ISO questions, New Crab Coming Soon

CrabbyMommy2017 · Post by **CrabbyMommy2017** » Fri Apr 21, 2017 9:42 pm

Good Evening Board Members,

I have had my hermit crabs for going on 3 months now. I am an avid follower of the free section on Craigslist and I recently ran across an ad where someone wants to find a new home for their one hermit crab.

I don't want to introduce the new hermit crab into our current tank right away. So I had some questions about how to set up an isolation tank.

I'm working with an extremely limited budget here. Here are the extra supplies that I already have available to set up an isolation tank:
-10 gallon tank
-2 small zoo med substrate heaters
-plexiglass for lid
-plastic water & food bowls

I have read about people using paper towels as substrate when isolating a new crab. Wondering how one would go about doing this? Like how many layers of paper towels do you use? I am assuming you would make sure to keep the paper towel 'substrate' moist at all times.

I don't have any extra money to put towards this isolation tank. At one point I had some extra play sand/Eco Earth mixture, but I ended up using that when I rearranged our main tank a couple of weeks ago.

If paper towels would not work as a temporary substrate to use in the isolation tank for the new crab, I'm wondering if sand out of our yard would be acceptable? Maybe perhaps even a mixture of leaves and dirt?

Also wondering how long the new crab should be isolated before adding him into the main tank? What kind of things should I look for to determine if this crab is well and healthy?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

HeyItsEggs · Post by **HeyItsEggs** » Fri Apr 21, 2017 9:50 pm

You don't always need to ISO. Just dip in the fresh water of the tank.

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Hermiearth · Post by **Hermiearth** » Fri Apr 21, 2017 9:54 pm

I'm not sure about the paper towels. But many crabbers bathe there crabs in stress coat water before introducing new crabs.

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CrabbyMommy2017 · Post by **CrabbyMommy2017** » Fri Apr 21, 2017 11:24 pm

So would y'all say its safe to just put the new guy in the main tank when i pick him up? After bathing him, i mean.

Hermiearth · Post by **Hermiearth** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 4:05 pm

I would say so, the idea of the stress coat is to minimize aggression towards the new comer. I haven't had any issues.

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soilentgringa · Post by **soilentgringa** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 4:55 pm

Hermiearth wrote:I would say so, the idea of the stress coat is to minimize aggression towards the new comer. I haven't had any issues.

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Where did you see this at? I have never heard of anyone specifically suggesting stress coat to minimise aggression.

I doubt they even notice a difference between water treated with a product that contains a stress coat or not.

I'd refer back to JMT's Stress Coat Test thread for info regarding the use of those products with your crabs.

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YouTube · Post by **GotButterflies** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 5:35 pm

I would not recommend paper towels unless they have mites. There is no need to put them through isolation unless they have those type of mites.

I don't recommend stress coat, but that's me.

I recommend looking him/her over and if all looks good, dip him/her in the freshwater of the crabitat and let him/her go on on his/her merry way.

Great job adopting!

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annedow9 · Post by **annedow9** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:20 pm

CrabbyMommy2017 wrote:Good Evening Board Members,

I have had my hermit crabs for going on 3 months now. I am an avid follower of the free section on Craigslist and I recently ran across an ad where someone wants to find a new home for their one hermit crab.

I don't want to introduce the new hermit crab into our current tank right away. So I had some questions about how to set up an isolation tank.

I'm working with an extremely limited budget here. Here are the extra supplies that I already have available to set up an isolation tank:
-10 gallon tank
-2 small zoo med substrate heaters
-plexiglass for lid
-plastic water & food bowls

I have read about people using paper towels as substrate when isolating a new crab. Wondering how one would go about doing this? Like how many layers of paper towels do you use? I am assuming you would make sure to keep the paper towel 'substrate' moist at all times.

I don't have any extra money to put towards this isolation tank. At one point I had some extra play sand/Eco Earth mixture, but I ended up using that when I rearranged our main tank a couple of weeks ago.

If paper towels would not work as a temporary substrate to use in the isolation tank for the new crab, I'm wondering if sand out of our yard would be acceptable? Maybe perhaps even a mixture of leaves and dirt?

Also wondering how long the new crab should be isolated before adding him into the main tank? What kind of things should I look for to determine if this crab is well and healthy?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

I have a lot of EE if your interested. I bought way to much and I'll never use it all . I could give you 3 bricks if you like.

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Hermiearth · Post by **Hermiearth** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 6:58 pm

soilentgringa wrote:
Hermiearth wrote:I would say so, the idea of the stress coat is to minimize aggression towards the new comer. I haven't had any issues.

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Where did you see this at? I have never heard of anyone specifically suggesting stress coat to minimise aggression.

I doubt they even notice a difference between water treated with a product that contains a stress coat or not.

I'd refer back to JMT's Stress Coat Test thread for info regarding the use of those products with your crabs.

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

Hmm, I heard that it gets rid of the "scent." No? I don't use it myself.

