Questions

[.:HermitCrabs:.]

I have many questions about my "crabitat" to make it safer.

As of right now I have :
- 2 liter plastic container (freshwater)
- 1 liter plastic container (saltwater)
- Coconut Hut
- Large Plastic Plant
- Medium Shower Caddy (containing sphagnum moss, a glass bowl with cuttlebone in it)
- Grapewood
- Fish Ornament (includes plastic plant)
- Extra Shells
- Food Bowl
- Thermometer/Humidity Gauge
- Coral

I use Tetra's AquaSafe Plus for my freshwater/saltwater. (I ran out of salt so I haven't been using saltwater for about three days) I want to know if I'm doing this right. During their weekly bath I clean out their tank, check for mold, etc. and when I'm done I replace the water. It's aerated so I only change it once a week. I use "city water" so it has chemicals and other things harmful to hermies so I dechlorinate it. I think I might be doing this wrong but I just dump about 1/3 of the bottle cap in there and leave it alone for the rest of the week. Should I do it differently? I change the spray bottle's (http://www.target.com/Travel-Design-Apo ... detaillink - like this except for a straight back) and I dump a little bit of it in there without doing the math. I think I'm doing this wrong as well.

Another thing is that my hermit crabs NEVER eat nor do they drink. I have literally watched them ALL night (by all night I mean 7:13 - 6:34 AM) for the weekend and they haven't done anything but trash the tank and check out shells. I'm a bit worried that I'm not giving them the right food, the water is wrong temperature, etc...? It's scaring me that they'll eventually starve to death. The only time I've ever seen one eat was after Annabeth molted and was eating eggshell. Any advice for this common problem?

One more tiny question, which isn't really a big deal, but I own one of these : http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2752437 for shelter. Are these harmful, like the ZooMed Half Logs? As of right now they are my hermies' only source of shelter so I would like to know ASAP.

Thanks in advance, guys. And please let me know if I placed this post in the wrong place. I didn't want to flood the other boards so I posted it here. These questions are very important to me and my hermit crabs' health, so thank you, again, in advance for the future answers.

What I know I need and don't have :
- ISO Tank (10 Gallon w/ 5-7 inches of sand or coconut fiber?)
- Saltwater (What type of salt is best?)
- UTH (instead of putting it under the bedding or should I put it on the side?)

PLEASE let me know what else I need.
I'm going to start hand-feeding my hermies as well. Any tips on this?
I also need some help on newcomers.
Whenever I buy a new hermit crab I give it a bath to make it smell the same as the others and then just place it back into the main tank and watch it improve.
I realize now that this is totally wrong. What should I do to replace these habits?

Thanks again, guys. Thank you Wai, for creating this very helpful site.
Please respond.

- HermitCrabs

[Wai]

I think the dechlorinator is safe, but make sure you aren't adding too much of it to the water you're using. Your hermit crabs need salt water access as soon as possible though.

As long as you keep varying their diet, you should be on the right track. Hermit crabs tend not to eat if you're watching them, so they might eat more if you leave them alone. My hermit crabs dash out of the food dish when they see me approach the tank.

The cocohut looks fine. Go for Instant Ocean Sea Salt or Red Sea Salt. UTHs on the side don't do much, so put it on the bottom of the tank. Make sure your hermit crabs can't bury on top of it.

I don't think the weekly baths are necessary. Let your hermit crabs bathe themselves so that you don't keep messing up their shell water salinity levels.

Again I apologise that you lost all your old posts due to the host's hard drive crashing, but can you answer the following questions again? It's hard for me to pick up on things unless you tell me more about your tank.

How many hermit crabs do you currently have? How big are they?

How long have you had the hermit crab(s) that you are concerned about?

What substrate or combination of substrates are you using? How deep is it?

What do you feed your hermit crabs?

What heat source are you using and where is it positioned?

Have you calibrated your thermometer(s) and hygrometer so that you can interpret accurate readings?

What is the air temperature range and humidity inside the tank?

If you are using an under tank heater, what is the highest temperature that the substrate reaches?

Do you have any photos of your tank or hermit crab(s) of concern? If yes, please attach them to your post.

[ladybug15057]

Please do answer the questions above.

Have you read:
http://www.hermitcrabparadise.com/crabc ... eslist.php

[.:HermitCrabs:.]

Again I apologise that you lost all your old posts due to the host's hard drive crashing, but can you answer the following questions again? It's hard for me to pick up on things unless you tell me more about your tank.

It's fine. My posts are fine now.

[.:HermitCrabs:.]

Okay, that's good. I'll start using 1/4 instead of 1/3.

Gotcha. I'll stop "stalking" them. haha

Understandable - I've decided to stay away from the UTHs. I'm afraid they might overheat my hermies. :/ I got some Oceanic Natural Sea Salt Mix today.

