HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I came home from school today to discover my crab half out of its shell and not moving (ie when picked up (usually he comes right out)). I recently posted a message that my crab was streaking. I was able to get him into a shell but he comes half way out and then just sits like that. I dont know if he is dying or if he is just stressed or molting or what?

1. Substrate used? sand

2. Humidity % level in crabitat? 80%

3. Temperature of substrate in crabitat? not sure

4. Temperature of crabitat? 75-80

5. Location of gauges? have none juust started out like days ago

6. What is your heat source? underneath heat pad

7. Types of water available? declor & salt

8. Dechlorinator used? yes

9. What do you feed? Crab pellets, bannana, apple, mango

10. How long have you had the crab in question?
6 days
11. Do you know the species? not sure

12. Do you bath them, if so how often and with what? yea 1 day a week i bath them every other day or when they come out of their crabitat, declour water

13. What type of housing are they in? Tank? Plastic box? hermi hut

14. What size is your tank? 3 gallon

15. How many crabs are in the tank? What size are they? 3, 2 golf all size and one slightly smaller.

16. How deep is the substrate? 2 inches

17. If you take your hermies out daily to exercise, do you mist their gill area first?
yes, yes
18. Has there been any cleaners, paints, perfumes, air fresheners, candles, or smoking near the crabitat? my mother in law smokes

19. How often do you clean/sterilize and how? was gong to do it this weekend

20. Any unusual odors? no

21. Do you use sponges? Are they rinsed daily with dechlor water? Are they exchanged every 2 days for a sterile one?
yes,yes
22. Do you feed fresh food? When do you remove it? yes, i give them fresh food in the evening remove any food other than the crab pellets in the mourning

23. Are your hands clean before handling? yea

24. Has there been anything new added to your crabitat recently?everything

How do you know what the humidity level is if you don't have gauges? Even if the humidity outside is 80%, that doesn't mean that the humidity inside your crabitat is, too. You'll need to get gauges ASAP.
Also, a 3 gallon tank is WAY too small for even 1 golf-ball size hermie, and having 3 in there only makes it worse.
And you should definitely NOT be bathing them every other day. Bathing is extremely stressful for them, most crabkeepers do not bathe their crabs, but instead provide deep enough water dishes for the crabbies to bathe themselves. If you do choose to bathe them, it should be done as little as possible, once a week is the absolute maximum.
Those are the problems I see right off, I'm sure others will add their 2 cents.

I agree; gauges are a must. Bathing isn't necessary very often, and, as was mentioned in the last post, some people don't do it at all and have perfectly healthy hermit crabs. Opinions differ about this, but really, once a week is probably more than enough.

Also, not everyone agrees that misting is a good idea. I don't do it because my friendliest crab, Camo, waved her big claw at me when I sprayed her. She hates it, so I don't do it. They have plenty of water, and humidity is great. They are fine without it being squirted in the face. Again, opinions differ on this.

Some people think commercial pellets are harmful to hermit crabs. Not a fact I'm positive about, but I've stopped giving them to mine. They eat more since I cut the commercial stuff.

Three gallons is way too small. Get yourself at least a 10 gallon aquarium; that should last a while. I have four little ones in a 10 gal., and they're doing fine.

That's really all I can think off. Maybe don't bother him for a while. Sometimes they just need to be left alone to heal mentally/physically. I would only pick him up if you have to.

The poor crab that we were talking about passed away last night (April 11). It's quite sad really. Today we are having a barial for him. His name was Edwin Anyways, we have gauges now and the temp and humidity was perfect! It was nice to know that. Our tank is fine according to the lady who sold them to us who also raises crabs. She said that the tank we have holds 4-6 hermit crabs depending on the size, and ours aren't all that big. I guess it's also a matter of opinion and the amount of money that is available to buy big tanks like that. The two crabs we have now enjoy being misted, that's why we continue to do that. That is of course a matter of opinion and what the crab likes.