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CrabbyMommy2017 · Post by **CrabbyMommy2017** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 7:12 pm

I have been using stress coat added in my spray bottle when I mist the tank just because I still had some left over from when I had fish, and I heard that it could be beneficial. When I run out of this bottle I don't think I'll buy anymore though.

I had lined everything up with this lady to pick up the adopted hermit crab today. But today I tried to text her several times and she never responded. I guess I will try again tomorrow. I had already talked with her back and forth several times about me picking him up this weekend. Hopefully she will respond to me soon. I really had my hopes up on getting a new crab. I will let you guys know if she actually contacts me back and what happens when I get the new edition home if everything works out.

soilentgringa · Post by **soilentgringa** » Sat Apr 22, 2017 7:28 pm

Hermiearth wrote:
soilentgringa wrote:
Hermiearth wrote:I would say so, the idea of the stress coat is to minimize aggression towards the new comer. I haven't had any issues.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Where did you see this at? I have never heard of anyone specifically suggesting stress coat to minimise aggression.

I doubt they even notice a difference between water treated with a product that contains a stress coat or not.

I'd refer back to JMT's Stress Coat Test thread for info regarding the use of those products with your crabs.

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk
Hmm, I heard that it gets rid of the "scent." No? I don't use it myself.

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That is so odd. I wasn't trying to sound like you were making it up at all, so I apologize if it came across that way.

More like a "who the heck is saying this?!" sortof thing.

I think placing them in any freshwater bowl when introducing them to a new tank or if they are being attacked after a molt will get whatever is left of any unfamiliar scent off them and let them smell like all the others.

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CrabbyMommy2017 · Post by **CrabbyMommy2017** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 6:46 am

Update:

Never heard back from the lady who had posted the free hermit crab on Craigslist. I had been texting with her back and forth for a few days, and even talked to her on the phone, during the week, about picking the crab up over the weekend. But the weekend came and she wouldnt respond to me. I don't know how the Craigslist free ad section works in other major cities, but here at Metro Atlanta there must be a ton of flakes, (people who make arrangements to pick up free items but they never show up). Most times when someone posts something there, it seems like they include that whoever gets there first (regardless of pick-up arrangements), is the one who's going to get the free items. Whenever I contact someone from a Craigslist free ad I always make sure and tell them that if we make pick-up arrangements, I will be there and please make sure and hold the item for me. Because I have to line up a babysitter for my two special needs toddlers, as well as someone to go with me, (for safety purposes or for loading purposes, if it's a heavy object), and then I also have to line up a truck to borrow. All while working around a very rigid daily schedule routine (that I have to have or else we have behavior issues).

An upside of that is I was able to arrange pickup, (that actually went through!), for a kids playhouse for my children. Everytime I try to respond to large outdoor kids play equipment it's usually gone immediately. But this one actually went through. Hooray!

My kids love the playhouse.

So I may not have gotten my hermit crab, but at least I got something new for my kids to play with outside.

soilentgringa · Post by **soilentgringa** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 5:30 pm

CrabbyMommy2017 wrote:Update:

Never heard back from the lady who had posted the free hermit crab on Craigslist. I had been texting with her back and forth for a few days, and even talked to her on the phone, during the week, about picking the crab up over the weekend. But the weekend came and she wouldnt respond to me. I don't know how the Craigslist free ad section works in other major cities, but here at Metro Atlanta there must be a ton of flakes, (people who make arrangements to pick up free items but they never show up). Most times when someone posts something there, it seems like they include that whoever gets there first (regardless of pick-up arrangements), is the one who's going to get the free items. Whenever I contact someone from a Craigslist free ad I always make sure and tell them that if we make pick-up arrangements, I will be there and please make sure and hold the item for me. Because I have to line up a babysitter for my two special needs toddlers, as well as someone to go with me, (for safety purposes or for loading purposes, if it's a heavy object), and then I also have to line up a truck to borrow. All while working around a very rigid daily schedule routine (that I have to have or else we have behavior issues).

An upside of that is I was able to arrange pickup, (that actually went through!), for a kids playhouse for my children. Everytime I try to respond to large outdoor kids play equipment it's usually gone immediately. But this one actually went through. Hooray! My kids love the playhouse.

So I may not have gotten my hermit crab, but at least I got something new for my kids to play with outside.

Last year someone posted 300lbs of playsand, clean, in totes.

I arranged a time for pickup and posted on a crab group about my score.

Pickup day came and they'd already given it away

It's so frustrating to me that there's a lack of common courtesy with using CL. People will text me at 3AM and just start blurting stuff instead of a "Hello, is X item still available?"

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YouTube · Post by **GotButterflies** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 5:55 pm

Congrats on the playhouse score!

Edit: lmbo- very true about the lack of common courtesy with CL!

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Hermiearth · Post by **Hermiearth** » Mon Apr 24, 2017 5:57 pm

Bummer, but there will be more (:

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HCA: Hermit Crab Association