HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello I am a new crab owner I have 5. 4 pp and one I'm not sure what kind it is. I had them in a big wire cage that my hubby made with gravel on the bottom, but them I read how the need sand and a controlled enviroment so I got them a tank put all the gages and sand deep enough for the biggest one to cover himself in. Well now they do not seem to like the sand they stay on the big rocks I have in there and they are not eating. The big one has been underground now for a week and has not come out at all as far as I can tell. I give them fresh veggies and fruit, cherrios banana chips and they will not eat. They were eating good before I moved them to the tank. So any Ideas on what I can do to make them happy again?

Any change can be stressful for them, even if the change is good for them. I know people like that too. Sometimes a crab will dig in the sand as a way to destress, or it could have decided to molt. If it is molting it could stay down there for a weeks or months. Is your sand wet to sand castle consistency with either dechlorinated water or with marine salt mixed with dechlorinated water?

As for the food, here are our lists of safe and unsafe foods.
Safe foods: http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 25&t=64004
Unsafe foods: http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 25&t=64005
Most things are safe as long as they don't contain preservatives and they are unseasoned. I frequently feed my hermit crabs much of what we have for dinner, just taking out their portions before I season anything. One key is to make sure they are getting protein on a regular basis.

Also because of them being nocturnal they could be eating while your asleep. Do you have any live plants in your tank? I know I have one crab who has been eating mostly beach grass with a little bit of the food I provide them with. Also check out the amazing nutrition guidehttp://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/vie ... 25&t=62686 If you want you can smooth the sand around the dish and look in the morning for any claw marks. It doesn't mean they are eating but you know if they are checking out the food dish or not

They eat very very small amounts, it's really hard to see where they've been nibbling and picking at their food. The easiest way to tell is to chop it up really finely or serve powders, and see if things get moved around
Don't worry, if they're hungry, theyll eat! They rely alot on their sense of smell, so they know where the food is
That being said, the move might of stressed them out a bit, so thy might not eat for a little whole and then make up for all the lost time by pigging out in a week or two so just keep an eye out for signs of sickness, and keep providing food

Thank you all so much. My sand is sand castle wet but it just seem like they do everything they can to stay off the sand. I am going over the food list and I am giving them a lot of what is on it already but am going to try some pop corn tonight. And I won't worry about the one underground but I do hope he will come back up soon. Thanks again I really do feel better about everything. This is a great site so glad I found it!