New Owner

[dolphinlover]

Pumpkin,

I have to becareful using our tap water...we have a well and very hard water...You would think with it coming from a well it would be good, but not ours...we dont drink the water...not always, but there are days our water smells like rotten eggs...speaking of eggs, can i use eggs shells after using the egg inside?

[Pumpkincrab]

Okay, then use distilled for the time being. It'll have to do for now.

Yes, you can, I recommend maybe cleaning them though (with dechlor water of course)

[dolphinlover]

I still need to dechlor the distilled water as well correct??

[Pumpkincrab]

Yes

[dolphinlover]

Okay cool...my landlord just showed me in our yard where the maple tree is and an oak tree...super excited to make my babies some treats....im going to bake them at 250 low and slow so i dont burn them...lol

[curlysister]

Distilled and RO (reverse osmosis) water do not need to be treated with a dechlorinator - they are pure water. They can be used as is for washing items and foods. However, they are not recommended to use long term for crabs drinking water/ pools. Ground water (ie- tap water) will have minerals etc from the ground which are important for crabs. The dechlorinator will remove the chlorine (and other additives) that is added, to make it safe for crabs.
Egg shells can be put in the tank raw or cooked. I have never cleaned mine.
Dandelions are safe! I just pick and put the flowers and leaves directly in my tank. We use no chemicals in my yard, but we are rural and there are farm chemicals in the fields next to my property. So I pick the newer leaves and flowers. Same with lots of other flowers and leaves from my yard (raspberry, maple, poplar, lilac, squash, strawberry leaves; honeysuckle, apple, cherry, lilac, lily, marigold, petunia, pansy flowers). I dry some for winter (literally put them in a shallow cardboard box on the dash of my jeep on a hot day to dry). I have never worried about bugs, but live in Canada where there don't seem to be a lot of bugs that can get in a crabitat!

[dolphinlover]

curlysister,

So I can go out and pick some lilacs off my lilacs trees and place them in my tank for my babies..amazing what wild stuff you can actually use for hermit crabs...Mine have been hiding under there coconut hut since Jengles changed into his new shell...I have a heater on the outside of my tank and it is showing that is it about 75 in there..my digital one should be here today..I do not know what the humidity is because I have no way of telling..I have moss in there and spray it a few times a day because when I check it it feels dry..I also have a round brick of soil should i also be putting that in there to help with the humidity until I get my thermometer that tells me what the humidity is? I just don't want anything to happen to my babies...Do they sleep a lot? Just asking because since putting them in there new crabitate I had one burrow and the next day he had changed into a new shell (was super excited ), but they haven't came out since..I did lift the hut to check on them to make sure they were okay but no movement..I do not want to disturb them if they are supposed to do this..

Thank you for letting me know that I do not have to de-chlorinate the distilled water..I always have it on hand as i use it in our coffee maker...Our tap water builds up a lot of calcium in our coffee maker...Wish we didn't have a lot of bugs, you are not far away from me curlysister..I'm about 2 hours from Niagara falls in Buffalo, NY...

Thank you all for all your help...

[Allanblela]

Great

[Alaina]

I saw you got them in myrtle beach...I just wanted to say if the shells they had were painted, now they have changed shells get rid of them. Painted shells are toxic. I know ours came with painted shells. I do what everyone else is saying to with making food. I also put food (like shrimp and fruit)into an egg shell"bowl". They seem to like that sometimes. I do like to lay out a little made food in a shell as well. I found that the store "the pumpkin patch" is pretty cheap and since crabs dont eat much even the sample bags last forever. Plus it's fun looking at their food mixes lol. Def. Good your getting the humidity gadge, that's super important since they need certain humidity to breath properly
I'm so happy for you. You sound like your doing a wonderful job getting everything they need. I have well water that's hard, even my cats drink bottled water so I understand. Ours somehow has minor traces road salt, even though we have a deep well and live in the country . I premake their salt/fresh water in gallon jugs. For me it's big enough not to be a pain but small enough not to spill everywhere when filling stuff. When I had a smaller tank I would fill a reg. Water bottle so it fit/wouldnt flood when filling water bowls and pools.

[Hermiecrab]

Haha

[dolphinlover]

I saw you got them in myrtle beach...I just wanted to say if the shells they had were painted, now they have changed shells get rid of them. Painted shells are toxic. I know ours came with painted shells. I do what everyone else is saying to with making food. I also put food (like shrimp and fruit)into an egg shell"bowl". They seem to like that sometimes. I do like to lay out a little made food in a shell as well. I found that the store "the pumpkin patch" is pretty cheap and since crabs dont eat much even the sample bags last forever. Plus it's fun looking at their food mixes lol. Def. Good your getting the humidity gadge, that's super important since they need certain humidity to breath properly
I'm so happy for you. You sound like your doing a wonderful job getting everything they need. I have well water that's hard, even my cats drink bottled water so I understand. Ours somehow has minor traces road salt, even though we have a deep well and live in the country . I premake their salt/fresh water in gallon jugs. For me it's big enough not to be a pain but small enough not to spill everywhere when filling stuff. When I had a smaller tank I would fill a reg. Water bottle so it fit/wouldnt flood when filling water bowls and pools.

Hello Alaina,

Actually the hermits I got in Myrtle Beach did not have painted shells. Now the 2 I got from the pet store were in painted shells. That would be Patrick and Squidward…Before I had my new tank set up Patrick went under to molt, and well Squid he stayed above but never changed shells. As soon as I got Squid into the new tank he went under and I haven’t seen him for a few weeks. So I’m hoping once he comes back up he changes and gets out of the painted shell. Patrick was the only one left in my small tank and as soon as he came up I moved him to the new one. Within a few days he had changed into a new shell. I immediately removed the painted shell from the tank.

I had learned from people here in the site when I joined that painted shells were not good for the hermits. So when I did get my new hermits from the pet store I told the staff person that was helping me that the painted shells were not good for them. Eventually I plan to get at least 2 more to add to the big tank, but not sure where I plan to get them. Because in all honesty the dam pet store charge $10+ for crabs. Craziness if you ask me. Small little creatures like that is being overcharged if you ask me. In myrtle beach they are way way cheaper than here in NY.

Thank you for you input.

Dolphin.


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[Alaina]

There is an adoption forum on here. I've actually gotten one and I am picking up a couple more next week. I didn't pay for either, even though I offered since the ones are coming with a tank. The only thing it's cost me is drive time lol. There's one for ppl looking to adopt. If you put your info in ppl can contact you. It's also a good way to help people who love their crabs but are unable to keep them. If your looking it may be worth a try

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[Jeep]

I just joined on here, trying to navigate wear to post 2 hermit crabs we have for adoption, any help appreciated as to where to post ?