QuestionQUESTION: i just recently got a hermit crab when i was down at the beach. right now i
have it in a small cage that came with it when i bought it. i bought a 10 gall.
tank but i don't know what i need to put in it. i was going to use some sticks
and stuff from my yard for it to climb on but i know theres some types of
wood that make them sick. also it doesn't seem to be eating. i have gotten
food for it and treat food also and i put it in a dish but when i check the next
day it doesn't seem to have eaten any of it. the hermit crab food i have is
Hermit Haven Hermit Crab Food and the treat food is Florida Marine Research
Hermit Crab Treat. i hand fed it some banana but it didn't eat much before it
began pushing it away. since i only have a 10 gallon tank can i get more or is
there not enough room? i don't have a ton of money to buy a bigger tank just
yet. the crab that i have is about the size of a golf ball with the shell
included. maybe a tiny bit smaller. I'm a first time owner and any advice
would be great. i also have a 2.5 gallon tank that i used to have fish in. would
that work for an ISO tank. any advice would be wonderful. thanks
ANSWER: For your ten gallon, you can have up to two more crabs. what you need for the tank is 2 or 3 inches of sand (3 inches is very high, but it's better for a crab to be able to molt, it DOES make under tank heaters useless though...) things you'd NEED: thermometer (stick-on fish tank kind are just fine for now), heat source, hidey hole (a 1 lb butter tub with a door cut in it works just fine, you can decorate it with hotglued-on ribbon and things if you want). 2 water dishes, one for fresh clean water and one for clean salt water, a food dish and things to climb and extra shells, you can decorate with wooden things, but be sure to soak them in a bucket of EXTREMELY salty water to kill any pests, soak them for about 2 days, then let them dry for a couple more days. Pine and cedar are not "deadly" to hermit crabs, but it irritates them immensely and they will not be happy with pine and cedar decorations, but birch, beech, oak etc. would be fine, in fact, hermit crabs can eat oak leaves. If you use large rocks, get rouch ones and wash them, scrubbing well with a stiff bristle brush in hot salty water, again to kill parasites, when I say extremely salty, I mean keep pouring in the salt until it won't dissolve anymore. Don't use table salt though, use aquarium salt for fish, it usually costs 5 dollars for a large carton, or you can get "pickling" salt, which is cheaper, but make sure the only ingredient is Salt, and it's not iodized, iodide is what harms crabs, and most table salt has it. As for not eating, hermit crabs eat a very very small amount, if you are worried, you can smooth the sand around the food dish to see if there are any hermit crab foot prints messing the sand up around the dish. You can encourage eating by buying a can of tuna or shrimp or other stink fish, make sure it's not flavored though. then put a tiny amount on top of the crabs food, the stinky fish or shrimp will encourage it to eat, crabs LOVE stinky food. The 2.5 will be a fine ISO, as long as you can warm it up correctly, just decorate it similarly to the 10g, with a hidey hut, something to climb, a food bowl and a water bowl, you don't have to use salt water in the iso if you don't have room for a small bowl. Let me know how it goes and good luck with your new pet.
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QUESTION: thanks. so what kind of heater are we supposed to use. i have one that i use in
my fish tank but i dont really turn it on because the water usually stays about
73-75 degrees anyway. would that work? and i dont have a lid for my tank so
how do i keep it humid? i have a sponge but it drys out really fast. again.
ANSWER: Well, you can stick the under tank heater to the back wall of the tank, and use a heat lamp, but you'll have to spray it a couple times a day to keep up humidity. If you don'[t use a heat lamp, you can easily get some saran wrap and tape the wrap over the whole top of the tank and cut a slit in it big enough for your hand to fit through with the dishes, keep the wrap on all the time and spray the tank daily. You can't use a heat lamp with saran wrap because it will melt the wrap and make the melted plastic fall into the tank, possibly burning your crabs, so only use the wrap if you just stick the UTH on the back... Alternatively, I suppose you could possibly put the heat lamp on the side, pointing through the glass into the tank, it would help, but I would be careful so that you don't touch the glass, heat lamps can make surfaces EXTREMELY hot.
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QUESTION: ok. ill try that. so i put my crabby in the new tank today but the first thing it did
was dig a hole and it hasnt come out since. i heard that they do that when
theyre molting but it doesnt look like it is. its jus layin there but its not dead cuz
i see it move its legs around. how do i kno if its sick.
AnswerHe is most likely not sick, Hermit crabs will usually bury themselves during the daytime for the first couple weeks, even a few months, until they feel confident that nothing will harm them while they sleep, after a while, they will get the idea that there are no longer predators around every turn and will start sleeping on top of the sand or in their hermit hut.
