New Owner

[Guest]

Good Morning,
I am the very happy owner of two little hermies named Wally (for our Red Sox Green Monster) - he's in a green shell, and Princess who has a lovely pink and purple shell. The little kids live where I work and there is a staff of 12-15 (depending on the season) people. Most were a little stand-offish when I first set up their home there but now everyone comes in the door and goes to check up on the kids! (They are a wonderfully uniting factor for our department!) A new member of the staff was thrilled when I got her her very own crabbie as a birthday present - Little J.
Now for questions - Our hermies live in a 10 gallon aquarium with a palm tree double feeding dish and a separate rock-like "wading pool". The substrate is mostly calci-sand with a small corner of pebbles. Because our building houses three indoor tennis courts, I was afraid the air-conditioning made it too cold for them so I added a heater pad and have temp and moisture meters in there (stuck on the walls). They have two choya wood "tubes" to hide in and a climbing pad against the back wall.
I have Stress Coat in preparation for their baths but am a little scared of bathing them. I am concerned about the lack of adequate moisture in their crabitat. I am not convinced that the meter is working properly.
I spray their crabitat a couple times a day - in addition to spraying them individually. Any words of wisdom gratefully accepted.
Lyn

[Guest]

Yea for you! They are amazing lil creatures, really fun to watch...

You can add a salt water dish as well, and many of us do not bathe (except for new babies), if you have salt and fresh water dishes available, they are able to bathe themselves and keep their shell water at the right salinity....
And spritzing them daily is not necessary, if you take them out and will be out for a whilt I guess some would spray them, I do not keep them out long, so I skip spraying them altogether.

I fyou have some time to fill out the template, others may have some additional helpful hints to keep your crabs happy and healthy.

[Ryanstein]

Lyn,

Congrats on your new crabs! You seem to be doing a fine job for a beginner.

As for the humidity gauge, I would just make sure that it is from a reliable store, and if it was very cheap, like 1-2 dollars, then it might not be of good quality. But from all of my experiences, and many others', I can almost assure you that it is doing the job. Just keep the humidity between 75-80% Relative.

Temperature is ideal at 80F, but is plus or minus a few degrees.

Happy crabbing!

Ryan

[Guest]

Welcome to the HCA!

I'll give you a substrate tip! I'd change the calci sand. Every new crabber uses it (I did) because it's the only substrate normally made for hermit crabs, so we think it must be the perfect thing. But if your humidity is not staying constant, I bet the calci sand is why. It does not hold humidity well. It clumps, they can't dig in it to destress or molt, and it can get stinky and infested with bad bacteria. On top of all that it's expensive. Playsand or Coconut substrate is much better for these critters humid enviroment.

Getting the substrate changed will help your humidity, and bathes won't be nessesary then. With the proper humidity, and pools deep enough for them to bathe themselves, you don't need to! Most of us no longer recommend bathing crabs anyway, it often causes stress and limb loss, some crabs don't like it. If you do bathe them I would just use declorinated water, without the stress coat. That's another thing that petstores love to sell us, but it's made for fish, and the slime coat may clogg their gills.

And I second the sea salt water suggestion!

Gald to meet you and the kids!

[Guest]

Welcome to HCA! This link should help you http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/pa ... abCare.doc also with the person you gave the crab to I'd take it back unless you can get her a 10g with 2 more crabs as crabs are socialable creatures and become depressed and later die if there are no other crabs. Also I would go to the pet store and get a wide variety of unpainted shells as the painted shells are toxic to crabs no matter how many times the package says "none toxic" they are toxic because when the paint chips off they will eat it and then they will die. So as long as you get plenty of none painted shells they should change pretty soon after you add them as crabs very rarly like painted shells.

