Woohooo! Two females with eggs! Update P.6! BABIES! (PPs)

[kip.rogers357]

Oh yeah, and if any of my crab babies make it to be "real" crabs, I'm going to charge like $300 each. They are so expensive to raise! Especially when I have no idea what I'm doing.

Haha! I can imagine! Just like having a (human) baby! Except you don't sell them when they're able to fend for themselves :roll: simply ship 'em off to college...which you still have to pay for!
It would definitley be an honor to be an owner of a captive bred crab! (I know annopia has a blueberry, right?) But I don't think I could afford $300 per crab, I complain about the $9.00 "fancy" (painted) shell crabs at my local Petco!

[Skymall007]

At my Petco I can get a box of the insta ocean for 15$. Is this the salt you are using? I would be happy to send some if you need it! I can send a whole box if you like. This is so exciting! And thank you for all the updates and wonderful pictures and videos! I have been checking every day to see what is happening =) Sometimes maybe 2-3 times a day. I am uber excited!

[ceo1282]

Now I see what happens when I don't log in for a few days...the whole hermie world changes & I don't even know it!? It's absolutely amazing to see the pictures of your little boys & girls, they are so cute The cost of breeding & rearing just about anything is a lot more costly than most people would ever imagine Then there's the huge amount of work you put into it but it's a labor of love I'm really thankful you're so on top of things & taking the time to share it all w/us esp considering most of us may never have the chance to experience it. Just getting to see & hear about all this step by step as things evolve is great. Thanks for all your hard work I'll keep an eye out for updates, I just have to make sure I log in on a regular basis

[deesjebeesje]

Omg they are amazing, I never see this before, keep posting

[wolfnipplechips]

Just an update this morning

Last night, a turned off their overhead light for the first time. I got up at like 3am to check on them, and when I shined a flashlight through the flap (I have the tank covered with cardboard so no light gets in the sides) I didn't see any!!! I thought I had killed them!! And the like in some sort of alien movie, they slowly started to rise from the bottom of the tank toward the light. So creepy.

This morning after turning on the hood light, I saw I have just as many as yesterday, minus just a few dead ones on the tank floor. That's pretty good!

Their brine shrimp are hatching, and the babies are getting a bit ravenous. I can tell the ones that have eaten because they are turning orange-ish- the color of the baby brine shrimp.

Still can't convince my husband to do daily changes of water. It is a lot of work, and very expensive. I figure this is my time to learn what works and what doesn't, as I am sure I will get more chances to do this, and I am ok with it taking a few years. We are going to do water changes every other day to save $ because it's a bit tight right now. Thanks to those who have offered to send salt, I appreciate it very much, but it's way too expensive to ship, and to Alaska will take a long time. Plus, since I am going out of town in August, I don't want your efforts to be wasted if/when these babies die because my husband can't really do it very well by himself.

Next year, we will be able to afford enough salt because my husband just got approved for a loan forgiveness program (if you have student loan debt and work for a public service like a school, pm me and I can give you some info! They don't tell you about this in the financial aid office!). Instead of paying thousands a month toward his student loan debt, he will be able to spend just a few hundred.

So stuff I have learned in the past 12 hours:
-At night, they go to the bottom of the tank
-They turn orange if they eat a brine shrimp allowing me to tell who is eating

Oh yes, and Big Mamma has still not dropped her eggs. I probably checked like 4 times last night. She's chillin' on the second level. I think I'd better check to make sure she still has her eggs and didn't dump them in the substrate somewhere.

I'll try to get more baby pics, but it's hard with the flaps.

Edit: Here is a photo of Big Mamma's eggs.

Maybe another day or so? I still see a little bit of orange in there.

[wolfnipplechips]

Can somebody familiar with this test in SW help me? To me, it looks like it's more yellow than green, so like, between 0 and .25.


This is after about 20 hours I think. I'm going to keep testing to find out how much ammonia goes up with changing the water every 48 hours in stead of 24. If it goes up too much, I'm going to get out the big guns to get my husband to help me do it every 24. But how much is too much? You marine people, get your tooshies over here.

[parrothead]

It's looking good right now. Anything below 1 is ok, but obviously the closer to 0 the better. The organic material breaking down (i.e. poo and food) is what spikes the NH3 and with all the Zoea and all the plankton/krill they'll be eating it'll spike fast. I think you could go every 48 for now, but the bigger they get the higher the levels and I would check it often. Of coarse you could always do a partial change every day, but I don't know how hard that'll be with all the babies floating around. I will also add, different marine species can survive different ammonia levels, for example, Salmon can live in levels of excess 7.8! It's pretty safe to say that the Zoea are more sensitive to the spikes but with this all being new information and not much science to back it, it's hard to say what is 'acceptable'. I think it's gonna be a lot of 'trial-and-error'.

[wolfnipplechips]

Thanks very much parrothead!! I'll keep checking every few hours for changes.

[parrothead]

I know it's tedious, and the chemicals aren't cheap, but with the whole experience being so new, better safe than sorry. I hope it helps!

[Skymall007]

That is so interesting how they go to the bottom! I can't wait to hear more. =) Also, don't worry about the few deaths, it probably happens a lot in the wild, it is part of the natural selection process anyway. Not that it makes it less sad, but it might be best for a few to not survive. The strong ones will make it. Keep up all the good work!!!!

[wolfnipplechips]

Just an update.

The ammonia is still slowly going up. I did another test at 3pm-ish AST (about 3 hours after my first test), and it's greener than before, but not yet at 0.25ppm green. Still arguing with my husband about the salt. I've gotten him to a point where half (instead of 3/4) water changes every 24 hours is acceptable. But will it be? I hope so...I don't think I can get any more out of him. I hate fighting! See what babies do to people?!?

We are going to wait until 5:30-6pm AST (soon!) to do water changes since that's when he gets off work during the week.

They are still eating very well. I'm going to try to get pics soon.

Big mamma is still on her second level perch. Hasn't spawned yet.

Also, does anybody know if hermit crabs can mate/spawn more than once during a season?! Cat is being guarded by a male again!

[wolfnipplechips]

I feel like I am bumping this thread every five minutes. But I have baby pics!

Come, join us on the mothership



You can see the red in a lot of their bellies now that they are eating.




Plotting my murder.

[Happy Crabber]

Love It! Keep 'em coming! I love seeing the little day to day changes. I love the second to last one. He has a determined look in his eye. (Anthropomorphize anyone?)

[CrabbyIrene]

I love them! They are so cute! More please.

[Careyenz]

Your pics are amazing. They are really adorable. I'm really hoping that some of them will pull through. You're doing a great job documenting the process!


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