HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello, I am a new crab owner as of July 15, 2005. It all started in Gulf Shores Alabama when we entered a souvenir shop that had hermit crabs at the front entrance. They seemed like an easy pet to take care of, (according to the sales associate just food, water, a cage, and VOILA you're done), so we bought 2 to start with. One for each of my children. The deal at the shop was if you buy a cage you get a natural hermit crab for free!We fell for it, hook, line & sinker. We purchased the cage and picked out 2 naturals. I wanted "active ones" so I waited to see which ones moved around the most. I have pictures of them that I can send to anyone who can help me determine what they actually are. I have not figured out how to post them onto this site yet, (still learning), so bear with me. Anyway, we got back to the condo where we were staying with my sister and her children. BOOM!They all wanted one too! So back to the shop for more we went. When we got back to the shop, we saw other crabs for sale. The same crabs we purchased except these were painted. The painted ones were so attractive to the little ones because they had cartoon characters on them. So my nephews got the "cute" ones. By they way, there were also crabs with HUGE football helmets glued on top of the crabs outer choice of shell. My sister and I looked at one another and told our children we would NOT be purchasing any of those! They looked so pitiful. They could hardly move around, and NONE of them could get into the crab hut. They were just out in the open for children to poke at. It was SAD. By the time my nephews had decided on painted shell hermit crabs, my kids wanted one too. SO, I purchased 2 painted shell hermit crabs, and I purchased a SMALL natural for myself. NOW we have 2 large-jumbo, 2 small-medium, and 1 tiny-small, ( I used the measuring chart). Here is my dilemma. After arriving to my home in Georgia, I decided to look on the Internet for crab care information. I was in shock at all the information that was available. I realized that there was ALOT more to caring for these creatures than the sales associate let us know about!! I have no idea what kind of crabs I have. I need help on figuring this out. I have no crab-worthy "crabitat". I have just the plastic cages that came with a free crab. 1 large-jumbo with 1 small-medium to each of the 2 large plastic cages we bought that measure 5 inches tall and 9 inches long and 5½ inches wide. My tiny crab is in a smaller cage by itself. It's cage measures 3 inches wide 4 inches tall and 6 inches long. Colored gravel came with the cage, so that is what is on the bottom. I have been feeding and caring for these crabs to the best of my knowledge at the time of purchase. I thought they were happy little crabbies! They still have a happy personality, crawling all around and cute as can be. NOW I realize I have to make some changes for these cuties to remain with us! I have done all the EMERGENCY care necessary for their survival until I can get the proper crabitat. I have placed a wet towel over the top of the plastic/ vented top, and have tried to use only bottled water. I do want to create a better environment for my crabbies. I want a crab-worthy CRABITAT. HELLLLLLLLPPPPPP. They should give you all this information when you purchase a crab. I know for sure that all folks are not like me, they will never research on how to take care of a crab, and COUNTLESS little crabbies will meet their death. What a shame. There should be a law against selling pets without proper pet care posted and gone over with the prospective pet owner. Anyway, I can email pictures to anyone willing to help. PS. Does the paint hurt them? One of the painted ones switched almost immediately into a snail shell my kids found on the beach. They want to paint more shells, but if this hurts them, then we are NOT painting!!

You can email me the pictures and I can post them here for you. my email is kenzieandpaige@yahoo.com

Are you going to buy your crabs sand, Eco-Earth, or any different type of substrate? Because gravel is not good for them. They cannot dig in the gravel, and they will need to dig when they moult. And it is very important to dechlorinate their water- drinking, bathing, misting, etc. And be sure to get a hygrometer and theremometer. The humidity need to be inbetween 70-80% and I keep my temp at about 78F, it needs to be inbetween 72F-80F.

Welcome to HCA, any questions you have... I'm sure anyone would love to help.

PS-I'm not sure if he paint hurts them.

Also, to the side------>
If you scroll up there is a box that says "Crab Care FAQ" that has alot of information there, and www.hermit-crabs.com is an excellent hermit crab website.

You need a Humidity Gage, Temp Gage, and since you have 2 Jumbo probBLY A minimum of a 20 gallon tank. For substrate you can get like a 50lb bag at lowes or home depot for under 5$. Or a forest bedding such as Eco earth ( which i prefer). Climbing toys, a lid (if screen put suran wrap covering 3/4 of it. And hidouts.

And make sure you profide many Natural shells. Painted are harmful and i didnt believe it myself until one of mine was peeling because of the humidity! If any paint comes off the hermit crabs will eat it. Do not provide Painted shells!!!

Welcome to HCA btw!

