My New Crab is soooo Messy!

[Guest]

I bought a new crab on Sunday. I am keeping him in a separate tank. I will not handle or mist him for about a month. Afterwards I will move im into my 10gal tank with Nugget and hope to mist him and let him walk around the livin room every other day.The problem is--he's a MESS. He has already destroyed 3 sponges. He constantly tips over his food and water dishse. His tank stinks. Now, he has buried himself in the sand--the sand that neatly had play sand on the bottom and calci-sand on top. It is all mushed together now. I can't see him anymore, but I can hear him digging constantly. I think he wants to get out.Is this normal behavior?!? Nugget is sooo neat. He never tips things over, keeps his sand clean, and respects (ha ha) his sponge. The other two crabs that we had for a short time were also neat. I am concerned how Nugget is going to react when I move the new crab (currently nicknamed Grunge for obvious reasons) into his tank.Any advice or comments are welcome. Thanks.

[Guest]

Yes, it's very normal for them to dig in the sand and mix it all up. They will tip water and food dishes so I would recommend getting bigger and heavier ones. I don't keep any sponges in the tank as they just got stinky, but some other people use them. Just don't expect them to last forever! Some crabs like to pick them apart while others ignore them. I don't know if I would mist him every other day. I let mine bathe themselves, but when I had only a 10gal I didn't have room for deep water dishes that they could do their own baths in. Most crabs I think don't like the misting, though when I mist the crabitat, my straw stands under the mist and sends out her feelers and rubs her eyestalks and takes a bath. She at least seems to enjoy it as she comes out to catch the "rain". The others hide.

[Guest]

Thanks for the info. "Grunge" just resurfaced--looking grungier than ever. I'm definitely going to get a heavier water dish--just using a large shell for now. I've been using the same 2 sponges for Nugget since February. But Grunge is showing me a whole different side to crab life!Nugget loves being misted too--he almost comes all the way out of his shell for it. It was kind of weird the first time I saw the back end of his body. I guess I'll try it on Grunge in the future (he sure looks like he needs it) to see if he likes it or not. 1 of my others did--the other one hid.

[Ren1216]

Awww Grunge will grow on ya, Im sure. Once hes in the bigger tank with more room and heavier dishes, he probably wont make such a mess... lets hope. Ive heard that some crabs tear apart the sponges and eat them. Maybe thats what hes doing... give him some cuttlebone in his food, maybe hes lacking some nutrient and is hungry for it. If he came from a store that had gravel substrate, hes probably loving the sand and thats why hes going nuts in it.. dont be surpised if he molts. As for the stinky tank, maybe that too is the sponges, those need to be washed out every few days. I used to use them but I didnt really need them for humidity since I bought my glass lid, so I dont bother with the sponges any more. Fortunately all of my crabs are just about the same size so using sponges in the water pools isnt necessary in my tank. What kind of hermie is he??

[Guest]

I gave up on keeping a clean tank, the sand seperated by type, etc. I just let the crabs do what they want. I sometimes find a food dish in a crab cave, or empty shells in weird places, etc. I just let them play, clean it up, then they play again.

[Guest]

Actually, I think it's a good sign that he's so active! If he was just sitting there and hiding in his shell it might mean that he was experiencing a pretty serious case of PPS, but since he's exploring and being very, um, *active* lol, or destructive, that's a really good sign! Congratulations on your new hermit crab!