Bathtime - I GIVE UP!!!

[Guest]

Just took my 4 crabs who are up out for a bath whilst I did a surface clean. All 4 very happy and clean so I put them back...within 5 minutes all 4 of them had managed to sit in either honey, EVOO or molasses and are now sticky and covered in sand. I GIVE UP!!!
rich

[MudCrabDude]

... I GIVE UP!!!
Rich

Ah, I think that's a very important lesson in crab-keeping. As paraphrased from GramMarcia's rule, they (the crabs) will do whatever they want whenever they feel like it, and it's just better if you let them! Some keepers here have had better results giving up bathing and just allowing the crabs to bathe for themselves by providing a pool of either seawater or freshwater or two separate pools of both. I know I have had better results in keeping hermit crabs longer than when I manually bathed them.

Generally, bathing is reserved for certain emergencies or for introduction of newbies in a tank.

Sure, the crabs may be more "wild" or "feral" if you will, sometimes all covered in substrate, uneaten food, or the occasional stuck poopie but generally they seem more healthy for it. And with the reduction of handling comes their tendency to bite wandering human hands every once in a while.........

[Guest]

To be honest I only normally bath them if someone's come back from moulting recently (as Dick had done this week) - in which case I just bath the lot of them as I think it's better than just doing the one of them and him smelling "strange" (clean!) to the rest of them. They spent most of last night eating honey off eachothers shells, which was quite cute.
rich

[Guest]

Ahahaha! That sounds like my horse when I had her. Every time after she got a bath, she would find the only spot of dirt in the paddock and roll around in it, really grinding it into her clean coat.

That was their way of thanking you for all those yummy treats.

[Guest]

I guess my crabs are really neat and clean or something...yeah, they're covered in substrate, but they never get honey on their shells when they eat it! My guys just have better table manners?

[Guest]

*Jerry Springer Guest Accent*

Are you sayin' my kids got no manners and don't know how to behave???

*back to normal refined English accent*

My babies aren't the most co-ordinated or the most delicate of crabs. They tend to jump in the water bowl rather than drink from the edge etc...ditto with the honey...
rich

[Guest]

lol You missed a key word and a couple extra letters... For true Jerry you needed it to read:
"Are you sayin' my kids ain't gots no manner and don'ts know how to behave???"

[Guest]

i only bathe mine when they get dirt in their shells, when we get a new friend, or after they come up from being underground. i cant stand to see dirt on their shells too much. other than that they keep themselves very clean

[Guest]

MudCrabDude,

I'm glad you were paying attention:

The first rule of crab behavior:

THEY'RE GONNA DO WHAT THEY WANNA DO WHEN THEY WANNA DO IT! [smilie=hail.gif]

[Guest]

I only bathe mine when
they come home from the store....
get moved to another tank..
do a full clean of the tank
or get covered in honey...
Mine are always covered in eco... but they seem to go into the fresh water and clean themselves...
I figure if they are dirty, they must like it.....

Call me a bad Crab Mom.... LOL

[Guest]

I bathe mine once a week... I've only had them for a week so it's not saying much.

[hermietastic]

Well, bathing messes up the water in their shell, the salinity of it, and stresses them out. Most crabbers do not bathe their crabs.