Emergency please help!

[hermie_lover3542]

i looked in my crabitat and my one crabs pearl was out of her shell like she was dead, not moving at all,but as i went in to pick her up she was alive! she went in her shell! i put her in an iso just in case there is something wrong. The wierd thing is my hermit crab a while back lived in that shell and self destructed! Could it be a cursed shell or what? HELP! ADVICE! PLEASE!

[CrabbyJo]

Hermielover,
No shell is cursed, so don't worry, that's not the problem.

But we do need some more information from you to help you figure out why your crab left it's shell and what may be going wrong.

What kind of substrate do you have in your crabitat? If it is sand, what kind?

What size crabitat do you have? Is it glass? does it have a lid? What kind of lid if so?

Do you have a heating source on the tank? If so, what type, lights, a heat mat? What kind of lights if there are lights?

Do you have a thermometer and humidity gauge?
What is the temperature and the humidity in the tank?

What kind of toys and climbing things do you have in the tank?

Do you offer both fresh dechlorinated water and ocean salt water?
If so, what brand dechlorinator (or if you use distilled water, just say distilled) and ocean salt mix do you use?

What do you feed your crabs?

Also, when you put Pearl into an iso, are the iso conditions the same as the main tank? What kind of tank is your iso?
Answer as much as you can, and we can get started helping you figure this out.

[hermie_lover3542]

Hermielover,
No shell is cursed, so don't worry, that's not the problem.

But we do need some more information from you to help you figure out why your crab left it's shell and what may be going wrong.

What kind of substrate do you have in your crabitat? If it is sand, what kind?
I have 4 1/2 in of coconut fiber and 4 1/2 of sand
What size crabitat do you have? Is it glass? does it have a lid? What kind of lid if so?
I have a 15 gallon aquarium (glass) with a screen lid on it covered in plastic rapping for humitity (it does work really weel to)
Do you have a heating source on the tank? If so, what type, lights, a heat mat? What kind of lights if there are lights?
I have a large repti lamp on my lid and a small hermit crab heating pad on the left side towards the bottem.
Do you have a thermometer and humidity gauge?
What is the temperature and the humidity in the tank?
Yes i do have gauges they thermomermeter reads 80* and they humidity reads 70*
What kind of toys and climbing things do you have in the tank?
Well I have alot um i have fake plants 3 pieces of drift wood (1 small 1large 1long) i also have a half log aand a rock hut, climbing walls and vine.
Do you offer both fresh dechlorinated water and ocean salt water?
If so, what brand dechlorinator (or if you use distilled water, just say distilled) and ocean salt mix do you use?
Yes I have 2 water dishes i use the zoomed brand decholrinator and salt mix
What do you feed your crabs?
I feed my crabs cuttle bon sometimes honey and the mane course is tropical fruit salad trail mix that i buy at walmart
Also, when you put Pearl into an iso, are the iso conditions the same as the main tank? What kind of tank is your iso?
They are somewhat the same i have her in a 5 gallon plastic container with cuttlebone honey a hut 3in deep sand and saltwater
Answer as much as you can, and we can get started helping you figure this out.

I hoped this helped

[Sterwick]

4 1/2 of sand- what kind of sand?

Beach sand?
Playsand?
Calci-sand?
Argonite sand?
Desert sand?
Any kind of sand that's coloured?

Your temp%hum are fine, so no worries there.

Also, what company is the salt mix from? Zoo med and other brands that are labeled 'for hermit crabs' are unsuitable- ironic I know. Buy one like tropic marin that is designed for a marine aquarium and test the salinity level with a hydrometer (you often find them in the 'home brewing' section in general house stores, they work just as well as the once on sale in aquatic shops. The specific gravity of your saltwater must be between 1.020 and 1.030.)

You could also add a bit more variety to your foods you give to them.Try getting dried fruit. Make sure everything you buy is organic to make sure there are no pesticides or fertilisers. Canned food is unsuitable. Try adding protein- leave behind some plain meat when cooking.

STEVO.

[emmac350]

A few things to add to Stevo's post (you hit all the main stuff, thanks!):

1. The half-log shelters aren't suitable for crabs. They are confirmed to be made from cedar, which is known for its insecticidal (bug-killing) and, therefore, crab-killing properties. See this thread for more information on that. Cedar, cypress, and pine are known to cause shell dropping and death due to the irritation they both inflict on crabs' abdomens.

2. What type of coconut fiber are you using? Does it state 100% coconut fiber, or is it called something like forest bedding/jungle bedding? If it's either of the two products I listed there, it's also unsafe. Forest and jungle beddings usually contain either pine or cypress as a filler, both of which have caused crab deaths.

3. If you aren't using a saltwater aquarium salt mix (Instant Ocean, Oceanic, Red Sea Salt), your salt (especially if you aren't using a good quality dechlorinator like API; like Stevo said, the dechlorinators and other water treatment products advertised for hermit crabs are useless) water could also cause abdomen irritation.

