HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello all crabbers, Jedi Master Thrash is going to do a revision of his 2006 caresheet found on this link: http://home.comcast.net/~JediM...icHermitCrabCare.htm. He asked for any suggestions you all might have to make the caresheet better or more updated for current crab care - thanks to any who respond!

A thing I would suggest: It says in the care sheet things about sponges and their use is fine. I think we need to take it out because we don't want people not knowing that they can be left dry in the tank to get the wrong idea until they learn otherwise.Maybe promote putting a rigid shell to put in instead of a sponge for the drowning prevention. Maybe write a new one, and make it shorter. I decided to print out the full care sheet for a local pet store to use, and it came out to 7 pages! I wanted them to know all the vital info, but I knew there was a slim chance they would read it all. I was also a little disappointed when I saw the sponge stuff. Other than that, the care sheet was crabulous!

Maybe add sizing (how to) and numbers of crabs per crabitat size. Also, suggest boiling supplies in dechlorinated salt water and the baking option.

On the care sheet it also has one of the hermit crab foods as being the only safe commercially sold one but not to long ago on here i seen where that food is not considered safe any more. so you might want to take that out as well.

A few things to consider for a base crab care sheet.1. Target AudienceThe audience is people who are about to purchase a crab who do not know anything (correct) about hermit crabs.The audience is also people who have recently bought or acquired hermit crabs, probably from a kiosk/stand/impulse purchase, and possibly in a plastic cage with light gravel and a shell dish.A secondary audience is people who are just starting out with crabbing and trying to do it right, but need a quick and simple reference to know what to tackle first.The audience is not intermediate or experienced crabbers.2. PurposeEducate on the basic care requirements. Just make them aware of the care and expense involved. It may be a better option to adopt out the crabs if they cannot handle the responsibility.Biggest bang for the effort. Tackle the major items that will give the biggest improvement (over petstore/plastic cage conditions) with the least effort.Not overwhelm. If they are overwhelmed with expensive and difficult requirements, they will likely just turn us off and do it the easy way they were originally told. The transition must be gradual and accomplishable with normal means.Not perfect or the best. Every crab and every location and every condition is a little different. The basic care consist of methods that on average are most likely to provide an improvement.Not rigid. Must be able to compromise and have options to meet the unique requirements of each person.

on your thinkg to avoid you might want to mention pine, and other evergreens

I would stress the importance of NEVER digging up a hermit crab ... digging them up can cause them to stress and die... it's very important to keep them buried you never know if they molting or just de-stressing. This was the biggest mistake i made back in 2009 when I got my first 2 hermit crabs (now i have 17!) I would take out the terrains that are not good for them in the "what i need" section. It says gravel and stones but it's under the "I need a home" area ... maybe instead have a small section at the bottom for terrains to avoid, foods to avoid, etc. Also I would take out the kritter keeper part entirely ... they don't do well in those at all and there is not enough space to move around. No matter how much saran wrap you put on the thing, Kritter Keepers cannot retain humidity and dry out really quick.

I had made a recent find while looking over dechlorinators that some will remove the chlorine from chloramine and leave harmful ammonia behind. If one has chloramine, one might consider both a chlorine remover and an ammonia remover or a product which does both.

I would put on that pps have a wide range of colors from being all purple to jaut the claw being purple.r

You might mention about pesticides being harmful. Something about painted shells. And I like the idea of a suggestion on how many crabs can be put in a tank together, cuz you mention a 10g as being a cheap setup but most people want more than 2 crabs so they need to realize that the 10 gal isn't the best option. Maybe you could do 2 versions of the crab care sheet one for petstores with websites listed to get more info if they want to, but keep it short enough that they'll read it and one more detailed for those people trully interested in keeping the crabs safe and healthy.I guess this will be a 2013 update since it is now the end of 2012.

I agree with Melodia91, we do need to tell people how many crabs in a crabitat. Also, I think we should tell people about the species and what foods they like best.

I use Celsius to measure my temp. 75.2F is 24C and 84.2F is 29C

I got a little confused reading the part about "crab-approved substrates", as the first three are good substrates and the last three are substrates not to use -- people who are just skimming could read it wrong, I'd have those in a separate font or section.Also, I remember the thing that confused me most when I first started with hermit crabs was the business about isolating molters and I'd love to see you dispel that notion. The first time, I kept moving them back and forth to iso thinking they were molting, and then they went and dug down in the main aquarium when I wasn't expecting. Healthy crabs do not need to be isolated before a molt. I believe that as long as the other crabs are well-nourished and the substrate is sufficiently deep, there is no need to isolate molters.Loocy

@Lucille, I have seen that. I use TetraPlus Water Conditioner for tropical fish. It's in a yellow dropper bottle at basically every pet store and have pictures of tropical fish on it. As tropical fish are intolerant of chlorine, ammonia, and fluoride just like crabs are, it gets rid of all three.

How about a 2013 care sheet edit ?? I am sure that others put in more ideas! Got some food ideas: foliages -Lavender, linden flowers, rosemaryMy crabs eat them but not, it also serves other purposes for the crabitat environment naturallyNatural pesticides