New Crabber with a Purple Pincher needing advice

[Sper1322]

What is the volume of your main tank?
10 gallons

How many hermit crabs do you currently have? How big are they?
1 about the size of a quarter...I know after doing more research I need to get him a friend but that has to wait bit...He turned out to a bit more than I bargained for...

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

What substrate or combination of substrates are you using? How deep is it?
I'm using the eco-earth coconut stuff and I mixed in a little of the hermit crab sand..I know that was bad as well and won't do it again!!! It's about two inches deep which I also have come to find out is not deep enough...

What do you feed your hermit crabs?
I was feeding them the hermit crab food however I just switched today to eggs, coconut flakes, tomatos, some cheese, and a little bit of honey.

Do you use distilled, bottled, tap or other types of water?
I used distilled water

If you are using a dechlorinator, what brand is it? Does it state to remove all heavy metals, chlorine and chloramines?
N/A

What brand of sea salt are you using to supply your hermit crabs with salt water?
I'm using the petco generic brand for now until I can get some proper mixes for the store and make my own.

What heat source are you using and where is it positioned?
I'm using a Fluker's mini sun dome lamp with a 75 watt black critter light bulb I got at Wal-Mart.

Have you calibrated your thermometer(s) and hygrometer so that you can interpret accurate readings?
My thermometer is calibrated and my hygrometer is accurate. It's running between 73-80 as far as humidity and its 80 degrees on the hot side and 75 degrees on the cool side. I also have a very small mister/humidifier that I have tucked in the corner to help.

What is the air temperature range and humidity inside the tank?
The temperature is ranging from 73-80.

What is the highest temperature that the substrate near the heat source reaches?
80

Do you have any photos of your tank or hermit crab(s) of concern? If yes, please attach them to your post.
No but I hope to soon.

Ok now that all that's out of the way I can explain...My roommate and I got the hermie originally to see if it would work well for an office pet since she is a manager at a retail store. We now realize that that can NEVER happen as poor hermie will get too cold. When we first got him two days ago we had no idea that he needed to stay above 70 degrees. When we realized when had to resort to drastic measures (turning on our stove, putting a cookie sheet on top then the plastic crate we bought for him on top of that) to get his temperature up to 70 degrees. We also realized he was in wayyyy to small a container and so the next day we went out and got him the ten gallon he is in now.. We bought him from petco and he was in a habitat that didn't have a heat source and no humidity at all....
We asked them alot of questions before getting him and through our own research realized everything they told us was wrong! We both realize now that we should have done WAAAAYYYY more research before getting this poor little guy... Anyways now for his behavior and my worries...
He buried himself in the plastic container when we got him home then when the tank warmed up he came up, ate, walked around a bit and seemed ok...however he then buried himself again and didn't come out...When we realized he was in way tooo small a tank we carefully brushed the eco-dirt away and placed him in the prepared ten gallon digging him another little hole to go into...I know realize we should have left him in the little tank till he came up...He did bury himself again and move out of sight...At this point I'm not really sure what to do since he hasn't been up for food or water and their aren't any tracks on the surface...
I have a sponge in the freshwater and the substrate is moist with beads of condensation on the glass. I'm going to get a humidity gauge tomorrow...I'm just wondering if that could be the cause of him staying buried because the humidity isn't right even though he came from a place with no humidity at all...I feel really bad about the whole thing and hope he isn't dead...
All the little crabs at petco where buried under a hide a log none of them out and about like I have seen in so may hermie movies today..
update - still no change...no movement...nothing... no smell either...

[Bonnie.Maree]

Hello and welcome to the wonderful life of crabbing I'm not as knowledgable as the rest of the crew here but I can help with a few things.

First of all its normal for a new crab to bury itself and appear not to be eating or drinking. Your new little friend is just destressing from all the movement and change. So dont be worried if it takes a few weeks for him to make an appearance (They eat the substrate too)

Your substrate doesnt need to be too deep yet as his new. increase it after youve had him a little longer, 2 weeks to a month. By then it should be high enough for him to fully submerge.

The humidity should not be at 80% if you got him from a place with little to no humidity. Increase it by 5% every week, I think starting it at 40% is recomended to begin with. This is because big sudden changes can stress a hermie to death!

