Bathing

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed May 10, 2006 5:36 pm

Hi everyone, just had a quick question:

if i opt to bathe my crabs rather than have a dish for them, is it ok to use bottled water to bathe them in, or is there something else I should use?

thanks a bunch!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu May 11, 2006 9:42 am

I voted just haivng a dish in the crabitat. While bathes are needed for crabs, I think that bathing isn't a good idea for 3 reasons:
1. It could be stressful to crabs. We are not exactley sure that it is stressful, but I think that being picked up and placed underwater with no way out would merit some amount of concern from a crab.

2. Bathing messes up the salinity level of water in their shell. Crabs have shell water, and most of it is salt water. That's why deep dishes are needed, so they can allow water into their shells. They then sue fresh water to balance that salinity. Bathing will ruin any water that the crab has in its shell by watering it down, adn not having deep dishes, the crabs won't be able to fix it.

3. Crabs bathing themselves is more natural, and quite possibly less stressful. In the wild there is certainly no human or thing that walks along the beach dunking crabs in the water. Most times crabs just need a small drink anyway. In the wild crabs are offered huge oceans... and in captivity most they are jsut offered shallow dishes. have deep dishes will replicate the wild more, and lead to healthier crabs.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun May 14, 2006 1:41 am

Well, i would just use dechlor water. Any water safe for crabs is good. But.... You should realy just get some deep tupperware in the tat for drinking, bathing, and also, pre-molt soaking. youd be doing them more good than bad.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun May 14, 2006 9:03 am

I don't believe there's any point in forced bathing. The crabs know what they need. I don't bathe. The only circumstance I might bathe would be to get rid of mites or something. Just think, after every bath the poor little fellas have to work at resetting their correct shell-water salinity b/c it was mucked up by the bath.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun May 14, 2006 3:47 pm

I voted other... it really depends on the situation with me. Usually I just let them clean themselves, unless for instance, if they roll in peanutbutter. I mean, I have a hard time getting that stuff off of them. But uh.... I rarely bathe my hermits, only if they *need* it.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun May 14, 2006 4:51 pm

I voted other I bathe them whenever I clean the tank or add new crabs or find funny bugs crawling around in the tank and think they're mites

They have 2 water dishes in their tank, one a reptile dish that holds 100mL and a petri dish. The bigger dish has salt water the other has plain dechlor... I don't think bathing regularly is that bad b/c it gives you a chance to inspect your crabs and check for mites etc... but I wouldn't bathe any more than once a month or so. Of course if you're in the habit of handling your crabs fairly regularly anyways then bathing to inspect them isn't necessary either

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun May 14, 2006 5:12 pm

To answer the question, bottled water should be fine if you're really sure of what's in it. If you have any skepticism over what's in it, I'd rather not use it.

Probably the safest method to obtain the right kind of water is to dechlorize water yourself. I mix in Novaqua into tap water, bottle it, and use it for water dish. For bath water, I'd use the same stuff. When bathing, don't let the water get too warm or too cold. I personally don't recommend bathing the crabs on a regular basis, though.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 15, 2006 3:49 pm

i let mine bathe themselves whenever they have to.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 15, 2006 10:34 pm

thanks for all of the input everyone!

so after everything you guys said, i thot it would be a lot better to go ahead and put in some dishes for them to bathe in themselves. a problem quickly arose however: one of my hermies had no problem getting out of the dish since he (or she, im not sure yet...) is a little bigger. superman, my smaller hermie, howver, could not get out and i had to help him. so i took out the dish now, and am not sure what else i could use, or how else they could get out... also, the dish was already at a slant so that it would make it easier for them to get out, but also because of this, there really wasnt even enough water for them to submerge into. so any help in this would be great!

oh yeah, the dish i previously used was a little styrophome bowl if that helps...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 16, 2006 6:23 am

I put some aquarium gravel in my water bowl, so the little ones can climb out...hope this helps

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 16, 2006 9:43 am

i voted bath, but i use both dish and bath. Every month or so i bathe them, but i try to rely on the dishes to bath themselves. I bathe them every month myself just to make sure they are bathing themselves and when to introduce a new member. I also like to bathe them because then I have them all out and can look at them and make sure they are all doing ok and such.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue May 16, 2006 10:31 am

I bathe when I get newbies. Other than that I keep 2 large bowls in the tank for the crabs to take care of themselves. I use river rock in the bowls (sloping) and a fake plant between the bowls (in the sand between) with it's stalks in the bowls for the crabs to grab hold of to climb out if needed. That way everyone can fully submerge but also no danger of drowning the little guy.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat May 20, 2006 2:09 pm

hmm, i had an idea for helping the crabs get out, but i wasn't sure if it would be safe for them or not...

my idea was to superglue some sand onto the dish on the slopes and bottom to give them better grip to get out. superglue was the only glue that i could find that i thought might be waterproof, but i wasn't sure if it would be safe for the crabs... i was not sure if maybe some residue or something might come off of the glue...

anyone have any ideas, suggestions?

Gorthaur · Post by **Gorthaur** » Sat May 20, 2006 3:18 pm

superhero wrote:hmm, i had an idea for helping the crabs get out, but i wasn't sure if it would be safe for them or not...

my idea was to superglue some sand onto the dish on the slopes and bottom to give them better grip to get out. superglue was the only glue that i could find that i thought might be waterproof, but i wasn't sure if it would be safe for the crabs... i was not sure if maybe some residue or something might come off of the glue...

anyone have any ideas, suggestions?

Superglue isn't considered crab-safe, but the idea is one that a lot of us have already tried. I used aquarium silicone to cover the bottoms and ramps of my pools with gravel. It works great.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun May 21, 2006 9:15 pm

The only time I bathe my crabs is if I introduce a new crab to the tank or if one of the crabs has recently molted. Otherwise, I just make sure the dishes in the tank are deep enough to bathe in but not deep enough to drown in.

HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Bathing

how do you clean your crabs?

Bathing