Water activity

[Julsie]

I wasn’t sure where to post this as i’m asking about behavior but its water related. Sorry if this is the wrong place. I have purple pinchers and i’m curious about their behavior when it comes to your water pools. I always see pictures of hermit crabs in salt/fresh water pools and read they will stay in the pool for hours and what not. I’ve never seen any of my hermit crabs actually “submerge” in any of the two pools. Rarely will I see them even dip their little legs in them. I have an air pump system connected in both pools. Large mesh thats ziptied into the containers and rocks at the bottom. The pools stay in the 80 degree temperature range. Is this just a purple pincher thing? Are they not as active in water as other crabs? Is there anything I can do to help activity in the pools? Recommendations?


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[HermitofHermitCrabs]

In my experience PPs don’t submerge in the saltwater pool so I’ve always kept a shallow dish for saltwater. Now, they do submerge in freshwater pool so I always make sure that it’s deep enough. I also run an air stone to the freshwater pool to keep humidity just right.

[aussieJJDude]

Keep in mind, they also likely to swim when its night - when your sleeping. So they may be wading in when your simply not awake.

I do think its good to give them the option regardless, as it certainly does a lot less harm giving them the option compared to not.

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[Links]

This was back in January and I haven’t seen him swim since. This was when i first added filters and took out my bubblers. Crabby wasn’t scared of the filters a bit. My ramps are different now but this was just a quick set up. My filters are more secure too. This is Crabby in the freshwater.




Edit to add: I don’t have a picture of it but when I had my larger crab he did submerge in the saltwater once. He was a PP. sadly he didn’t have a successful first molt.

I also can’t see all my salt pool on camera but Crabby recently went past the ramp. I don’t know if he submerged or just hung on the side as he went around.

I’ve been contemplating going back to bubblers. I thought maybe my water wasn’t oxygenating enough because I’ve slowed that filters flow with lava rocks. Not sure my water temp but last i checked it was 79. But now my tank is warmer I bet it’s 80+. Cholla queens states 73-77°F Had the most activity and I think it was 85° she said had a decrease in activity in her bioactive crabitat video

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[GotButterflies]

Mine submerge in both....
Edit: how often do you clean your pools? Could that be it?
Second edit: Mine also appear to like the feel of the bubblers. I have my bubblers out in the middle of the pools.

[Motörcrab]

My crabs also like to sit on top of the air stones similar to a jets in a hot tub I suppose! I have noticed my purple/s and strawberries in my 75 gallon tank seem to really wade on a sturdy platform that is submerged about 1" under the water. These crabs are Medium/Large 1-1/8 to 1-3/8 openings. Smaller crabs may like sturdy platforms that are not as deep.

[Julsie]

Mine submerge in both....
Edit: how often do you clean your pools? Could that be it?
Second edit: Mine also appear to like the feel of the bubblers. I have my bubblers out in the middle of the pools.

I used to change the pool water every week when my pools were smaller. I started cleaning them every 2-3 weeks now because I read a article about that one woman who did a test with her pools about how often you change/activity levels (I can’t think of her name or where the post was located) /: I may have misunderstood her information though or i’m doing it wrong. But I believe she said that her crabs preferred older/dirtier water than the new/fresh water... idk.


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[Julsie]

My crabs also like to sit on top of the air stones similar to a jets in a hot tub I suppose! I have noticed my purple/s and strawberries in my 75 gallon tank seem to really wade on a sturdy platform that is submerged about 1" under the water. These crabs are Medium/Large 1-1/8 to 1-3/8 openings. Smaller crabs may like sturdy platforms that are not as deep.

Does my pool set up look ok in your opinion? Sturdy and what not?


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[Motörcrab]

Does my pool set up look ok in your opinion? Sturdy and what not?


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I think your pools look ok. It's a little hard to see how deep they are and if the crab can completely submerge. You may want to get two more containers the size of the ones you are using. Put a few stones at the bottom them place your pools in there. That will protect digging crabs when you change the water. It will also catch water if a pool leaks.

After we had a flood and bacterial bloom and lost two crabs we are paranoid with bubblers. The little bit of mist doesn't seem like much but add up over months. Adding dry moss around pools helps collect water, but the crabs drag it all over. Just be sure to slide a butter knife of something similar down the glass to the bottom and see if you see any standing water.

[Julsie]

I think your pools look ok. It's a little hard to see how deep they are and if the crab can completely submerge. You may want to get two more containers the size of the ones you are using. Put a few stones at the bottom them place your pools in there. That will protect digging crabs when you change the water. It will also catch water if a pool leaks.

After we had a flood and bacterial bloom and lost two crabs we are paranoid with bubblers. The little bit of mist doesn't seem like much but add up over months. Adding dry moss around pools helps collect water, but the crabs drag it all over. Just be sure to slide a butter knife of something similar down the glass to the bottom and see if you see any standing water.

Okay! I haven’t had any flooding thank goodness but I always know it’s a possibility. I’m going to eventually double cup the pools I just haven’t done it yet. And the pools are deep (my biggest crab) can submerge because I rearranged the tank and sat a moss pit bucket next to the pools and when the crabs travel across the moss pit and over to the pools direction they don’t know it’s water lol and i’ve seen my largest crab (and others) fall in lol


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[CrabDad]

My Crabs NEVER get in the water - fresh or salt water! I barely ever even catch them sticking a toe in test... They literally just go around the edge and never in..

[hermitsrus1966]

I personally have seen them sticking toes in but that is it!! They have fallen in once in a great while but, again that's all they do. Though someone did mention a great point crabs are most active at night and could possibly be sneaking at night. Oh also I do not have bubbler or a heater.

[Cakes]

I thought mine weren't submerging too! But I found out they were when I was asleep when I noticed large amounts of sand in the deep end xD