First Crab Question: Can I purchase crabs one by one?

[jwhite1083]

This site is so wonderful. I've been reading and lurking and soaking up all the information.

I have two 10 gallon tanks. Each is filled to 6" with Eco Earth and Quikrete all purpose sand in a 5 parts sand 1 part earth mix. I moistened the substrate with declorinated fresh water to the consistency of wet sand castle. After calibrating my hygrometers, they are currently reading between 75-80% humidity with a temperature between 75-80 degrees on the coolest side.

I have basic pellets for food but I plan to add eggshells for calcium and fresh veggies as food and dried shrimps. I will be adding other things as I go along, like a moss pit and more things to climb.

I'm almost prepared to purchase my first hermit crab. I think. I just have one question. I know they're supposed to have friends, but I plan on putting my new crab in the iso tank first in case it needs to molt or has issues, like mites. Reading about molt makes it seem so nervewracking for one, much less two at once. So is it okay to purchase them one at a time? I realize that my first crab will be alone in the ISO tank until the first molt... and then past the second molt of my second crab.

But it seems to be the 'safest' route while I find my feet with these new pets.

Please let me know if you think this is a good or bad idea. And if you think its a bad idea, what do you suggest?

I also welcome any helpful tips on how to best transport my crabs from the petstore home, or if you recommend buying from another place besides a pet store.

Thank you for any assistance you can give!

[The Franckinator]

Welcome to the site! Good job for researching and everything before adopting - a lot of people adopt then research months later or never at all.

I'm not really sure how to answer your question directly. I understand how nerve-wracking this could be, but at the same time, they really do thrive in social groups. If a crab is suddenly separated and alone, that, by itself, could potentially stress out the crab; they're already going through enough stress because of post-purchase syndrome. If you're concerned about not being able to monitor each one individually, perhaps you could adopt two and eventually get a few more. Or maybe two crabs in each tank and eventually integrate the two groups, but that right there might be what you seem concerned about.

I believe the best advice I can give is this: keep one tank empty but able to support hermit crabs and ready to house them in an emergency. Buy as many crabs as you feel comfortable, but, at the minimum, get two (also, make sure each crab has a species buddy, eg a PP needs another PP in the tank even if there are already Es in the tank). If you're concerned about mites, make sure you read the sticky on them viewtopic.php?t=92530.

Being alone is different than being the only crab on the surface, in my opinion. If there's one crab molting down under and another on the surface, they can probably smell each other and hear each other. It's okay if one goes down to molt while the others stay surfaced - happens all the time, in fact.

Maintenance-wise, however, you probably wouldn't even notice a difference between taking care of one crab versus two, since so many of them are inactive during the day. But of course, that depends on the crab. My oldest, Ray, is very active when I get home around 3pm and this continues into early night.

Also, regarding your food, I would say don't use pellets (I'm assuming you're talking about something called "Hermit Crab Food" or something similar). Most of this stuff is poisonous. I think there's one brand that isn't, but I'm not sure which that is. I distrust anything, excluding shells, marketed towards hermit crabs and do research before buying it.

Regarding transporting them, my Petsmart provided a small plastic cup filled with damp paper towels and moss. This is okay to transport them in and I used it because I forgot the container that I had prepared at home. I was going to bring a kritter keeper type of thing with moist sand, a cocohut, and water. They were fine in the container they provided though.

[DarthKrab]

Welcome to the site! Good job for researching and everything before adopting - a lot of people adopt then research months later or never at all.

I thought these little guys were gonna be super easy and low maintenance when I bought one crab at the mall of america without thinking. I figured since they were all on dry calc sand with a small dish packed with dried cheap food I could do the same... Boy was I wrong and boy am I glad I found this website. My crabitat and crab happiness (hoping they like this home better) is all thanks to the people of this website.

What really makes me sad is that the guy who sold me my first crab told me "How to take care of them" and gave me a single sheet of paper with maybe 5 tips on there... He is spreading false lies and I'm glad I haven't seen that kiosk since.

[jwhite1083]

Hermit crab food is poisonous!!! How disturbing. Okay, well, I'll just throw out what I have then. =/

I am nervous that the crabs would attack the molting one. I know of the "soda top" protection method for molting crabs, but I thought that having the iso tank would be better.

I was going to get 4 of them, so I guess I will go ahead and get them all at once and separate the two groups. That way if one goes down to molt it will be easier to protect from one crab than 3.

Thank you very much. I'm so excited!

[The Franckinator]

If you feed the crabs correctly, they shouldn't go down and attack molters. Unless if it's some symptom of PPS or they aren't being cared for correctly, it's actually not a usual habit of hermit crabs

[jwhite1083]

Thank you everyone!

[wodesorel]

Not all store bought foods are bad! You just have to read the label. There is more information here: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=92555

I would suggest getting a pair at the start, and considering sticking with only that if the 10 gallon is going to be their permanent home. It's tempting to get more, but they tend to fare better in smaller groups and a 10 gallon doesn't offer much space. If this is going to be a starter tank then you can certainly work up to several tiny crabs (Quarter sized or smaller) without issues.

[jwhite1083]

Just two then? That's perfectly alright with me.

I will try to go get them today. The tanks are really stable in environment and should they decide to molt, I'll not have to fiddle with them. I'll send pictures!

EDIT: Thank you for showing me that link about the food. After doing a bit of googling, I found out that one of the ingredients can be toxic to fish. The world never ceases to boggle the mind...

[Kittykimbro@att.net]

I find food in the fish section of Walmart. I have fish flacks, small red dried shrimp, bloodworms, mealworms. I also keep a mixture of old fashioned oats mixed with unsalted sunflower seeds, flaxseed, Chia seeds and hemp seeds in the fridge and spoon some out daily. I found some dried banana, strawberries and some dried apples in the produce section. These are just dried fruit, no additives, oil, or anything else. They are resealable bags and for $1.50 each, there is enough to feed for months. I can then add any fresh items that I want. Makes for easy and inexpensive variety.

[jwhite1083]

My crabs prefer coconut and kombu seaweed.

I think I will go and get come dried shrimps and cuttlebone to see if they like that. They're ignoring the boiled egg I try to feed them.