Fussy new crabber

[Ayume]

I know hermits are nocturnal, but how often should they be moving around by themselves? Today my new pp Kyuubi slept in a tree for just over 12 hours, came down and slammed his shell against the corner of the tank for no obvious reason and climbed back up there. No eating, no drinking.
Am I right to be concerned or over attentive?
The three I got have been in my care since thursday of last week (7 jan) and one of the others (Ocarina) has simply been hiding in a corner, also not eating or drinking.
The last (Conch) has been wreaking havok (as I expected) and pulling down plants, playing in water and ripping sponges. This is the behaviour I expected, are the other two just still adjusting? If so why is Conch so happy and active, and what can I do to make the other two as comfortable as he seems to be?

[Wai]

There isn't much you can do but watch and wait. Different hermit crabs will exhibit different behaviour.

[Ayume]

Thanks for the tip, I guess I'm just nervous because i'm new, I want to do all I can for these little guys.

[ladybug15057]

As Wai posted different hermies have different behaviors. This is the same as with humans, different people react different ways to stress. Emma had done a great reply to your food question and I provided a link to the Post Purchase Stress article for reading. I re-read your postings and you mentioned having 4 children in your home? Chances are that if like most children they do make noises, maybe each has their own toy even that makes different sounds? Hermies cannot hear but are VERY sensitive to vibrations. Very well could be that the one is hiding due to the vibrations that are totally new to him and the other causing havoc for the same reason, looking for something familiar.

[Ayume]

Since I posted last Kyuubi, Conch and Ocarina have been displayng the same behaviour, hiding behind something dark, not eating, little movement if any. I can't help but be concerned for them not eating. So I set up a camera, to see if they've been munching while I'm away and they have not. I moved the red heat light in the tank to the other side (where Kyuubi and Conch normally hide) and noticed right away that they stay to the far other end of the tank now. I think the red light bothers them. Is this common?
Also, with them not eating I decided a little baby food would be good for Ocarina; as I haven't caught her eating ONCE since thursday. I used a spoon and tried to feed her as I've seen done before, but she wouldn't coorperate and got frightened. First pinch. Luckily I didn't drop her or anything, but I felt bad for scaring her into that.

[Ayume]

I got my first three hermits a few days ago, and until I started looking at other tanks I didn't notice that the substrate I have just isn't deep enough. Also my crabs seem to try to dig in it but don't succeed, but they don't seem to be even trying to dig that deep, like as deep as they could. Is my sand bad for digging? Its Exo Terra Riverbed Sand, natural aquatic terrarium substrate.
Now given if this sand is okay or not, is it going to be bad for my new crabs to have the substrate changed given how much stress they've been through already? And if it is when is the earliest I can change or add more into the tank. It's just under 1.5 inches.

[ladybug15057]

Please do try to keep these type of postings together so they are easier for us all to follow. This will help us to help you as opposed to having limited time and needing to do a search for what was posted where about what.
Please read the embedded link I posted about Post Purchase stress. (as well as the advice others offered) These hermies should be permitted to be left alone with only changing the food and water for at least a couple weeks, possibly up to a month.
Doing a search:
http://www.exo-terra.com/en/products/riverbed_sand.php

this substrate does not sound ideal, depending on how fine it is. One wants a substrate to be at least the grain size of sugar, but do not change it now to add more stress to these hermies. Until they are through the post purchase stress part any other changes will only cause more stress, which in turn can be lethal to them.

[CrabbyJo]

Ayume,
Ladybug (Marie) is 100% right, best to leave them be.
I noticed when my new PP burrowed, he only dug down partway, even though the substrate was deep enough for him to go further. They are just destressing, and should be fine in a few weeks.

[Ayume]

This sand is very very fine, and really soft, smaller than a grain of sugar. I wont change it for now, but they seem to be settling in okay.More activity, and I even caught and watched Kyuubi eat some orange and coconut. Conch seems to be trying to dig a little, not really sure why.

[CrabbyJo]

Sometimes hermits dig for fun, sometimes to destress. I have one that digs all over the place, always making burrows. Then he'll spend a month or two not digging at all. After he molts, he seems to love to do all the digging, which I think is backwards lol. Sometimes crabs will start digging all over the place when they are getting ready to molt. So there are a lot of reasons he might be digging a bit, but all in all, they are just fun to watch.