Apart from that it looks like you've got everything else undercontrol (: Remember to give him a varied diet and include some meat (:

[Sper1322]

Ok I'll drop the humidity down and gradually increase it. My biggest problem has been maintaining humidity since I live in Colorado and it's winter which is the driest time for us. I even had to buy a little portable mister/humidifier to help! However I ran across an article that said you could use a wet towel over the top of the cage since I have a screen top and that would help. It has greatly! I also have a natural sea sponge in the water dish to help which is right under the black light I have for heat. We (my roommate and I) discover by accident when we were changing out his food that he had burrow practically from the other side of the tank all the way to under the food dish, yesterday! I'm hoping it means he still up and kicking about. We decided that we probably shouldn't move the food dish anymore so he doesn't get more stressed since he is right under it. If this little guy or gal makes it he/she is gonna get a really tough name! Poor thing has had a really tough life.

[aussieJJDude]

first of all welcome.
the things you should worry about now is getting his tank up to standard before you think about getting him a friend.
I would dump the sponges as soon as you get the humidity up to par, it fill with germs because its a great placefor germs to hide. after all it is moist and such.
good luckwith the lil guy

[Sper1322]

update- So I got the sponge out of the tank and seem to be regulating the humidity fine. I lowered it as suggested but I still hadn't seen little dude out and about and his food has remained untouched... I took pictures to compare... So I decided today to see if he is still under the food dish and sure enough he is... He has build a burrow under it and is sitting right in the middle of it. He hasn't moved at all... I read about molting and it seems kinda mysterious... Could he be molting already or trying to molt? I heard it's a hard process on them... or could he just be hibernating? Do crab's hibernate? At this point he has been in the exact same spot for at least six days if not seven.

[aussieJJDude]

Great that you took out the sponge
Most new crabs from the pet store moult when they come home, after all they where kept in bad conditions before he came to you, when they arrive in good conditions they will moult very soon, as they been "holding it in" for a few months.
Hermit crabs do hibernate when the conditions aren't ideal. ie: humidity less than 70% and heat less than 70F.

[Sper1322]

Ok update - So about four days ago my roommate who bought little crabby finally got impatient wanting to know if crabby was alive. I told her he could be adjusting but we wanting to figure out if we were just keeping everything running for a dead crab..So we lifted the food dish to find him upside down with his bottom up and he MOVED! It looked like he was getting ready to come out of it. So we quickly put it back and now are convinced he is molting and ALIVE!!!! YAY!!!!!
Anyways I was wondering what types of crabs they sold at the Crabbage patch? All I have locally are PP's and I'd like to pick up a E and a couple blueberries..Not all at once of course

[aussieJJDude]

I would suggest to hold off the Blues for a year or two, they are very delicate animals like straws. Plus you only have a PP, its better to get him a friend or two of his kind. I think it would better just to stick with PP's and E's for now and when you are confident on looking after them, then move onto exotic species like blues, straws ect...

[Sper1322]

Oh! I hadn't realized Blueberries were exotic! Well with that said then yep I'll stick with E's and PP's for a while. I'm waiting for him to come up from his molt before I get him some friends.. I got another tank- 22 gallon- and have it all set up just waiting for humidity and what not to level out.. I have moss pits which are second stories and two big pools for freshwater and salt water.. As well as food dishes and fun stuff to climb on..I'll be taking some pictures soon. I also have a bubbler in the freshwater to help with the humidity..so far I'm ranging from 65-75...I'm hoping as the sand and the coconut substrate dry out a little bit it will even out to a consistent range... My sand is play sand I got from Lowe's which I washed really well... It's a coarse grain but not rocky... I can't wait to get more crabbies! I saw a jumbo at my local pet store that I really want but I want to get some other little ones first that way if the big one goes down to molt my little guy will still have some buddies.

[Sper1322]

Ok- so about five days ago I got two more pp's to put in my now stable 22 gallon tank. The heat ranges a little from 75-80 degrees on the warm end and 70-75 on the cool end. I have deep pools and LOTS of fresh food for them. One was very active the first day but both seem to have settled into a spot they like and are just hanging out. I figure probably from PPS though they haven't buried themselves at all. They seem pretty much ok. They seem not to eat a lot but they could just be adjusting to their new home...
However, my first hermit crab is still buried... No change..Still not out eating or drinking....I hope he is molting if not I'm a little worried. Do hermit crabs get depressed?? Oh and there isn't a horrible smell so I think he's not dead...