4. Your crabs do need more variety in their diet. Crabs need a diet much like your own - you need protein (most people get this from meat), fruits, veggies, and calcium in your diet, and so do your crabs. If your crabs don't get enough protein and calcium they won't be able to molt properly and can die while molting or, worse, they will become aggressive and fight each other because they need meat. Ask your mom or dad for help with it - ask them to save you little pieces of what they're preparing for you for dinner. If you're having chicken, ask for a piece before they season or cook it, and microwave it to make it safe. Try to feed meat (or egg), a veggie (no onions or garlic allowed), a fruit, and a calcium (like eggshells or your cuttlebone) every day. It's a little bit hard at first, but it gets easier as you start getting used to it. You could also ask your parents to buy your crabs some food from the Addiction store, which has high quality safe foods that are dried for your crabs. Again, make sure that if they do, you get meats, fruit, veggie, and calcium sources.

[hermie_lover3542]

my hermit crabs have a really good diet they eat trail mix and cuttlebone and sometimes honey or fresh food but in the trail mix there is pineapple raisins coconut papya aand banana so i'm good there but the half log i'm not sure about because i have had it in there for ever and the other crabs aren't affected at all in fact pearl is the first one to react (even if this isthe case) also on another website called '' hermit crab association'' its a good website too, um this is posted and they said it could possibally be to much humidity and sometimes they come out of there shell to cool off. so yea......

[CrabbyJo]

Okay if your humidity is only 70, then it is definitely not too much. 75% humidity is actually the best, but it can fluctuate a bit.

if a crab is coming out of it's shell to cool off, then it is displaying signs of heat damage, which is permanent and eventually the crab will die from it. If that is truly the case, then you have a heating issue going on that needs to be addressed immediately. What is the temperature of your substrate? Use a kitchen thermometer to push down all the way to the glass at each end of the tank to see what the temp is at each end.

It sounds like your crabs do not have enough protein or chitin in their diet. You may think it sounds like a good diet, but they actually need far more variety than even people do.

Where they come from, they can get seaweed and bugs whenever they want them. In captivity, we need to give them seaweed like dried kelp (I like to add water or some fish oil to mine, they seem to like it better wet) and spirulina, which are very rich in nutrients that are not easily found elsewhere that hermit crabs really need. The pet stores also sell sheets of seaweed that you can grind up in a blender and it will last forever, sprinkling it on their food every few days.
So pick up some dried shrimp and some mealworms at the pet food store (make sure the ONLY ingredient on the shrimp is dried shrimp, no Ethoxyquin, that's a preservative that is poisonous for crabs). You can also steam a whole shrimp (exoskeleton still on) and chop it up and freeze most of it, giving them little bits every few days. It is an excellent source of protein and chitin/calcium, and they do love it.

Hermit crabs do not like to eat the same things every day, and will sometimes not touch something for a week or two after they've had it, so it is very important to vary their diet widely and often if you want them to live for years and years like Jon and Kate, or like Marie's crabs which she's had for over 9 years now.

Please remember, there is a LOT of bad information out there, and a lot of people still go by that information. The people telling you some of this stuff may not be that experienced, or may have read bad info themselves and haven't found the good info.
It's hard when there is so much out there that is wrong.

please do make sure to change your salt water treatment, it is vital they have an ocean salt mix, and hcp salt water treatment for hermit crabs does not even hold it's salinity. It's garbage.

Remember, these items that pet stores sell for hermit crabs are ALL based on the idea that hermit crabs are "throw away" pets, that won't live longer than 6 months or a year.

[ladybug15057]

A proper ocean/sea mix is needed for a hermie to be able to properly regulate their body heat. ZooMed Part2 is not a proper ocean/sea mix. It is not necessary to go through the expense of buying a hydrometer. (reading should be between 1.021-1.024) Here is a link with the recommended ocean/sea mixes and their mixing directions. ZooMed Part 1 does not remove heavy metals from tap water. A tap water conditioner must remove chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals from tap water.
For the humidity, I agree with CrabbyJo, it is not too high, but when did you calibrate/test the gauge to see how accurately it is reading? Where in the tank is it located? (substrate level, middle or top of the tank?) There are times a hermie will leave their shell if the humidity level is too high, or too low.
I also agree about the diet. They need a wider variety, as well as protein and chitin sources.

[hermie_lover3542]

my gauges are located in the middleish of the tank towards the right um, also my gauges don't read by 1.20 whatever....they read 10.20.30......and by desert moderate and tropical and its in the tropical zone and is 70%....i will by the shrimp i had it before just haven't got to buying it in a while so yea.....

[hermie_lover3542]

A proper ocean/sea mix is needed for a hermie to be able to properly regulate their body heat. ZooMed Part2 is not a proper ocean/sea mix. It is not necessary to go through the expense of buying a hydrometer. (reading should be between 1.021-1.024) Here is a link with the recommended ocean/sea mixes and their mixing directions. ZooMed Part 1 does not remove heavy metals from tap water. A tap water conditioner must remove chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals from tap water.
For the humidity, I agree with CrabbyJo, it is not too high, but when did you calibrate/test the gauge to see how accurately it is reading? Where in the tank is it located? (substrate level, middle or top of the tank?) There are times a hermie will leave their shell if the humidity level is too high, or too low.
I also agree about the diet. They need a wider variety, as well as protein and chitin sources.

about how much is the ocean mix? is it really expennsive?