Anyways, thank you for your input.
-Jenn & David

What is a Hermie Hut?

Maybe you could take a picture of your crabitat so we can check it out. It wouldn't hurt. It helped me a bunch.

Hi Takoda ,

I'd like to ask you a few things about your set up,if that's ok.

Ok,with the sand you have in the crabitat,have you washed it?
Even sand bought from a pet store can have harmful dust,bacteria,etc in it.
All sand needs to be rinsed out very well in running water,til the water runs clear,then sun dry the sand then bake in a moderately hot oven for 30 minutes,then let cool down completely before adding to tat.

With the bathing I agree it's not really necessary at all. The only time i bathe a crab is when introducing a new crab to the tat. Frequent bathing can really stress them out.

Ok,with there being a smoker in the house,it'd be better if the room where the crabs are is made into a non-smoking area,or if that's not possible,perhaps move the tat to a safe room. (not having a go at smokers,i'm one myself,but i always smoke outside of the house,well away from the room where the tat is)

Lastly,I really have to agree with Willow on saying a 3 gallon tat is way too small. If i had a 3 gallon tat,i would only be using it as an iso for sick/molting crabs because 3 gallon is so tiny.
Not to go against the pet store lady,but your crabs are going to grow,and they need plenty(you can never have enough) of room for them. If a tat is crowded the it can make the crabs stressed out as well.
After all,crabs are collected from the wild,where they have miles and miles of beaches to roam around in,and to be put in a tiny tat must be a huge shock to their system.

An ideal starter tank is a 10 gallon and they can be bought for $10 at Walmart,cheap as chips,what could be better?

Anyway,i wish you the best of luck with this

Okay, thank you all for your input. I will get a picture of our tat when I get home ... I am currently away from home and David doesn't have the digital ... so we'll have to wait till I get there. David washed the sand recently, we didn't wash it when we go it though ... Um, and as for letting it dry in the sun, before I left home we had no sun for days. HAHA. It stunk! But anyways, I will take all your input and see if we can't make things better. And as for the comment about the $10, 10 gallon tank ... I don't know where you live but here they are $60. Which is insane! But I'll have a look around when I get back home.

Thanks.
-Jenn & David

Hi Takoda,

i have read in other posts from people living in the States that tanks can be bought for about $10 from Walmart. maybe just with you living further up north the prices are different*shrugs*
I live in Australia,and a brand new 20 gallon tat i can buy for $60Aus,in the States that'd be about $80-90.

If the sand is still wet perhaps slow baking it will dry it out and sterilize it at the same time. I have done that successfully. Or i put the sand in a bucket and blow dry it with my hair dryer,but that takes too long,lol.

I live in canada and can get a tank from places like petsmart for $13.

You can look in the classified section for aquariums that aren't water tight. Where are you located? I'm sure you can find one cheaper than that.

I don't know how often they show up, but I got a pretty decent size one from a yard sale.

Okay, well when I get back home I will have a look. My friend just bought a tank and it was $60 from Walmart, but I'll have a look around and see what I can find. I'm in Alberta, Canada. I talked to David today and he said the Crabs are doing pretty good. Perhaps even a little better since he cleaned the tat and stuff like that ... but I don't know. And I also don't know what exactly he did to clean it, but maybe I will inform him about baking the sand to sterilize it .. we haven't done that yet I don't think.

Thanks once again for all your input, it's been greatly appreciated and helpful. It's a learning process for David and I so please be patient with us

Thank you.
Jenn & David

Probably the $60 tank your friend got from Wal-Mart was a full aquarium kit, with a filter and everything you'd need for a fish tank. You don't need all that for hermies, so you can get just the tank for a lot cheaper. If you don't see the plain tanks, ask a salesperson, they'll be there somewhere. I've never been to a Wal-Mart that didn't have 10 gallon tanks, because people buy them for hamsters.

Yeah, I've seen those. You need to go to petsmart!!! Cheap like borscht!

Alright, I'll have a look. Thanks.