New to Hermit Crabs, any help is appericated!

[ellymay]

Hi,
Me and my husband are new to hermit crabs, we just got our first two last night, and we've been doing our reaseach for the past few days, but wanted to see if there was any suggestions you could give us for keeping these guys healthy and happy for years and years . We have two Purple Pinchers, in a 10 gallon aquarium. They have the aquarium lid on, with a underneath substrate pad to keep it heated (its about 26*C right now), we have a humidity reader which has stayed between around 70-80% since last night. We have two water dishes right, one with water, and one with water and a sea sponge (and both water dishes used water I treated with the crab water conditioner). Some places I read to give my purple pinchers another dish with salt water and other places I read not too, so I'm not sure what to do with that one, and what is too much salt to put in the bowls.
I bought some play sand to put in for a substrate on the bottom, which I cooked and cooled in the oven to try to make it as safe as possible, and in one corner of the tank is white Eco sand for crabs that I bought at the pet store as well.
Right now I'm just feeding them Crab works pellets, but have a post on the nurtition board about what other foods I should be feeding along with that to make sure they get a well rounded diet, and stay healthy and get all there nutients. Because no matter how good the package sounds, from everything I read, they can't get everything they need just from a pellet.
Theres nothing to climb on now, but me and my husband are going to go out this afternoon when I get off work and see what we can find. Anyone have any ideas about what to look for, or not to look for, for toys for them?
I think thats our whole set up right now, if anyone has any suggetions , or things that we should be doing differently let us know. We love our little crabbies, I work at the pet store I bought htem from and picked these two out right off the bat, and we want them to have full, healthy, happy and long lives with us.

[ellymay]

oh, and also I was wondering about bathing them... at the pet store the lady who has them before said to spray them every few days with a squirt bottle, because when we got them in last time and bathed them, they all kept dying, but then I read on a board last night that you should always bath them once a month instead of spraying them, because misitng them with the spray bottle is stressful on them. So I wasn't sure what would be best for them with that either.
Thanks

[Zacshack174]

You will be needing some sort of protein and even though I usually have a hard time finding protein foods for my crabs I had a thing of Tetra Freeze-Dried Bloodworms for my frogs but we never used them so now I use them for their protein and when we have steak 1-3 times a week BEFORE you season the steak you can cut a small piece off of it and give it to them. Make sure that after 24 hours you take out any fresh fruits, vegetables, or meats. Especially take out the meats, they attract bugs and they go bad really quick. By the way, you might not want to give them the pellets or crab cakes because they might have metals or chemicals in them but they don't say it. I have 2 types of commercial crab foods that I add to my fresh foods I give them and thats the Hermit Crab Variety Bites and the t-rex flower and fruit stuff. I think that these 2 types of commercial crabs foods are ok for them because The variety bites are a mix of fish flakes, coconut,vegetables, wheat, rye, and other things that I don't want to go too deep into. The T-rex flower and fruit flakes is a mix of obviously, flowers and fruits but it doesn't show the ingredients. I hope I gave very accurate, detailed paragraph because this is probably the first time I've given a lot of help to someone about hermits crabs.

I also would like to give you some off-food topic suggestions. Keep your crabs away from metal because it irritates them. (no mesh cages) Make sure when you give them extra shells that the ones you give have a SLIGHTLY larger opening than the ones your crabs have. Don't give them painted shells because the paint chips and the crabs might eat it thinking it is food, which results in them dying. I hope your crabs live a long, happy, healthy life!
P.S. Don't listen to pet stores when they tell you info about hermies, most of it is incorrect. they are not low maintenance like they say and they need more than just food and water, but I don't want to go into very long detail about every need they have.