[Guest]

Little J is "her" crab but is staying with ours - so she won't get lonely! I think Little J's shell is too small by the looks but I have unpainted shells in the aquarium and none of them seem to want to trade in their shells. I think perhaps they are still adjusting to new surroundings. Princess will come out and walk around whenever I hold her - she's getting very sociable. Little J is getting more adventurous, also. Wally, though, seems to be a sleeper. He seems to like being left alone in his choya tube. He sometimes comes out for a walk but not as often as the others.
I have some cypress subtrate the Pet Store recommended - then I read the HCA site about sand. Does a combination work? Part Cypress, part sand, maybe a pebble area as well?
Lyn

[Guest]

Hmmm....I'm not sure about the cyprus, some woods are poisonous to crabs, and even if it's not one of those woods the only other substrate I would really recomend would be coconut fiber (aside from playsand), because other woodsey substrates are really not made for really humid enviroments and create bad bacteria that can make crabs sick. Pebbles I would only recomend as either around water dishes or under the substrate for drainage of the icky water that seeps down there. Crabs can't dig in pebbles, which makes it perfect to keep them from overturning water dishes or to keep them from the bottom of the tank where the worst bacteria is. Oh, and the fact the pet store recomended it, doesn't lend it credibilty in my mind. Petstores will lead you down the wrong road more often than not. Please take anything they say with a grain of salt, or you may be in for some frustration.

[Guest]

"Petstores will lead you down the wrong road more often than not. Please take anything they say with a grain of salt, or you may be in for some frustration."
That's a REAL BIG reason I joined this site - I don't trust petstores; too often their employees have no real knowledge of their own. You people on this site are far more familiar and well-versed in proper care of my littlest friends.
BTW - a BIG thank you to all of you who have been so kind and generous with your time and answers - it is really appreciated.
Lyn

[Guest]

I saw myself quoted and I thought I was in trouble for a minuet. Because of course there's some good petstores out there, I just get frustrated when a child joins the site in a panic because there was a shell fight because the pet store didn't tell her they needed extra shells. Or that crabs don't need standing water, they drink out of a sponge (that's a good one) and someone's crab dehydrates. I'll admit it, I get mad. So much heartache from responsilbe pet owners who thought they were doing the right thing.

Everyone on this site are wonderful, solution finding crab lovers. You gotta love em' hugh?

[Ryanstein]

Sure do!

Although it was when one of my crabs was losing legs that I decided to join the site. Still not sure why it happened. But I do know that the support of HCA and its members helped me out! I'm so happy to be one of those people helping out now.

Ryan

[Guest]

Hi and Welcome.

Over to the right under Crab Care FAQ you will find directions to calibrate your Hygrometer. It will tell you if yours is working right or not.

[Guest]

He was hanging out of his shell this morning - so sad - don't know what happened. Wally has gone into hiding under the choya climbing stick; he's not buried way down but he's obviously trying to hide. Molting, maybe?? Princess is not acting "normal" either. Not sure if she aclimating or stressed. She's not scrunching up into her shell as much as usual. Does that indicate a problem?
I am worried about them.
Lyn

[Guest]

Well if I read correctly you havent had the crabs that long, so they could be suffering from Post Purchase Stress. If that is the case there is really nothing you can do other than to check your tank conditions to make sure they are what they should be and hope for the best. PPS is a big threat to hermit crabs.

[Ryanstein]

Hope they are fine, too. I wish you luck. (and them, too)

[Guest]

They both seemed fine this morning - Wally had come out of hiding and was back in his hide-out in the choya wood. Princess had be out and about during the night and was hunkered down in a different choya wood hide-out. They both welcomed Lily, a new little friend. Little J's owner had gotten her.
Should we not handle the newbie for a few days? Would that be better for her - possibly less PPS?
Somebody please straighten me out - I know they need a dish of fresh water and a dish of salt water, both decholorinated; they have a larger dish - almost like a small pond, what should go in that? I have decholorinated fresh in there now. Is that right?
I found, on the MS website, a nice little clip art hermie and made a "memorial" for Little J which will be on the outside wall of the crabitat.
I will send pictures soon of all our littlest friends.