QuestionMy 11 year old daughter was given 2 purple pinchers from a middle school teacher at the end of the school year. I have limited knowledge about Hermit Crabs! Today we had a surprise! In one of the hermit crab's shells, we discovered what seems to be a new baby hermit crab. Cute and peach in color. Sooo cute! However, we are concerned with a couple of questions. 1. Is the mother dead? She is down in the dirt and not moving on her own. She is not in a shell. 2. Is she possibly sick and what can we do to help her? 3. Also, do we need to isolate the baby in a iso tank? 4. How long and what do we feed the baby? What is this I read about putting the baby in salt water? Will the dad eat the baby (or a mother that survives birth)? Please help because I really hope for my daughter to have a positive and successful experience of raising her hermit crabs. Thank you for your help and knowledge!!!
AnswerActually this is not a baby hermit crab, your crab molted! It shed it's exoskeleton (the mama) and is not inside the shell, small and pink. It will grow. You need to isolate it from the other crabs and put it's exoskeleton in there with it (it needs to eat it to reabsorb important nutrients that it moves to the exo during the pre-molt process.
All crabs need ocean style salt water. The best option is to get an oceanic or instant ocean mix. There should be two water dishes, one for fresh water the other for salt. (Both should be dechlorinated).
