Bathtime Question....

[iluvhermies]

Welocme to paradise. Glad you like the site.

[HermieLove19]

some of my crabs still don't come out when i give them a bath. for two weeks i didnt see Tabitha or Richard. they were both buried under the sand and i thought they were moulting. when i moved them into their new tank Richard was the only one i couldn't get to (tabitha wasn't moulting). when they were all partying in the new tank richard surfaced from the sand in the new iso and was confused and wondering where everyone was. theyre weird sometimes. he still wont come out when i hold him. its been months.

Today my one crab fozzy zoomed around on the cage top upside down for a good half an hour in the afternoon. now hes hanging out in the "moss pit" with his buddy. and its 12am

[ayianna]

I have NEVER heard of crabs coming out of their shells in the bath!

I think you are misunderstanding what people are saying here. We are not suggesting that the hermit crab should or would leave its shell entirely as in to choose a new one.

Never never never pull a crab out of its' shell (but you all knew that_)

Neither are we suggesting that anyone attempts to pull the crab out. Some hermit crabs will not put their legs out of their shell if you put them in water.

I keep a bowl of fresh water to drink and a pool of salt water to bath, both declorinized of course, but I never see the crabs in the bath water. I thought they went in themselves.

Not everyone has the space or correct depth of water dishes to permit larger bodies of water in their tank. Also, giving your hermit crabs a larger area to walk around in water is definitely good for exercise, sense of freedom, and overall curiousity. In the wild, hermit crabs wander miles and miles of beach. Letting your hermit crabs out of their cage and into a different environment is most likely very entertaining for most of them.