We've had Sam, a purple pincher, for about 3 years now. He has sadly gone through 3 companions, all of whom died, and has now been on his own for well over a year.
To make a very long story as short as possible: His first friend, Maria, was a tank mate at PetCo where we bought them on a bit of a whim (not knowing what we now!) for my then-9-year-old daughter. Because of this forum and other resources, we were able to set up a crabitat (10 gal aquarium, half full of an EE/sand substrate, salt and distilled water, temp & humidity maintained, etc.) correctly, however we did feed commercial HC food initially. Maria died within a few days of bringing her home presumably from PPS and/or crappy food and/or ?. (She was definitely dead, we waited until she was falling apart and smelling
) We replaced Maria with Treasure, knowing hermies like a buddy. Treasure did well for a couple of weeks, then buried herself and never resurfaced. (We eventually found her shell, never found her body). A couple of months later, we rescued a hermie from one of my daughter's friends who was treating it terribly and didn't want it anyway. This was Herman, and he seemed happy for a few weeks, and then... buried himself and never resurfaced.At this point, we figured it was us -- despite trying to do everything right! -- and that Sam would probably die soon himself. He has always been prone to burying himself for days, weeks, or even a couple of months at a time, and every time, we think "Oh boy, this might be it"... and every time he surprises us. He's in the same aquarium, we now feed fresh food + meal worms + brine shrimp, make sure he has several shells and stuff to climb, hide in & explore. He has grown significantly, appears healthy, and (when he's not buried!) is quite active digging, climbing, rearranging, burying stuff, etc.
Since he seems to be thriving, we are wondering if we should try again to get him a buddy. We are torn because of our crappy track record keeping anyone alive except for Sam (who is maybe a super-crab?), and because he seems "okay" -- why rock the boat? On the other hand, if he is going to have a long life, we don't want him to be lonely and bored. He does *not* like human contact (he tries to get away/hide whenever handled, and will pinch if he can't escape), so we aren't a good substitute.
What do you all think? And if you think a buddy is a good idea, any thoughts on who/how/where? Should they be roughly the same size? I am disinclined to go a chain pet store again, I honestly don't want to support the industry of harvesting these guys from the wild... Wondering about searching for a "second hand" crab?
Any feedback would be great -- thanks so much!
