New to "hermit-crabbing"

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:40 am

my name is Jessica and I'm new to hermit crabbing. So new in fact that I didn't even know hermit crabs hate to be alone so it was a week and a half before I got my new baby "Hermy" (that's his name because my naming abillity is amasing, can't you tell? >.>) a friend. I can't get him to come far enough out of his shell for for now I'm calling Hermy male.

I first got the idea of owning a crab when my oceans class took a trip to a beach and we had to collect organisms to do an expirament on (the expirament could not include killing or harming the creature in any way, so don't be alarmed" I found a crab (not a hermit crab, but a regular saltwater crab) a small green crab to be exact. After two days of having twenty crabs jammed together in a 10 gallon tank, I decided I would have mercy and take mine home with me, so I cleared it with the teacher. By the time I had the water and the tank ready to take my crabbie home four days later, the teacher had stuck all the crabs (the ones that hadn't died from starvation or poor living environment) in the freezer and they were all dead. he told me "you should have taken it home earlyer". I was so upset I wanted to strangle him.

When I got home, I sat for a while mourning the loss of my crab friend when an Idea struck me. I could go back to the beach and find another one. The only problem I realised is that I would have to know when the tide was out, and I would have to carry a bunch of water home... and water is heavy.

Eventually I decided to go to the pet store to see if maybe they sold saltwaater crabs. My friend Heather (who was also looking forward to me bringing a crab home for a pet) came with me. I started towards the fish section, but before I even got there somthing caught my eye amongst the shelves reptile food and fish supplies. A large class tank, just sitting on the shelf. I looked inside, exotic looking shells were strewn about the fine gravel along witha water dish, and a really cute coconut shaped house thing... I looked closer and one of the shells started to move and I realised ... HERMIT CRABS!

I found someone who worked there and asked them, if I could see one, He said "I have one that's really active here..." and trailed of as he begun turning over dried peices of coral and knoted wood untill he picked up a small hermit rab and handed it to me, he came right out onto my hand and looked up at me with those gorgeous black eyes, there was no way I was going to put him down again.

I bought my new crab buddy a small plastic tank that said "good for fish or small reptiles", and some "specially formulated hermit crab sand" made by "Crabworx". I didn't have much money so I couldn't buy him special food dishes or a fancy house but I got him some "Crabworx hermit crab food" and decided I'd improvise the rest. We used small tupperware lids for food and water, and my friend and I made him a house out of (unused) sucker sticks (my mom had a package of them in her craft box).

That is the story of how I got my first hermit crab ^-^

annopia · Post by **annopia** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 10:53 am

welcome to the HCA! I can never resist those cute little eyes either...when I go to a pet store "just for supplies" I usually come back with a new little buddy!

to keep Hermy happy and healthy, there are a few things you are going to need to get, the basics. Most important is a glass tank, lid, and gauges. A 10 gallon tank can be bought very cheap, and temp and humidity gauges (a necessity), can be about $6. both the temp and humidity should be 75-80, and you may need an under the tank heater (UTH) for when winter comes.

the sand your using sounds okay, but a cheaper substitute (and that crabs like) is to buy playsand from a place like lowes, you can get a 50 lb bag for about $5. whichever sand you use, make sure it is deep enough for your hermie to completely submerge in, and wet it to sand castle consistancy (so Hermy can tunnel)!

the house out of sucker sticks sounds very cute, and I bet Hermy loves it! for more stuff to decorate your crabitat with, you can get things like netting from a craftstore, or buy a little clay pot and turn it on its side, burying it about half way in the sand. aquarium plants are also lots of fun for the crabs to hide and climb.

there are also some great care sheets to the right ----> to help you get Hermy settled in. again, welcome, I look forward to seeing you around!

Caroline

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:00 am

thank you, and I am planning on getting my hermy a new (glass) tank as soon as I get the money, you see, I am still in school and do not have a job so I have to rely on allowance which is currently $20 a month >.>

My hermit crab house IS acutally very cute, I glued (with non-toxic glue) two small clam shells together and stuck them to the top for the roof and put a white marble in the center to look like a perl

annopia · Post by **annopia** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:06 am

that sounds precious! I understand the problems of having no money, as I am also a student (in college). plus it is difficult having no way to get to the store when i have the money!

something you could do that would cost nothing is to find a piece of wood (I would use either cherry, oak, or maple because I know they are safe) that would fit in the tank. then bake it in the oven, cool it, and place it in your tank. then Hermy has something to climb!

