QuestionQUESTION: I am a new owner of Harmet Crabs. I was extatic to get them and have had them for two weeks. Early today i discovered that they had crawled out of their shell and were balled up behind rocks. They apperead dead and sat without moving for hours. I freaked out and i thought they were dead so i threw them out. I know i did something wrong in the living conditions or something and i loved having them and want more. BUt i would like to know what could've gone wrong so i can have healthier hermet crabs in the future. I am 13 and love small animals. Thank you for you time and please write me back.
Thank You
Garrett Delphia
ANSWER: Hello Garrett, If you could tell me a little bit more about your tank. Surprisingly, there are a lot of things that you can "do wrong" with hermit crabs, they are very fragile animals. The temperature of the tank should be about 75-85 degrees, no cooler, no hotter, the substrate (bedding) should be sand or coconut bedding, no gravel or moss. They need a hiding place that's big enough for all of them to get into at once. they need access to fresh clean water that doesn't have any chlorine in it, you should buy some fish tank dechlorinator or let the water they will drink sit in an open jug for 2 days before you give it to them, for even better results, twice a day during both days, put a lid on and shake the water up, this keeps it mixed well so ALL the chlorine can come out, chlorine burns their gills, which they breathe with, and it CAN kill them. They should also have salt water, you can make this with aquarium salt from the petstore. Hermitcrabs need their food changed everyday, and it's best to give them the food in the late evening, so it doesn't sit out in the tank all day and spoil. The air in the tank should be humid, 70%humidity or higher. If you have a tank with a wire lid on it, tape seran wrap over the WHOLE lid and cut small slits in the wrap for air, then take a spray bottle (buy it new, do not use one that has had anything else in it, chemicals of any kind could kill hermit crabs, take the spray bottle and spray the tank every other day. Food and water bowls should be plastic, glass or ceramic or terra cotta, don't use metal ones, metal dishes dissolve tiny tiny amounts of metal into the crabs water and metal can harm them. Make sure your crabs didn't have mites, they are teeny tiny little wormy looking bugs that you can barely see, but they can kill crabs very quickly, if you see them, you need to throw out ALL your bedding and everything in the tank that you can't boil and then boil everything for 10 minutes, let it cool very well. rinse the tank out very very well too in hot water so the mites will die. it would be a good idea if you boiled everything anyway before you get new crabs incase the old ones were just sick. One thing you should also remember is that you should not bathe crabs every day or even every week, because it stresses them out, you should only give a crab a bath every month if you NEED to, you can go without bathing them for a loooong time if you keep the habitat humid. And my last tip is when you first get your crabs, do not touch them at all for the first week or two, they have had a very traumatic time up until now, think about it, only two weeks ago, they were laying around on the real beach, taking dips in the ocean, eating tropical plants and things and living in paradise, and then someone comes along and picks them up, ships them to america and then plops them down in a glass tank with crabs he doesn't know and then you come and pick him up again, it's VERY stressful, and stress kills hermit crabs just as easily as if you were to starve them to death, they cannot handle stress. When you first get them, make the habitat as good as yoiu can before you get them so you don't have to change it around, and just change the food and water everyday, let the crab get used to living in captivity and living by your schedule, and then after a week or two, slowly start handling them gently and it will be a lot easier on them. That's everything I can think of off hand that could have gone wrong, write me back and tell me about your tank so I can help you even more.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks for your advice. My tank is about two gallonas and is filled with sand. The type of sand the guy at the store said was best for hermet crabs. It has many hidding places but no lid. I think i started to hold them to early which would have caused some stress. Althought the guy at the store said they did not need heat in the summer, only the winter so they were not living under heat. And the last thing is there is no lid on my tank. is it better to have a lid so chemicals don't fly into the tank???
AnswerYes you will need a lid, for actually a few reasons, hermit crabs are very very good climbers and can climb out of almost any tank if they are left in it long enough, they will actually learn to climb on top of each other and get out. They also need protection from pests (mice, bugs, spiders) that can either hurt them or give them a disease. Chemicals is an issue and there is also the need to keep in humidity, humidity is necessary for the hermit crab's gills to be able to absorb oxygen, if the air dires out, their gills will dry out and not work any more, a lid will help keep the air moist. If you can't find or get a lid, you can just take saran wrap and tape it over the top of the tank like I said and then cut a slit in it that will let you get your hand in, then leave the saran wrap on all the time unless it get's torn, this will help keep the humidity in.
