QuestionI hope you can help us. I let my 12-year-old daughter purchase a couple of hermits in Pigeon Forge with her b-day money. I got them home and low and behold, I realize from Googling that there's a lot more to hermits than meets the eye. They don't tell you at the souvenir shops that you really need all the special things that hermies need.
We've only had them a week and already have mold in the cage. I assume this is from my "steam rag" I have put in there every other day for a couple of minutes for humidity. I baked everything in the cage except for one big rock we gave them as a hiding place, so I'm redoing it all and cleaning the cage with vinegar and water.
Secondly, we put several shells in there for deco and housing. One of them decided to move into the decorator shells which is a long spiral shell, about 5 inches long! I feel so bad for him. He tried every shell out and settled on this one and has been in it for 4 days, but it's very long and I can't imaging he can move well in it. Is there any way to coax him out?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Carrie
AnswerWhat type of substrate do you use? I've never heard of using a steam rag and I'm not sure I would recommend it? Are they in a glass tank? What are the humidity/temp readings? You can get an inexpensive digital reader in the home dept. of walmart. (around $7)
Spritzing everything with salt water will help your mold problem. Next time you bake, scrub the items, then soak in salt water before baking.
There is no good way to get a hermit crab to change shells, but your best chances come when you rearrange everything, take the other shells, fill them with dechlorinated water (after rinsing very well) and place them mouth-up in the tank. Make sure you've got the proper type and size of shells for you crab.