[Zacshack174]

Ok, for one don't listen to the pet store AT ALL. I posted in your thread in nutrition which covers some of the stuff your saying here. You need to have saltwater for your crabs, make sure it is AQUARIUM SALT (I made a mistake and used table salt at first but now everyone here helped me nicely and I have everything good for my crabs mainly) Table salt has anti caking agents and iodine which is toxic to hermies. When looking for climbing toys try to find: Cholla/Choya wood (they LOVE to eat C/C wood stuff as wel as climb on it.)driftwood, Coral, hemp nets, and plastic plants. As for bathing, I don't bathe them because I heard bathing them takes off an essential oil on their body but maybe I'm wrong. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with bathing them occasionally though just not every day. Oh and about the saltwater, give them about 1/8 of a teaspoon of it if you add it to the bowl that they drink out of but if your adding to to a gallon then I don't know. Make sure the substrate is 2X taller than your biggest crab or else they can't dig when they molt. If your crab is molting don't dig it up or else it could effect their molting process. and about isolation tanks for when they molt, I suggest you get one and when they look like they might molt (symptoms might be: pale color, and sitting in the waterbowl for long periods of time.) you should put them in BEFORE they molt or else you could kill them by picking them up during a molt. I personally do have and ISO tank now (a 5 gallon tank) but I don't use it because my crabs never hurt eachother when they molt. (and I don't have the supplies to stick in the tank.)

I hope I gave accurate help, happy crabbing!

[emmac350]

Very good advice, Zac! I'll touch on a few things that you missed.

Is the heating element actually in the tank? If so, take it out and put it underneath the tank so that your crabs won't burn themselves on it as easily. Is your thermometer near the substrate? Are you monitoring substrate temperature? What are the warm/cool side temperature differences? Where is your humidity gauge (i.e. top of tank, bottom of tank)?

I personally recommend you try using purchased jugs of distilled water (or reverse osmosis-treated water) that have no "minerals added for taste." Not all water conditioners are safe for crabs and, ironically enough, I don't think the crab water conditioner is safe. However, I'm not positive about it. I know that API is safe for crabs, but other than that, I can't recall. You can try searching in the search box in the upper right for your particular brand of water conditioner to see if it has been discussed at all. Also, the sponge isn't really necessary except for humidity. I recommend you change one bowl of water into a bowl of salt water. Are your bowls deep enough for your crabs to submerge in? If not, they need to be. This is how your crabs will replenish their shell water to help them breathe.

You do need to use a salt water mix intended for salt water aquarium tanks. The more common brands of safe salt are Oceanic and Instant Ocean. Mix the water according to the instructions on the bag. They do need salt water - they frequent beaches in the wild to get the food and salt from the salt water.

Play sand isn't the most recommended substrate for crabs, but it will work and has worked well for some crabbers. The sand most of the more experienced crabbers use is CaribSea Aragonite sand in either the sugar or select grain size. This sand is natural and smooth - it doesn't grit against your skin no matter how hard you push on it. Playsand isn't true sand at all - it's the leftovers from crushing rocks to a sand size. Running a magnet through playsand often results in metal shavings, which we usually try to keep away from our crabs. Also, what is the other sand you have? I haven't heard of Eco sand; I've heard of EcoEarth (coconut fiber) and Hermit crab sand (not good for crabs - do a search for it on the site and you'll find plenty of discussion on it).

I'll look at your post in the nutrition section in a few minutes, but I recommend you search for "food groups" on this site. There are multiple posts with a description of what your crabs need on a daily basis. Additionally, the Epicurean Hermit site (http://www.epicurean-hermit.com/index.php?topic=2.0) has a very extensive list of safe foods to feed your crabs. The bottom line is that they can eat most of what we do, minus the seasonings. They need a lot other than that, though, so please do look at the food groups. If you can't figure out where to find some of the odder foods (flower petals, etc.), try looking at the addiction store - http://www.hermitcrabaddictionstore.com/. They have great crab-safe foods for very fair prices.

