I hate to say this, but I don't think we can expect pet stores to set up their tank like ours. They believe that customers must need to be able to see the hermit crabs, so they rarely put enough substrate in there for them to bury themselves completely. Most people working at these pet stores are what I call "dog-and-cat people", not crabbers. They've been told close to nothing about hermit crabs.
That Petco set up is honestly the best I've seen by any pet store. As for the one I visited today, both water dishes had dried up completely. I don't know how long their hermit crabs have been without any water. There were dropped legs and claws everywhere. When I told the guy working there that the water had completely dried up, he didn't seem to care, but refilled the dishes upon my request before I left. He may not even refill the dishes until I visit the store again to tell them off.
I truly think pet stores are getting better at setting up their enclosures for pet stores. A few days ago i was secretly sort of testing the people in my mind of hermies. I said I was new to having a hermit crabs. And they told me everything to know about. I don't know if I just got loucky or what? But they told me I had to have both fresh and salt water and change their water once everyday and to put a sponge in there for little hermies.
BUT the enclosure they were uin was so SMALL! It was exaclty like the one shown in the pics BUT there were like forty hermies in there it was ridicuolous! All of them were very active there!
A couple of you mentioned how pet stores don't usually have the proper substrate...the Oeans of Pets where I live doesn't even give the crabs a substrate. They're right on the floor of the enclosure.
Neither does Coburg Aquarium offer their hermit crabs a substrate... instead, they're kept in half an inch of cold water. I last visited their store in May and reported them to RSPCA... not sure if RSPCA did anything though, because it's run by dog-and-cat people too.
We bought our crabbies from Super Petz where the crabs are kept in an enclosure that is a drawer. It has metal with holes in it on the top part, as well as the sides. My Princess-chu was climbing the side when we got her! There seems to be no humidity, no water bowl at all and probably 40 crabs in a drawer that's about 3 feet wide, 1 foot deep and only about 8 inches tall! The bedding is this shredded stuff that looks like cardboard strips; the same as the use for the rats and gerbils! No climbing things, shells or hidey-holes either. I got my jumbos because they said the jumbos don't get adopted often and that Cartman had been there...."a while." She is too big for her shell, but doesn't like the big ones we have provided thus far. Isn't there anything we could do about the bad practices that pet stores use?
The pet smart store close to my house today when I was there I was looking for so new playmates for my 5 crabs I have now. Well I was really disappointed. They had a very thin layer of sand, I wouldnt even say 1/4 inch. There was a few shells and but maybe one or two crabs. One of witch was white in color? I don't think thats good. I didn't say anything. I kinda wish I did. I didnt see any kind of food, but did see a almost-empty water bowl. I do agree with whoever said "dog-and-cat people" Fish are one of my hobbys i've had for years now, I go to one place to get my fish and only when one guy is working because he actually knows his fish. Everyone else in the store doesnt even know where things are. They just look at it as a 9-5 lets go to work and hurry back home. I have only found one place that had a good crabitat at a pet store and thats down in Alantic Beach, NC. I'll be down there again mid augest and will be getting about 5 new crabs.
"Don't let us make imaginary evils, when you know we have so many real ones to encounter."
