Comparing the Hermit Crab Sellers

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 2:24 am

I would like for everyone that has purchased from ELHC to chime in so we can get a good picture.
My experience is this...
ELHC4 Aussies all still kicking two have completed molts and the other two are working on it.

2 Blueberries 1 is still doing really well, the other was lost due to some kind of injury, impossible to tell when it happened.

2 Ruggies, doing great no issues

2 Brunesses 1 still doing well the other was either attacked by one of my ruggies or fell and cut himself on his shell.

With HCV:
2 Straws, still doing great 1 year later 2 molts for each

3 Ruggies, 1 is doing great the other two died at different times for unknown reasons

2 Indos, both are doing great

I ordered 2 violas and they sent 4 all are still doing great
No DOAs

With LHC:
2 E's both died during molts less than a year later but at different times.

So I think it would be great for everyone to break down their experiences in a similar way, maybe we could see some patterns with enough data.

curious_kitty · Post by **curious_kitty** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 12:18 pm

ok, i can tabulate my experiences :

LHC
-13Es: almost 4 months into it and more than half of them molted with me including one large/jumbo E(he was best molt so far). one of the E(i dug up due to Mite incident) surface molted, and went badly, with both of his pinchers torn. So far he is still hanging in ISO, and I HOPE he makes it. if he does, I am planning on placing him in a separate tank, and will be giving him powdered food, in hopes that he will molt again to regain his lost limbs.
-6 violas:all of them doing awesome so far. too soon to tell on long term, but they are always first ones on the food dish. All of them changed into cool fox shells
-6 indos: one of the little tiny one did not make it(not DOA), but maybe too much stress following Mite incident and deep cleaning shortly after their arrival. Rest of them seems to be eating well, and climbing
-2 ruggies: too soon to tell. they are pretty chill, hanging out by the shell shop along with couple Es, and PPs.
- 2 small strawberries: they are both eating and active as one would expect from strawberries.

13Es were ordered by me, and indo/violas/ruggies/strawberries were ordered by my hubby for my B-day just past week.

HCV
I ordered 5 violas, and 4 strawberries. 3 DOA violas. Out of two violas, 1 of the medium viola died shortly(it arrived ill, or injured) after arrival and 1 strawberry died shortly after my deep cleaning due to Mites(recent). they sent 2 violas, and 2 strawberries to replace my 3 DOA violas. One of the larger viola also died shortly during my deep clean.
Final head count, 2 violas survived, molted with me, 4 strawberries, with 1 of them due for molt shortly(digging right now).
I think my HCV order was sort of an outlier. I say this because my viola orders were really last of their left over stock(they went out of stock right after my order). so I think their death was probably not due to HCV being awful, but more like, they were probably mostly sickly ones left over from stock(sad to say this).

ELHC
haven't ordered from them as i have LHC close by(they are in NYC, and I am in Boston), and couldnt justify $25+ per crab when I can spend the money to buy yummy food for my crabs, or add toys for them..

but I am sure he is great seller, and keeps his crabs healthy from what I hear so far!

SebbyCrab · Post by **SebbyCrab** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:06 pm

LHC: November order 3 small straws, 3 small E's. They put an extra of each in the shipment to cover DOA or anything like that.

All still healthy and active, the majority of Each has molted with me. [total 8 crabs alive]

LHC: March order 2 medium Straws, 3 Medium E's, 1 large Straw, 4 small Viola, 1 Large Viola, ordered. They put in 1 medium Straw, 1 med. E, one small Viola, and another large Straw to cover DOA or anything like that.

All still healthy and active 1 E currently molting.

HCV: Contacted about an order the same time I contacted LHC for the second order, never got a response.

Rosepetalbed · Post by **Rosepetalbed** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 2:20 pm

I thought I would share my experience with everyone all crabs were packaged properly and communication was good!

Last Summer
Reptile City

3 Strawberry Crabs....two have since passed on and One is doing very well Even molted!!!

Live Hermit Crab

June:
2 Strawberry (1 Large and 1 Medium) Large passed on I believe due to stress, Medium is alive and well even Molted.

3 Viola's all thriving each one molted!

Hermit Crab Vendor
July:

3 Indo and 3 Ruggies.....1 Ruggie Passed and 1 Indo has been down to long :0( All other Rugs and Indo's are doing well I have seen them and all have molted :0)

I am looking forward to ordering more crabs this summer from ELHC as I hear nothing but positive feedback!!!

Kilimanjaro · Post by **Kilimanjaro** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:56 pm

My Hermit Crab Vendor crabs are doing really great.

All of the Violas I ordered are doing fine (since last July).

I lost one Indo, but the others are fine.

All three Straws are great.

I lost one Ruggie.

And yeah, that's about it.

I was happy with my experience.

sugarselections · Post by **sugarselections** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 9:00 am

My breakdown:

LHC
3 crabs- 3 survivors

HCV
10 crabs- 2 DOA, 6 survivors

ELHC
7 crabs- 2 survivors

Post by **wodesorel** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 3:17 pm

As to the comparison among sellers, I find it interesting that I've had better survival rates among my store-bought crabs than some have with online purchases.