Caroline

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:12 am

Hermy loves climbing on his house, the first time I caught him up there I panicked and tookhim down, untill I read that hermit crabs liked to climb... after that my friend and I made him a small ladder, a half log, a slide, and a set of climbing bars, all made from sucker sticks ^-^ (we're resoursefull)

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:14 am

~~The tale of Shelly~~

After finding Christa Wilkin's webpage on hermit crab care a week and a half later, I learned hermit crabs hate being alone, so I went back out to the pet store, only to find out that they store I went to before was completely out of hermit crabs. So I had to find a different store. I'm not sure, but I don't think tree bark and twigs is good substrate for hermit crabs, I wanted to question them about it, but decided not to. I asked the man if I could see the small crabs, and found one the right size for hermy. She (I'm calling her a she untill I can find out for sure) refused to come out of her shell for me but I could tell by the claw size she was just about right, though the shell was a bit bigger, it's the crab inside that matters.

When I decided she was alright he put her in a carboard box meant for taking birds home. Just straight up carboard, no wet paper towel like the other store did, nothing. I carried her up to the cashier and I felt her rolling around. I opened the box to realze he put her in the box upside down. Weather it's ok for hermit crabs or not I wouldn't be happy if someone put ME in a box upside down.

I got her home and introduced her to Hermy. As soon as I put her down on the sand, she came right out of her shell. She is a beautifull deep purple color, much brighter than hermy who is tan to pale orange at best.

They met and poked around at eachother with their feelers for a while and were introduced. But I realised, she still didn't have a name. So, once again calling on my incredible imagination for names, dubbed her "Shelly"

annopia · Post by **annopia** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:22 am

pet stores can be amazingly ignorant when it comes to hermies. Last week I was in a store that had housed 250 hermies in a wire cage with a diameter of 1 foot and a height of 3 feet. Several of the crabs were literally dripping with black sludge (indication of bacterial infection). I have learned to not be surprised (though I am still angry) about conditions in pet stores.

I am hoping that the substrate you saw in the store was EE or forest bedding, which is a good substrate (I have a tank with one side EE and the other sand). but you are right, normal tree shavings or twigs isn't good for hermies.

sounds like shelly is beautiful and has lots of fun, home-made goodies to play with. we'd love to see some pictures!

Caroline

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:25 am

I have read about forest bedding which is chopped fine like dirt (so I hear) this was large chunks that looked like they were ripped straight off a tree >.>

I will try to get some pictures as soon as mom let's go of her digital camera. it's new and she treats it like her baby almost as much as hermy and shelly are by babies -.-

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:43 am

~~Study session~~

I first started reacherching hermit crabs for my oceans class. Exams were coming up and we had to write a 250 word news article on any topic of our choice. I suppose you can guess what I chose. We were allowed to write 40 words on a recipe card to act as a sort of cheat sheet. I looked up hermit crabs, and the first site that popped up was "www.hermit-crabs.com" I started looking over the information and there was so much more than I expected. Being a procrastinator and having left my studying untill the morning of my exam which started at 1:00 >.< I knew I did not have enough time to learn everything I needed to learn, so I cheated on my cheat sheet and filled up seven recipe cards with little jot notes like

"Molt - like dig, 6 in moist" ~~which meant~~ "when hermit crabs are getting ready to molt they like to dig. They should have about six inches minimum of moist substrate in which to dig themselves into"

"Sun dmg - overheat - musty sm, brown liq" ~~which meant~~ "leaving a hermit crab to bake in the sun makes them overheat causeing irreversible damage. Signs of sun damage are a musty smell and secreteing a smelly grown liquid"

"abd shape - first home - bott. cap , iq bott." ~~which meant~~ " the shape of a hermit crabs abdomen is determined by it's first shell/home it has. If all a hermit crab has to move into when it first crawls onto thebeach is a peice of bamboo, then it's abdoment will be straight rather than the standard curve to the right. Hermit crabs have been seen living in botle caps, or even airline liquer bottles.

I managed to fill four pages of foolscap (really long looseleaf) on basic hermit crab care before I decided I'd written enough to pass that part of the exam. I don't know, but I'm sure Hermy was proud of me, and happy that I'd taken the time to learn so much about caring for him.

annopia · Post by **annopia** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:02 pm

I agree, researching about your new/future pet (either for an assignment or just for fun) is good and important. I wish I had done that before I got my hermies. I've had crabs for a year now, but have only been really caring for them properly for the past two months, and have enjoyed how much healthier and happier they are.

Caroline

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 1:41 pm

I have a delema... I'd like to ask where I can get supplies, the problem is, I live in canada and everyone here seems to be from the united states... I don't know who to ask ;.;

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 1:45 pm

Congratulations on having two new cute pets. ^^ I was pretty much like annopia. I didn't do research. It was only until I got back home from the dorms that I did research. By that time, I've had the crabs for about 2 months or so. And boy did I put them through heck. -_-

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 1:51 pm

If it hadn't been for that project, I probably would have been in the same boat

annopia · Post by **annopia** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 1:54 pm

you should go to the adoption section and look under "canadian adopters." that list should give you a fairly large number of knowledgable members who could point you in the right direction.

Caroline

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 1:54 pm

thanks ^-^