Frankly, most of the petstores and kiosks don't care at all about their crabs.

All they are concerned about is getting someone to buy, and they are willing to lie about hermits being low maintenance crabs.

I got my crabs all free in a petstore special, one that was meant to draw more customers.
Well it worked. After being educated about them here, I went back and bought about $20 worth of supplies LOL. I really feel sorry for all the ones that went out to unknowing people. Including my cousin, who STUPIDLY left his in the car. It was gone by morning.

Now this isn't true for ALL petstores. Some have good records, and the lucky crabs at those stores get taken care of by dedicated staff. It's usually the mall kiosk, and the beach souvenir stores.

Some tips on getting started.
It's reccomended that you get atleast a 10 gal tank to start with.
Most petstores that sell fish have these. I got mine at Petsmart for only $9.99. They can be anywhere from $7-$10.

Playsand is a good cheap substrate you can use (substrate being the stuff they walk around on) You can get it from Home Depot, or any hardware store that sells sand. Even Toys-R-Us has been known to stock on playsand. My Home depot had a 50 pound bag of it for $3.29

A humidity gauge should be bought too to monitor the humidity level. Moisture is everything to a crab, they need atleast 70% humidity (more to 80% is best) in order to breathe, as they have modified gills that lets them breathe on land.

Check the "Emergency Care & Links" to the right of this page ------>
It has some helpful info, and some good online shopping links for shells.

Pictures of mom2myrugrats's Hermit Crabs!

These cute crabbies are her daughter's crabs!







These are her son's crabs!







And last, but not least, her crab!







And a cute little crabitat



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Adorable crabs, mom2myrugrats!! Congrats!!

Your crab is a PP (Purple Pincher) It is easy to see in the pic.

And yeppers that tank has got to go!

A good rule of thumb for a crab that is about medium size is 2 gallons per crab. I have a 10 gallon tank and 5 medium crabs. It is hard to tell from the pics but mine look like the size of your sons crab with the red and black painted shell.

You have to get a new tank with a solid lid to keep that humidity around 75. They have to have the moister or they will die.

You sound like you will be a nice responsible hermie mommy and you will get all the info (overwhelming I know) down soon.

Hopefully someone will come in and tell you about the big E soon. Its a preservative found in hermie food that a lot of us stay away from.

Cricket

PS Ain't hermies great! [smilie=hug.gif]

Just have to comment about the hermie with the spiral snail shell.
That thing must be hard for him to maneuver around in lol!

I did the same thing 2 weeks ago in Atlantic City. I came home and did some research and found out how wrong the info I was told was. That night I went to Pet supplies plus bought a 10g tank($9.95- less than a 5g) calci sand, jungle bedding, smooth gravel, toys hiding places etc. I'm using the little tank they came in as an ISO.


Good Luck!!!

When you said jumbo i was thinking C. Perlatus. 10gallon tank will work.

Hey all,
Does anyone know what species of crab that is in the last 2 pictures? (the pictures of mom2myrugrats crabs). It's the pictures of the little crab with the black on its claw. It looks just like my little one that came from a little mall kiosk as well. I have been trying to figure out what species that he is!

Side note to mom2myrugrats: I learned this way too about crabs and what they need provided to them to live. My son came home from the mall with a little crabby, and the sheet that came with him was far from the kind of care that he needs. On the bright side, we now have 5 total with 2 successful surface molts, and one buried probably in the midst of molting. They are fun little guys, and everyone here is really nice and helpful! Good luck with your new crabbies!

The last two are PurplePinchers

So that little guy that is now my avatar is a PP????

nikki, its really hard to tell with that pic. Do you have one closer up that shows his eyes and maybe his big pincher? That would help alot!!

Angela

I am so happy and thrilled to have such wonderful caring folks willing to help me out! I have had so many replies, and bunches of thanks to one my new friends XxHermitLovexX for posting the pictures I took. I could not figure out how to post them on here.
Anyway, I still need help with figuring out what species all the rest of my crabbies are. Thanks to my buddies on here, I have found out what mine is, a happy little PP. ( I am assuming that stands for purple pincher).
But I still need to know what my kids have. View the pictures above, and let me know as soon as you think you might have any idea.
Right now, I have taken the cages I have and placed them in a room without air conditioning, and placed a wet towel over the top. I am using bottled water for the water source, and feeding them the food that came with the cage purchase. I also treated them to a slice of bread tonight, (which they TOTALLY devoured). It was neat watching them eat that! Anyway THANK YOU to all who have taken the time to help me out, and answer my post. BIG HUGSSSSSSS!