To understand why there is no right or wrong to crab care

[JediMasterThrash]

Just felt like posting an explaination for why there is no simple right or wrong to crab care. Why it's not a case of "do it this way or your crabs will die".

The reason is simply because environment is different for everyone. So what might be acceptable for one person might not work for another.

In general, the care I've laid out in the Care Sheet is the simplest, easiest-to-implement complete basic care that statistically will give you the best chance of success. But it by no means is always the best way for any one person or any one crabitat.



Temp & Humidity: If you live near the ocean in a middle latitude (i.e., florida, etc), the natural air conditions are already perfect for crabs. If you don't have de-humidifying air conditioning, you could let your crabs live in an open-air wire cage. If you maintain moist sand, the humidity at second level height may not need to be close to the perfect 75. If you maintain higher heat, it might make crabs more tolerant to lower humidity ranges. And FYI, the perfect 75/75 is just a reference average, not a perfect stable condition. In real life, temp and humidity vary as much as 25%/15o each day.

Substrate & Molting: You only need a digable substrate if you want your crabs to molt in the main tank. Once your crabs and stable and destressed, you could "micro-manage" your crabs. You could let them live in shallow (safe) bark or gravel. You could bathe them every week, and always keep up to date on every crabs molting stage. Once you notice them become premolt, they could be moved to a special molting chamber. The more common method these days, self-bathing and main-tank molting, was something I pioneered 4 years ago because I was lazy, not because it was the only way ^_^ They could have other shelters or beds of moss/leaves to hide in, rather than bury in sand.

Water & Food: If you have well water, it probably isn't treated with chloramines, and a regular dechlorinator (or letting it sit) would work. While city water needs chloramines and heavy metals removed. There is no evidence at all (search for my previous posts) that aloe, stress coat, or slime coat is bad for hermits. Commercial foods are forumlated to contain the correct complete diet. Some work went into them, and won't kill your crabs. The only issue is that some add preservatives, and certain metal compounds that, while OK for mammal foods, aren't for crabs. But as long as a commercial food doesn't contain those, it should be alright. And there's no concrete evidence to say that the minute quantities of the chemicals in commercial foods are actually harmful. And it also might depend on species too. For instance, I have evidence from my own experiments that copper sulfate may affect Ecuadorian molts, but PPs might be unaffected. So if you only have PPs, they may be hardier to some ingredients than more fragile crabs. Also, inland species of crabs like PPs and Brevimanus may not require saltwater, even if they still like.

Painted Shells: Dyed shells pose no risk of flaking. And there's never been any evidence than flaked paint has harmed crabs. Crabs will tend not to like them for natural reasons, but there's never been any evidence of a painted shell doing harm to a crab (except if the crab is placed into the shell before the paint/dye has cured, in which case there has been evidence). Some paint may contain harmful ingredients, but that doesn't mean the crab eats it. Crabs encounter countless harmful substances everyday in the wild. They have natural instincts on what to eat, and what not to, and vary their diet purposfully to prevent overdosing on anything bad.



The point of this post is just to remind everything that there's still very little we know for absolute certain about crabs. Most of it is just best practices. And the best practices tend to turn upside down every few years anyway. I still of course only "recommend" what's in the care sheet. But doing something else doesn't mean you're going to kill your crabs. In fact, you might find a better way!

[Guest]

Wow, JMT! Perfectly said!!!

Crabbing thoughts & practices have change a multitude of times since I started crabbing in '05. When I started, it was important to give crabs a weekly bath in Stress Coat. Milk, cheese, & citrus fruits were on the "no-no" list. Any humidity over 80% was thought to be harmful. All pre-molt crabs were place in ISO tanks until they completed a molt. New crabs were ISO'ed for a period of a few days to a few months, depending who was giving the advice.

Some trial studies by members here have been done over the 2 1/2+ years I have been here, and so we assume that their findings are correct, but there really isn't tons of data & testing in any one area.

That is why it is important that members think about these things before offering right/wrong advice to new members. Too many practices are not written in stone.

[Guest]

Ahhhh, like most things in life...YMMV (Your Milage May Vary).

Well said. Studies, even simply being aware, thinking inside AND outside the box, collaborating sharing ideas and info, etc...all great stuff and very useful. I love to hear/read of other people's experiences and learn from them, BUT...Y(/My)MMV.

[Guest]

I agree.
This is another reason why I moved to this site from TheCrabStreetJournal. They wouldn't let me be an adopter because my tank wasn't EXACTLY how it "suppose" to be.
I have well water and Ladybug from CrabStreetJournal said that it still needs to be treated. I don't even live near a city or anything. I live on a mountain away from everything. I'm pretty sure my water is fine, I actually think its tested for something every couple of years.
I may live in New Hampshire, but my bedroom is always 80 degrees [sucks sometimes] I have a uth, and I turn it on during the winter, but my room is still always 80 degrees. Thats another reason why I couldn't be an adopter.
Another reason is because I don't have a temp or humidity gauge. But trust me, they have humidity and heat in their tank.
I have a lot of rescue crabs, and the one I've had the longest, I got him when he only had one limb, and was in a painted shell at a nasty pet store. I took him home because if he was going to die, I would rather him die in my care than with those nasty pet store owners. I've had Junior now for 6 years and hes still going strong. He hasn't complained about any of the tank conditions.
Another thing, I have crabs with painted shells. Every crab that I have ever gotten from a pet store has come in a painted shell. I buy them that way so I can take them home and allow them to choose a different natural shell that I have for them. Its not my fault if I have a stubborn hermit crab who doesn't want to change out of his painted shell. If theres nothing wrong with the shell that I see, than I don't see any harm in letting him keep it. I know that there are bad painted shells out there. One of my rescue crabs came with a shell in his little travel case thing, and the paint on it was horrible. I don't even know what kind of paint it was. I'm an artist so I usually know my paints.
Anywho, I'm babbling... But I totally agree with you. My crabs are very well taken care of, and I get no complaints. [ex. stressful crabs]