Hermits from chain pet stores

[Avlisjacire1]

Question, all of our crabs came from a small chain pet store. We bought 3 to start , then 5 more. 2 died so far. Out of the first three 2 of those died so far. The lively one of the group is doing well . The other 5 newer ones are too so far. Question is, I know they say chances are greater until they have their first successful melt. Are we setting ourselves up for failure by getting our hermits from a chain store? Where do you all get your crabs from? We have a 55gal tank and have a decent set up. I make sure they have lots of hiding places fresh water and food. My temp and humidity couldnt be any better, I'm very pleased with how their environment is. So habitat isn't my concern, I'm just more concerned about getting more and having more loss. We love our hermits and they all have such neat personalities so we are getting attached to them. I've heard pet store hermits go through a great amount of stress and unfavorable conditions just to get to the store...plus the store environment isnt best as we can see (gravel substrate, lack of humidity, etc). Any suggestions?

[Avlisjacire1]

Only thing with the oet store is I feel like if I buy some there I'm giving them a better chance of survival than if somebody gets one for their kids and sticks it in a plastic habitat without having a proper set up for survival....yet I have two that died in a good set up, so not sure what's best to do...

[Maddamay32]

Yes, buying from pet stores always has a high risk of the crabs not making it because of how much stress they're put through. It's definitely not recommended to buy from stores and aside from checking here on HCA for adoptions a lot of people have gotten their crabs from Craigslist or other similar sites. I've seen a lot of people selling their crabs on Facebook marketplace too!

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[aussieJJDude]

No matter where you get them from, if they come frim bad conditions prior to you owning them and giving them a suitable home, there's always a risk.

The first moult is usually the hardest, as when they ckming from poor conditions having had access to a range of nutrients as well as kept in the best conditions. This is vey taxing on the body, so their first moult usually is their most dsngerous one.

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[wodesorel]

Sometimes you can be looking at something that went wrong with a batch of hermits - too hot or cold while being transported, too long in a shipping box, etc. There have been members in the past who had heavy losses of crabs bought at the same time, or always from a certain store.

I think you're doing the right things with the ones you have, and yes, once they get through that first molt they are usually in the clear. Keeping stress down for them is helpful, so while it may be tempting to get more right away, if you can hold off and wait for these guys to go down first, they may do better.

Have any of them molted or dug down yet? With that many crabs, some should be underground already.

[Avlisjacire1]

Thank you for the feedback. One is down, the other 5 are still on the surface. One of those is staying inside the hut most of the time. The other four hang by the bridge more and they dig little holes and sleep there then come out and are pretty active in the tank all night. One, my largest survivors is like the queen bee of the tank. She is all over the tank and most active of the bunch. She sits on top of the bridge , hut, climbs the one tree and perches herself at the top. Plus I see her, and the other three active ones (I call them her kids bcuz they are a little smaller than her) hang out on the bridge alot...or they snuggle up under it. I'm guessing those four may have a better chance. Plus I see them all eating, and drinking and bathing in their salt water pool. The one in the hut I dont see as much. The one that went down wasnt too active before he went down. I'm always checking on them making sure their habitat is giving them what they need to thrive. They are like my kids now. Lol.