HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Another thread brought to my attention that maybe a thread on how to deal with loss of electricity or other natural disaster and crab care could be useful.As most know, I was without electricity for a week during ice storms this winter. I live in a tiny town that is 20 miles from any stores or supplies and the roads were impassible due to broken power lines and ice covering everything. The ice and high winds broke hundreds of power lines. And the blizzards kept coming... It was very difficult for the workers to get anything done, but they tried their best during the horrible weather. There were shelters in fire stations and many went there just to get out of the house. Those with electric heat and stoves went there for shelter and food. Many were home tending to livestock during the day, but used the shelter cots at night. There was a generator for recharging cell phones, but our land phones did work during the outage- the phone company was one of the few lights on in town because they have a generator.I think my kids took the power outage well. I tried to look at it as an adventure for them. We did a lot of family things and brought out toys and activities that we hadn't seen/done in awhileRural water stinks if they lose a pump somewhere! Luckily the town with the pump was able to restore electricity faster than we were. I guess their generator failed, so we were all out of luck, but that only lasted a short time. Luckily, the water heater holds about 50 gallons, and there is a release valve on the bottom... There was no going to town to buy water!We camp a lot, so the fire safety around the kerosene heater transferred well, as did the heating water to bathe and wash dishes (even though they were weirded out to use snow).The crabs were right next to the kerosene heater and I am surprised they weren't donning little towels and hanging out near the sauna end of the tank. It was VERY comfortable when I reached into the sand at the heater end!Anyway, at the risk of being preachy here, please, please, please be prepared for natural disasters! We thought we were, and actually were fine for the first few days, but the kerosene started running out since we were running 2 heaters, so I had to cut the heat in the dining room where the fish were for most of the day and all night. (I didn't want to risk fire.) Now we have about twice the kerosene stocked up and I throw a package of batteries in the shopping cart every time I pass the rack because our supply was thoroughly depleted. I also got 2 lantern flashlights for the house. Everyone has a personal flashligt and I put a strap on the one for my young daughter so she can wear it as a necklace when she is awake and running around. Glow sticks work well too- the ones you snap and shake are great for leaving in a room overnight so you can see the way out to go to the bathroom... and on that subject... candles for the bathroom or a battery powered lamp in there is a must! It gets DARK when everyone loses power!The government has good information on a website about preparation for natural disasters and it never hurts anyone to be prepared for something that never happens.

We've got a gas fireplace that will keep running if the electricity goes out.

The hand warmer thingies are called Hot Hands. They are a chemical you wouldn't want inside the 'tat, but outside along the edges would be okay. You can also make your own with pie weights (I had to really search to find them - they are little unpainted ceramic marbles that can be warmed in hot water and keep their heat for a long time) stuffed into a piece of fabric and tied together. These are safer and can go right into the 'tat. The boiled fabric would also keep the humidity up.

They would probably definitely be better for those people who could produce heat/hot water without electricity However, no electric means no heat and no hot water at my apartment And yeah, Hot Hands would be something I'd keep away from the crabs.

Canned fuel like you would use in a fondue pot is a great thing to have around for cooking when power is out. If nothing else, you can make a small candle powered stove out of recycled metal cans.Sterno and Magic Heat both have small stoves that you can boil a small pot of water on. Since they are gelled alcohol, I think they require less venting than kerosene or Coleman fuel stoves and lanterns.