As for what to find for crabs, you can bring them back branches for climbing but ensure that the wood is safe for the crabs first as otherwise they can drop their shells and die in very short time spans. To check the safety, check http://www.epicurean-hermit.com/index.php?topic=10.0 for the type of tree it is from. If you do this (or if you bring back rocks), clean them very well in salt water (the crab safe kind made from aquarium salt) and bake them at 350 (176 C) for half an hour or so to kill insects and microbes on them.

Bathing is mostly considered an unnecessary stress on our crabs now. So long as they can submerge in their water bowls, it is not needed unless you have a fight or bring new ones home. It messes up the salinity of their shell water (they monitor it very carefully and change it as needed out of the salt water and fresh water bowls) and can stress them. If they have mites, bathing in salt water will kill them and make your crabs happy, but bathing and misting (especially with new guys) would be bad. Check out http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modu ... toryid=165 for detailed instructions on how to ensure your crabs don't die from post purchase stress. This may all seem very overwhelming at first but I promise you it's all worth it! (Especially when you come home to a crab sitting on top of the tank lid looking at you like "oh, you're home now!"...yeah, it's been that kind of day.)

[emmac350]

EllyMay, I posted in your other entry about foods. I would recommend that you stop feeding the commercial food, especially if the ingredients list ethoxyquin or copper sulfate as these are toxic to crabs. Most commercial preservatives have insecticidal qualities and will kill crabs (who are closely enough related to insects as to have susceptibility to these substances as well).

[Foxydiva3]

Congrats! Yes like the others don't reallylisten to petstore peeps they really don't have alot of knowledge. but comming here was a great Idea. For Climbing stuff I Go to Micheals Arts and crafts they have shells and choya wood larger anc cheaper than pet stores, I buy large spools of hemp from walmart and knitt hamocks and ladders for them and hang them with all plastic suction cups. I feed mine a mixture of the FHM hermitcrab food, Fruit and flowers food and freeze dried baby shrimp as well as freeze dried Krill, They LOVE freeze dried Blood wooms and meal worms. I also get coconut and lots of fruits and veggies. They love all sorts of things, I tell you the mineral blocks in the bird section are larger and cheaper then the little pale and shovel thing and lasts longer. I checked the ingreadiants it is the same. Good Luck! Oh I also Got a Corner shampoo soap dish thing from walmart and made a moss pit out of it THey LOVE it And It helps add great humididty to the tank, Have fun!

[ladybug15057]

This thread being locked due to very detailed replies given in another thread ellymay touching on the same subject:

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=2869

(O/T) Any mod who has time, please feel free to merge this thread within the link above...or visa versa...)

[ladybug15057]

When we first get hermies home we should always bath them upon their arrival. This helps to re-hydrate them as well as flush their shells out. Once hermies are caught from the wild they are normally given a bath with an antibiotic to kill bacteria that maybe on them from the wild. Once they arrive at majority of the pet stores they are given another bath and usually it is a tetracycline bath. Tetracycline is not good for our little friends and many times it can be lethal to hermies who are already stressed. So a good easy placement upside down (shell hole up) when we get them home does help to flush these things out of their shells. This also gives us the opportunity to check the water for any possible mites/pests.
Once the come home bath is given, it is a crabbers choice as to whether they bath their hermies from that point. Many of us provide water dishes deep enough where the hermies can completely submerge themselves for bathing if the want/need to. (always with a safe secure way out of the ponds) Even at this some do (including myself) still bath their hermies occasionally.
Using play sand… some crabbers do, but play sand is actually not recommended to use in the crabitat. Many impurities found in play sand cannot be washed or baked out of it.
http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-browse_categ ... =off&type=

And pictures:
http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-index.php?pa ... Substrates

For their ocean water pond, please make sure the ocean/sea mix you use is sold specifically for salt water fish tanks… no other salt mixes:
http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-index.php?pa ... ction=lock