I'll stop. Are weekly full-tank cleaning rounds still accepted?

How many hermit crabs do you currently have? How big are they? I currently have three. They are penny-quarter sized

How long have you had the hermit crab(s) that you are concerned about? Almost two years. (In March)

What substrate or combination of substrates are you using? How deep is it? Jungle Bed and CaribSea Sugar Sized Sand (the type Marie suggested)

What do you feed your hermit crabs? Carrots, bananas, apples, strawberries, occasional cooked seafood, dried coconut.

What heat source are you using and where is it positioned? A Fluker's lamp and a 60 Watt bulb

Have you calibrated your thermometer(s) and hygrometer so that you can interpret accurate readings? Not since November.

What is the air temperature range and humidity inside the tank? 75-80 degrees in the daytime and 70-75 degrees at night.

If you are using an under tank heater, what is the highest temperature that the substrate reaches? Don't use one because I'm afraid that my hermies would get overheated.

Do you have any photos of your tank or hermit crab(s) of concern? If yes, please attach them to your post. Yes. (Baby : http://cassie-2009.deviantart.com/#/d38giwk , King : http://cassie-2009.deviantart.com/#/d38gior , Breeze : http://cassie-2009.deviantart.com/#/d38gi2m, and the tank : http://cassie-2009.deviantart.com/#/d38qyj5 , http://cassie-2009.deviantart.com/#/d38qyb6 , http://cassie-2009.deviantart.com/#/d38qxv5 , http://cassie-2009.deviantart.com/#/d38qxq2 , http://cassie-2009.deviantart.com/#/d38ggz2)

[ladybug15057]

What substrate or combination of substrates are you using? How deep is it? Jungle Bed and CaribSea Sugar Sized Sand (the type Marie suggested)

I remember this from the last set of questions. I had strongly suggested to take out the Jungle bedding... being from a rain forest there is a high chance of pine being within it.
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... 3#prodTab1

[.:HermitCrabs:.]

Okay.
What should I get to replace it? If coconut fiber ( Eco Earth ) how would I expand it?

[Wai]

Eco Earth is fine. Expand it using salt water for the first time, then keep it moist over time with fresh water or diluted salt water.

You don't need to clean the tank once a week. Once every eight months to a year is fine.

[CrabbyJo]

Spot cleaning the tank once a week is good though. Pick up any food bits from the substrate, sift out poo and the like. That's good, but no you don't need to change the substrate weekly (which is what a full clean means).

It sounds like you're doing a pretty good job, but I think it is important to measure the dechlorinator correctly. If you have to find some online source to convert the measurements for you, do that. I had to do that with my water conditioner, since it only has the mix ratio for 10 gallons of water.
If there is fluoride in your tap water, keep in mind that no water conditioners will remove it, and we aren't sure how safe or unsafe it is for hermies. They are now finding that it may not be as safe for people as they used to think - shock shock. Like there haven't been many saying that for years.
But I digress.

Check your water bowl to see how slimy it's getting since you're only changing it once a week. If it's only a little slimy, then I think it's probably fine to only change it once a week since you have the bubbler in there. If it's kind of nasty slimy, I'd change it a little more often, until you find the limit of acceptability.

A marine salt water is important, don't use Hermit Crab Salt (this has been stated in the crab care sheets), and use that to expand your eco earth as Wai has said. I find it works best if I use hot or warm water, as it dissolves all the salt completely, and the brick seems to expand a little faster, and it's not as unpleasantly cold when you go to squeeze the water out of it.

Your cocohut is fine, and your crabs would probably enjoy even a few more things to climb on and hide under.

[.:HermitCrabs:.]

Gotcha. That's what I meant - I think it would be too stressful for them and too hard on my budget for that..

Memphis's water *does* have fluoride in it.. Should I start using distilled water instead? When I put the new saltwater dish (it used to be 1 cup) they fully emerged themselves in less than 30 minutes. Now Breeze is molting. I thought he was dead, because the body was limp (the claws and extra legs were the only things in full color) so, I took the dead body to preserve the shell (take procedures to make it safe and such to reuse) and saw two little eyes and a small (no big claw...) claw poking out. I cut off the space where I found him since I don't have an ISO tank yet and now I'm hoping he will survive, unlike Annabeth.. I'll keep an eye out for those websites.

It's clear for the most part. Maybe a few slimy rocks in there, but I only counted three. My saltwater dish only had two, so I'm thinking about just staying with once a week.

Use hermit crab salt or marine salt water to let the Eco Earth soak in?

Wai - How long do you think I could use my Jungle Bed until replacing it? They seem to love it, but I could be taking wrong signs from them.