Adopted some salt marsh crabs that will not live much longer

breren92 · Post by **breren92** » Mon May 13, 2019 7:42 pm

A week ago some people I know went to the Gulf of Mexico in South Louisiana. They and some other adults (all related) decided that it would be "fun" to capture some wild hermit crabs and take them home as pets. Without mentioning any names, I will say that they are my daughter's grandparents on her father's side and I ended up with these hermit crabs because they allowed her, along with her younger cousin, to take them home after they caught these themselves. They thought it was acceptable to bring them home in a cardboard box (10 hr trip in the sun no water) and arrogantly made no preparations as to how they were going to take care of these crabs or give them a fighting chance at life in captivity once they made it back home. I found this ignorance to be so incredibly cruel. Despite my many efforts to save them, I fear they are slowly dying because they have simply lost the will to live. In the last week I've provided the right temperature, humidity, food for their diet, correct substrate (enough to molt), empty shells to swap, etc. I've tried every last resource as to what I've read and watched to at least give them a comfortable life, no matter how short it may be. The purpose of this post is not to gripe and moan about what's out of my control, but to ask thousands of strangers what I can do to help them - or if it's too late, can I humanely put them down? The quickest and most painless way that I have read is to freeze them, but I am no expert on the subject and I'm still not positive it wouldn't be immensely unbearable.

In case any of you are wondering, if I had just refuse to take these crabs the only other option was that they were going to be "thrown away." I know... heartless and disgusting on their part....
P.S. I do not live near the ocean, I only live near fresh water lakes, creeks, and rivers. I decided to take 7 out of 18 crabs with me. 2 out of the 7 have died in the last couple days. That's 5 left.

soilentgringa · Post by **soilentgringa** » Mon May 13, 2019 7:43 pm

Can you post pics for ID please?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Motörcrab · Post by **Motörcrab** » Mon May 13, 2019 7:51 pm

My guess is that these are marine hermit crabs and need to be kept in a saltwater aquarium. Unfortunately I know nothing about maintaing a saltwater tank. I am not sure if they could be put into any saltwater aquarium or not.

Is there anyway you can post a picture of these crabs?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

breren92 · Post by **breren92** » Mon May 13, 2019 7:56 pm

I don't know how. It doesn't show me where. They are all Green Striped hermit crabs.

Motörcrab · Post by **Motörcrab** » Mon May 13, 2019 8:00 pm

You need to have the Taptalk app for your phone to post pictures or link pictures from an online storage place.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

breren92 · Post by **breren92** » Mon May 13, 2019 8:02 pm

Other than the first 2 just simply dying. None of them really move. They seem to enjoy the water that they are placed in but they move out and go back to their bedding. I know they are nocturnal but I have not seen them eat or drink. They could give a crap less about the extra shells, they have refused to explore to even discover them in the first place.

breren92 · Post by **breren92** » Mon May 13, 2019 8:03 pm

I can do that right quick

breren92 · Post by **breren92** » Mon May 13, 2019 8:13 pm

Here are some of one that I just lost a couple days ago. I can't bare to break it to my 7 yr old

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

Post by **JoeHermits** » Mon May 13, 2019 8:41 pm

Those are marine hermit crabs. They’ve been known to survive for weeks out of water.

Your best bet would probably be to ask a local aquarium to take them in. You could try an aquarist, but that can be tricky since these may not be reef safe.

Edit: I will admit it’s not easy to tell from the photos. Can anyone confirm?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

hyelah1990 · Post by **hyelah1990** » Mon May 13, 2019 8:44 pm

It is hard to tell, but they do not look like land hermit crabs to me either.

breren92 · Post by **breren92** » Mon May 13, 2019 8:50 pm

They are green stripe hermit crabs. Online pictures confirm and so did an associate at petsmart

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

Post by **JoeHermits** » Mon May 13, 2019 8:52 pm

breren92 wrote:They are green stripe hermit crabs. Online pictures confirm and so did an associate at petsmart

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

Then they will need a marine setup. Is there any place nearby you could take them?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Post by **wodesorel** » Mon May 13, 2019 8:52 pm

They are for sure fully marine crabs. They come above the waterline to search for food in the wild, but in captivity they require a saltwater aquarium. I too would urge you to find someone who does marine to take these guys, they still have a chance! Pet stores, aquariums, even posting an ad on local classifieds to see if someone with a saltwater tank would be willing to give them a home. It's not too late for them.

breren92 · Post by **breren92** » Mon May 13, 2019 11:30 pm

Tomorrow I am going to try this new aquarium that just opened in my city a few months ago. I gave them a bowl of saltwater and they seemed to come alive a little

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

ROSIEonFIRE · Post by **ROSIEonFIRE** » Mon May 13, 2019 11:37 pm

I'm guessing you probably already know this but just in case, it should be dechlorinated marine salt water. GL!

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

HCA: Hermit Crab Association