Once the ocean/sea mix is mixed it should be permitted to sit for at least 12-24 hours to ensure all the salt crystals has dissolved. Prior to using the mix, it should always be shaken in the container it was prepared in too.
Emma is correct about the dechlorinator, and API as well as Wardleys Clor out seem to be the top 2 most crabbers use. Now that being said.. Even these dechlorinators are made for use on ‘normal’ tap water days. They do not take into consideration when the public water companies flush their lines for bacteria after X amount of gallons of water has been used. This as well as there is NO dechlorinator sold on the market that removes fluoride from tap water. Fluoride is a known poison to rats and is known to cause defects/mutations in zoea. To date to the best of my knowledge there has not been any explicate research on adult hermies to know if and what effects fluoride may have on our adult hermies.
For some other nutritional help feeding your hermies, (that you can read without needing to be a member) even from some of the foods you eat yourself and may already have about your home (prior to seasoning of course, or with no seasonings)
(scroll down)
http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modu ... storyid=44

http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modu ... storyid=25

http://www.hermitcrabcuisine.com/

http://crabbywiki.com/tiki-browse_categ ... =off&type=

[ellymay]

Hi,
I'm trying to take in everything you've told me. I actually work at the pet store that I bought them from, and we try very,v ery hard to collect as much knowledge as possible when we get new animals in and try to give our pets the best home we can until they are sold (and even after, we refuse sales all the time if we think the animal won't be cared for properly or if they are to be used in inapproiate ways (ie. gerbils, kittens, hamster, rats for feeders, puppies being used for mills, etc) we just flat out refuse to sell them, and our boss is completely ok with that. She said there will always be someone else along to give them a good home, and the animal ALWAYS comes first. But hermit crabs aren't something owner gets in very often because she didn't know much about them, but these ones seemed very strong and healthy, and its a good fish supplier she got them from that shes used to dealing with, and people have been asking for them like crazy. With that though, we've all been learning as much as we can, especailly me, since me and my husband took two home and I want to give them the best environment possible.
I talked to my boss about ordering in bigger shells (so I can lay empties around the tank), and shes going to see if she can order the T-Rex food and the CaribSea Aragonite sand for them as well (shes not sure if she has any suppliers that sell it, but shes going to look into for me). Although the play sand there in, isn't crushed rocks, but actually from a private beach about an hour from here, then cooked at the factory and bagged up, but probably anything thats just coming from a beach outside I would think is iffy just because you don't know whats been walking on it, how it was cooked ,etc.
For the food I have still been feeding them the pellets, since its the only thing I have, but have been mixing it with safe veggies, fruit, and blood worms I have for my Bettas. I have meal worms that we grow ourselves for my Leopard Gecko, and I remember reading somewhere they were safe for them, are live meal worms ok for the crabs or would they have to be the canned ones?
The hydometer for the hudmitiy, and the therometer are about half way up the tank just a little above where the crabs are at.
I have a bag of evaportated Aquarium salt, but it only has directions for 10 gallons tanks for tropical fish and still makes me a little nervous. One of the girls who works with me had her hermit crabs for almost 10 years (Purple Pinchers like mine) and never used salt water ever, and thinks it will do more harm then good, but I know shes only ever had the two and most of you have probably had a lot more, and a lot more experience, and so it makes me want to put it in, but I'm still nervous about the dosage and what to do.
I got them a piece of drift wood and a plastic aquaium boat (no sharp edges, very smooth, just more in the shape of a boat) for them to climb on, and they both seem to love it (although Knuckles our bigger crab, keeps lifting up the boat and hiding under it).
I think thats everything for now lol... anymore help, any suggestions, anything I misunderstood, or anything that I should be doing different would still be greatly appericated. I have a lot of pets, but there the same kind that I've had my whole life (dogs, cats, hamsters, Guinea Pigs, birds, lizards) so I know how to look after them, but I'm just a nervous wreck since I took these two little guys home, because although I did a lot of research before I took them home, I still feel so unsure on everything, but hopefully we're on the right track.