance imo anyways. Mine really do seem to enjoy the plastic hamster wheel I added and it seems that many other people's crabs seem to like them too.

[JoeHermits]

I tried a hamster ball many years ago, back before I knew how to care for the crabs properly. It’s risky because their legs can get caught in the air slits and, unless your home is incredibly humid, they are at risk of gill damage from being outside their tank.

A better solution for exercise would be an in-tank exercise wheel. Just drill some holes to zip tie the plastic mesh in place and you’re good to go.

[Motörcrab]

Like everyone else is saying, plastic hampster wheels inside the cage. I had my doubts on them at first. Pretty much all of our crabs that tried it seem to always go back for more. Some of ours spend hours at a time in them, others a few minutes.

We put the craft embroidery mesh in ours and secured it with small zipties to give them more area and better grip. They can also use it as they please rather than being forced to use a ball.

[KyMart]

anyone have opinions on hamster balls for crabs? i want a solution to let them get walking excersise while not having to deal with the stress of possibly losing a crab again. ive heard good stuff on them, but also some bad things as to their legs getting caught. any personal experience? or a good way to get my crabs some more walking excersise without risking losing a crab? ive read online that the more exercise a crab gets the longer they live. i know that carol of crabworx had crabs that she let wander that lived well past 30. thoughts? i used to make leashes out of yarn (lol) but theyd fall off their shells alot bc i just tied it on.

I have had an idea of lining one with craft mesh so that way it's legs can't get stuck, and making one that is fully sealed so that way your crab can have some humidity inside of the ball for a short while.. I would have to tinker with this, and create a safe way of heating the ball without interfering with it. If you just lined it with craft mesh tho you could probably do it for a little bit (like 5-10 minutes), but still would take some tinkering. Hmm now I wanna make and sell hermit crab safe fully equipped balls so they can have fun safely and not be too cold and be able to breathe!