Unfriendly or Unhappy Crab?

[Guest]

I am new to hermies. I got my first PP a month ago at a yard sale. She was giving away the crab and aquarium and I just had to have it. He was in 1/2" coarse gravel with food dish and water dish and no top on the tank. I read all about hermies and changed out the gravel for play sand 1" overall the bottom of the tank and up to 3" deep on one side. Then with coconut fiber on the other half of the tank and added a grapevine branch for him to climb on. I added a top and an undertank heater and now his temp is 75 degrees, humidity between 60-70%. Next I adopted 3 buddies for him approximately the same size (about a week ago). The three new hermies were very active the first couple days, switching shells, eating lots and exploring all over. Then they all buried themselves in the coconut fiber and I never see them any more. And sadly my original guy (Spike), doesn't seem to like the new guys. In fact, he hangs upside down from the grapevine log all the time. Not moving, not coming down, not eating, not even burying himself or anything. I have never seen Spike eat, but assumed since he is still alive he must eat sometime. I am worried about him. What should I do? Shouldn't he interact with the other crabs? Or at least not hang upside down from the log day after day? His new habitat is intentionally warmer and more humid than he arrived in. But he didn't used to just hang upside down till the new tankmates arrived. Sure wish I knew what to do, since it all began bbecause I wanted to give him a good home and provide everything a happy hermie should have.

[KittyCaller]

Hi there, hello and welcome! Actually Spike may be happy as a clam. Some species of hermies, Purple pinchers in particular, are really big on the climbing. I've often got one or two hermies dangling from my lid. They seem to like it. Oh, and he might be coming down at night. Hermits are nocturnal critters, and he may feel safer up off the ground during the day. Also, he may just need a chance to adjust being around other crabs again. Meanwhile, I think he's probably okay.

[Guest]

Sounds like you're on your way to having a good set up for your hermies. You should try to keep your humidity a bit higher, in the 70-80% range. I'd say that Spike is probably still a bit surprised at the change in his surroundings, especially since there's no way of knowing how long he had to make do with the gravel and less than optimal conditions, and isn't quite sure what to make of his new home yet. Oh, and are you offering salt water as well as fresh water? The three new guys you got to be buddies for Spike sound like they're destressing, you'll probably start seeing more of them in the next few weeks. Spike may be doing something similar to destressing himself. I wouldn't worry overly much, hermies can go a long time without eating and be just fine. But I'd bet that Spike is coming down from his perch at night and eating and drinking then. As far as interacting with the other crabs, I'm sure he will when they come back up.

[Guest]

Thank you both for your advice and encouragement. This morning Spike was down from the log and puttering around a bit. Now he's climbed back up and his hanging upside down again. But you are probably right and he must come down at night. No sign of the new tankmates, but they did make a mess turning the other shells and food dish. I am offering both fresh and salt water. Interestingly, the first few days of offering salt water it all disappeared. Perhaps they all drank it or splashed it into their shells or something. I can't even believe how fascinated and thrilled I am with these amazing little creatures. I want to do my best to create the best crabitat for them so they will be happy little hermies. I really appreciate your experience and advice.

[Ren1216]

I am still somewhat new to hermit crabs, and I have experienced a similar situation to what you are going through. It makes you worry when you dont really know much about having these creatures for pets, I know I worried. But this site is great, very helpful people here!! I originally had 3 cabbies, I soon decided that wasnt enough and got 7 more. Ive had one die, which I replaced, so we still have 10. Mine were really active at first, then slowed down for a few days, then 6 of them dug in to molt. It was a little discouraging at first, not seeing them more often. But they are slowly starting to resurface now, 2 have come back up in the last week. They are pretty active right after molting, and hungry! I have an E who prefers to hang upside down almost all the time. I have another E who hardly climbs at all, he's usually sitting in the sand somewhere, but always alert. There are a few definite "diggers", they make the tunnels. Two seem to "sleep" constantly.... and at least one loves the water, filling its shell then dumping it out elsewhere (all of a sudden my fresh water pool is nearly empty every morning, I know they arent drinking all that!!). I guess they all just have different personalities, like all pets do. The advice given above is good. Get your humidity up a little higher, they need that moisture as its very important to their health, Im sure you already know that. One thing Ive done since first getting the tank set up is to look at other hermie-oweners pictures of their crabitats. They've given me great ideas of things to add to my tank that are fun for the crabbies, plus give them exercise. You didnt mention what you are feeding them, fresh fruits and veggies are a must and very popular in my tank... mine LOVE grapes and one trotted off with a black olive last night, she stashed it in the hermie hut. Gotta keep an eye on that so food doesnt spoil and rot somewhere in a hiding spot. Another thing, depeding what species you have, if the new ones are different than Spike, you might consider getting at least 1 more of his species. I read somewhere that they like that. And I dont know how big your tank is, but I like having 10... someone is always up and about. I'd actually like to get more. Oh, also... are you giving them any calcium suppliment? Cuttlebones are a good source for calcium, hermies need that. Good luck to you and your new crab-babies... fun, isnt it!