From the original question of crabs that have been around more than six month and completed one molt:

Out of 9 PP purchased before November, only one died. It had been injured at the store and died within 22 hours of purchase. Of the remaining 8 crabs, one molted once, five have molted twice, and there are two more that are molting for the third time! The only PP death I had was the one mentioned above. 1 crab was from a county fair, the other 8 were from the same small chain pet store.

Out of 5 E that I purchased that will hit their six month mark next month, I had two that were victims of cannibalism. All five had completed one molt, and the two that were eaten were on their second. Once separated from the PP I've had no more deaths. I truly believe they all would have survived if they had not been mixed with the PPs. All five of those crabs were from the same small local chain pet store.

Spiral · Post by **Spiral** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 9:35 pm

Just sharing input here for those interested.

Im still using 100% sand for my crabs, 3 inches deep and so far none of them have died. (i cant tell for the tinies/micros, they appear on and off)

The cocopeat experimental tank so far ive only let my indo molt in it. of course he came up beautifully with a regenerated leg. But, im considering removing some of the cocopeat and replacing it with sand.
I guess the problem with cocopeat is:
its organic material - it may start out fresh for a few months but will start decomposing. The tank i filled with cocopeat, the cocopeat looks fine from the top but is slightly mushy at the bottom. may develop anaerobic zones if compressed for too long.
also, its ph is in the acidic range, probably not good for crabs

curious_kitty · Post by **curious_kitty** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 9:40 pm

Spiral wrote:Just sharing input here for those interested.

Im still using 100% sand for my crabs, 3 inches deep and so far none of them have died. (i cant tell for the tinies/micros, they appear on and off)

The cocopeat experimental tank so far ive only let my indo molt in it. of course he came up beautifully with a regenerated leg. But, im considering removing some of the cocopeat and replacing it with sand.
I guess the problem with cocopeat is:
its organic material - it may start out fresh for a few months but will start decomposing. The tank i filled with cocopeat, the cocopeat looks fine from the top but is slightly mushy at the bottom. its may develop anaerobic zones if compressed for too long.
also, its ph is in the acidic range, probably not good for crabs

OOOo, this is extremely helpful, especially coming from another fellow crabber who has 18++ blueberries! I think perhaps 100% EE might not be good if one deep cleans once or twice a year.. so I think i am going to go for more sand than EE. thank you so much Spiral!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:14 am

Spiral wrote:Just sharing input here for those interested.

Im still using 100% sand for my crabs, 3 inches deep and so far none of them have died. (i cant tell for the tinies/micros, they appear on and off)

The cocopeat experimental tank so far ive only let my indo molt in it. of course he came up beautifully with a regenerated leg. But, im considering removing some of the cocopeat and replacing it with sand.
I guess the problem with cocopeat is:
its organic material - it may start out fresh for a few months but will start decomposing. The tank i filled with cocopeat, the cocopeat looks fine from the top but is slightly mushy at the bottom. may develop anaerobic zones if compressed for too long.
also, its ph is in the acidic range, probably not good for crabs

Thank you Spiral, that is good information. I have noticed the consistency changing in my coir as it ages in my tank. The stuff I did not use when I moved to the 55 is lighter in color, more fibrous and feels different than what the crabs have been living in for 4 months. The used stuff is darker in color and a different consistency, much finer feeling than the unused coir. So it definitely appears to break down as it is lived in.

Also, I have had quite a few successful molts in every species that I have, somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 or so, using a majority of coir. But it doesn't mean that it is the best for the crabs and that is what I am striving for, the very healthiest conditions I can provide for my crabs. So when I do my deep clean soon, I will be changing to the 5:1 sand to coir ratio.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 12:49 am

Here's my million dollar question. Are survival rates greater, lesser or about the same from online than pet store crabs?

Also do online suppliers take better care of their crabs than pet stores?

What is the average shipping price for crabs? Are they shipped overnight?

Post by **wodesorel** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 1:40 pm

My last 10 purchases have been of the worst crabs from really bad store tanks. (I mean really bad! With wood chips, anoles, and gnats.) Haven't lost any of them! I look for the ones missing legs, or who are torn up, or who have been in the bad conditions for over a month - the ones who are most likely to die very quickly if mistreated.

They come home, get put into ISO with some real water dishes and food and by morning they've usually disappeared to molt. In a month or two there's a new whole healthy crab running around.

Either crabs are hardier than we think, or my secret food weapon of Kix really works.

(I doubt it's the cereal, but I've used it for every crab and haven't lost any so now it's like my lucky charm.

)

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 5:23 am

Was doing a search and came up with this website.. Crabs are cheap and so is the shipping. I wonder what kind of conditions they keep their crabs in though. It doesnt even tell you what size or species they are. Has anyone ordered from here??

http://www.hermit--crabs.com/

kgbenson · Post by **kgbenson** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:53 am

gclnin wrote:Sugar,
Was it mentioned that most of the species should be kept separately?

I have seen many posts on this and other forums that suggest that most can be housed together. AS time goes on I am becoming less and less of a fan of this unless they are truly sympatric, both in therms of geography and habitat use.

Keith

kgbenson · Post by **kgbenson** » Tue Apr 13, 2010 9:08 am

wodesorel wrote:If the discussion is about who sells the best crabs and which have the best survival rates, then I think it is important to mention that even store-bought crabs can have near-perfect survival rates.

I agree, they can, once again it depends on the store, online or off.

Keith