[Guest]

Thank you for your feedback! After reading everything I can find, I am SO worried they will stress out and start having legs fall off or something. Yikes! Amazingly, they DO have very different personalities. Spike being stoic, Tank and Dozer pushing and shoving at each other and trying to get the same shells. And Dory being a little blue cutie. They are all PPs about the same size. I will increase the humidity a little. Their temp stays between 75-78 degrees. I did offer them fresh spinach leaves, piece of apple and a grape cut in half. They loved the grape! Although I still have never seen Spike eat anything. For their regular food, I am feeding crab pellets and variety bites and dried fruit pieces called Hermit treats in their food dish. There is a cuttlebone in the water dish to add calcium for them. I have only a 10 gal tank for now. I'm thinking that may be big enough at this time since they can all get away from one another and have some privacy... If they want it. Although the three new guys often can be found in a heap all together. I do have another question though. Not knowing whether to go with sand or coconut fiber substrate, I first put an inch of dry play sand on the bottom of the tank to keep it from being too hot with the under-tank heater. Then on one half of the tank I spread coconut fiber starting at 1" deep at the middle of the tank to 3" deep on the side. On the other side I spread the sand from an inch to about 3" on the other side. So they have shallow to deep choices of sand or moist coconut fiber. The sand is dry. Obviously, they hang around on the coconut fiber and bury themselves in it. I'm guessing now, that the sand is also supposed to be moist. I have left it dry... So, is it supposed to be moist like the coconut fiber?There's an assortment of appropriate sized shells (they like the turbos best, abandoning their land snail painted shells from the pet store). And there's a twisty grapevine log from end to and across the back of the tank, so they can climb high up or hide in the "cave" formed by the log (which is where Spike hangs upside-down). Also, there's conflicting advice on whether to bathe or not to bathe your hermies. I have pretty much left them alone, afraid too much handling would stress them out. I just clean and change the water and food dishes and try not to bother them too much. I also spend WAY too much time watching them! Just can't resist!

[Willow]

If you haven't been bathing them, don't start now. You can moisten the sand if you like, but usually the crabs will wet it with their shell water, and then it's just the way they like it, without you having to guess how much to wet it. What brand of pellets are you feeding? Some brands have a preservative called ethoxyquin, which is harmful. Also, larger pellets will need to be crushed, or the hermies will have a hard time eating them. Have fun with your new buddies!

[Ren1216]

I dont have much to add on top of what Willow already said...I have sand and EE also in my tank. I soaked the EE, as per the directions, of course. The sand I left dry because others here told me the crabs would wet it themselves. They did! Its more wet near the water dish and thats where they tunnel. So my tank has damp sand and dry sand, they get a little of everything. Im thinking of putting some gravel that I removed back into a tray or something and putting that up on one of the other levels (I have a small shelving unit it there, with cholla wood and netting so they can climb up to a few different levels). Sometimes I put fruits or treats up where they have to climb to it. As for bathing, I decided against it, but this is a controversial topic. I provide deep enough fresh and salt water pools (each are 1" deep, all of my crabbies are small) so they can bathe themselves. I was going to do baths for molters returning to the tank since I read that the other crabs may *nibble* on him, but have not bothered since 6 of my crabs molted right in the main tank. I didnt want to dig them up for fear of killing them, so I let them be. 2 have just come up and been fine in the tank without a bath... so I doubt I will bathe at all. But, this is up to you. I think it may be a good idea when introducing new crabs into an established tank. I dont handle my freshly molted hermies for about a week after they come up, but then I do like to pick them up for short periods of time so that they get more used to me. Im hoping that handling them like this will eventually help them to not be so afraid of us. Personally, I think handling them is a good thing (not when they are new though, they need to de-stress first).Hope that helps... feel free to private message me if I can help more. Im happy to send you some pictures of my tank too if you like.

[Guest]

Thank you all so much for your ideas and suggestions. Happily, I have seen Spike climb down and consider the new shells and putter around a bit before hanging upside down again. So he is probably fine. And thanks to all of you all my little hermies will be better cared for and I can try to worry a bit less. I did have a jumbo PP arrive nearly dead yesterday by mail order, and sadly he passed away during the night after bubbling (which as it turns out is a really bad sign).