Has anyone had a pet hermit crab?

Question

See i had to get rid of my cat becuase i'm allergic to her. so im getting a hermit crab. does anyone have a little info. on how to take care of them.

Answer 1

Land Hermit Crabs are portrayed as easy to care for, cheap and novelty pets. This is not really true! There are some basics that you need to know before actually buying your first Hermit Crabs. Read on below and then you can decide if this is the pet for you.

TIP NUMBER ONE... Do not get just one land hermit crab always get at least 2. They donot cost anymore to take care of if you have 1, 2 or 102. In the wild they live in colonies of 100 and more and since they are in fact still wild it is nessecary to have 2 or more so they will thrive and be happy in their tank. Below you will find some basic info and you can check out site and our forums for more details.

Sea sponges:
Natural, un-bleached and un-dyed sea sponges only. Non-man made. These can be found in pet stores and in some department stores as well.
They need to be rinsed and dried to keep bacteria and uglies away, so have an extra or two so you can rotate them. Boiling will also sterilize them.

Thermometer and Hygrometer:
Land Hermit Crabs, breathe through modified gills therefore they must have the proper humidity in order to breathe as well as the proper temperature in order to thrive.
You need to monitor all of the tank conditions. One for the temp and one for the humidity will get you started. Keep them as close to substrate level as possible since that is where the crabs are most of the time.
76 - 80 degrees and everyone will be fine. Do not allow the Hermit Crabs to get cold for long periods or they can die. Humidity ranges should be around 76-80% relative, sustained.
With in these levels your crabs and their home will be a happy and active one. If it gets too warm, you can always prop up the lid, same if the humidity gets too high, prop the lid up.To add moisture/humidity add an extra moist sponge or even a bubbler in their water dish.

Housing:
Glass tank with lid (aquarium with glass lid is best) Can use a quality Kritter Keeper with saran wrap over the lid.

Substrate:
Options include... Calci-Sand, Sterilized playsand, Aragonite Sand, Moist coco-fiber bedding, Crushed coral.
You can mix and match, have seperate areas and containers, it is up to you. Remember there needs to be enough substrate to fully cover the "floor" or the tank. Deep enough for your largest crab to fully submerse or cover it's self. The substrate also needs to be pretty smooth, meaning little to no jaged edges to scrape or injure the Hermit Crabs Exoskeleton prior to, during and after molting.
It also must be insect and chemical free. Human or animal grade not the kind that is used for construction or masonry.

Light:
Hermit Crabs require 12 hours of sunlight each day. This can be a combo of natural and artificial light. The normal aquarium hood light can be good enough.
Once you are ready to get more advanced or need more heating you can buy a bi-light that has both day-glo and night-glo bulbs.. for heat and light during the day and heat during the night. Always try to have full spectrum when possible so the Hermit Crabs get enough of the proper lighting.



Heating:
Land Hermit Crabs live in tropical areas, there for it is quite warm and humid. First there is the heat. Sometimes the lights you use give off a fair amount of heat, yet that does not reach the depths of your substrate when some crabs may be burried.
A UTH (Under Tank Heater) will answer this issue. Found in the reptile area of most pet stores and available in a variety of sizes.. once firmly attached to the bottom of your tank, it will provide heat to the substrate which some crabs prefer.
Make sure you have a cool side and a warm side. UTH should not be used on plastic Kritter Keepers due to warping and the toxic fumes some plastics can give off.. so watch where you stick it!

Dishes:
You will want at very least 3 dishes. 2 are for water and one will be used for food. Sometimes it is good to have extras due to seperating wet and dried foods or to switch out for cleanings.
They are to be heavy and sturdy, non-porous and NON-METALLIC. Remember there is to never be any metal within your crabs home, especially that may come into contact with water or moisture.

Extra shells:
Rule of thumb, 3 per crab.. one larger,
one about the same and one slightly smaller. Do not offer painted or decorated shells if you can help it, the paint is toxic. Wash them and offer them different ones from time to time. If the crabs do not have a proper shell they will die.
Water basics:
Use only de-chlorinated or bottled water for everything Hermit Crabs related. The chemicals in tap water (chlorine and heavy metals are toxic to Hermit Crabs also will burn their modified gills.)
You can treat tap water by using a water conditioner for fish, make sure their drinking water doesn't have stress-coat in it though.
Land Hermit Crabs must have both fresh and salt water for drinking. The salt should be obtained from a good aquarium store or pet department, reading the directions carefully.
The fresh water should be de-chlorinated as well. Both dishes should be deep enough for your largest Hermit Crab to fully submerse it's self, while at the same time provide items like shells, smooth stones for your smaller crabs to use to get in and out of the water. One or both water sources can have bubblers or sponges, it is up to you.

Misting Bottle:
Have one ready if your humidity drops, or to spot clean a crab who you want to play with, or to physically check. You can also have a second one with fresh salt water to control mold and fungus. This water also must be de-chlorinated and Hermie Safe.

Food:
Provide a nice selection of fresh and dried foods daily. Fresh foods can stay for 24 hours or less only because of mold and spoilage. Dried foods can stay for 2 or 3 days as long as you monitor it carefully.
Rotate food selection so that you crabs do not get bored and live a more natural scavenger type life. Check out our food lists. One should always provide fresh fruits, veggies, meats and fish.

Answer 2

Getting started with hermit crabs seems to cost alot and takes some work. Once you get the tank set up and stablizied then things start to go alot better.

You will need to have an aquarium with a lid, thermometer (to check the tank is between 75 to 85 degrees), Hygrometer (to watch the humidity never gets below 70%), sand or coconut fiber substrate (or both which helps alot with the humidity), extra shells, places for them to hide, things for htem to climb, declor drops to take the chlorine and other metals out of the waters, Marine sea salt, so they can have the declor water and then declor water with the sea salt (NO TABLE SALT EVER), two water dishes and foods. If you can not keep the tank warm enough, you will need to get an Under Tank Heater.

Then you need to get at least 2 hermies. They are actually social creatures and will do better with several in a tank.

If the hermit crabs are well taken care of they can live a very long time. Recently a post was made of a woman that has had the same two hermies for 30 years. But they have to be very well taken care of to live that long.


Sabrina
60 hermies since July 2004 and 2 Raccoons May 2006.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/oimsofunny/my_photos
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HermieSwap/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HermiesTalk/

Answer 3

Well, Hermit Crabs are very easy to take care of. You just need to make sure that it always has water and food. They're constantly growing so make sure you get lots of shells, in various sizes, all bigger than the shell its in now. If it pinches you dont freak out, it will let go if you just run some water over its claws. Just so you know: They dont live very long.

Answer 4

My boyfriend just game my granny a bunch so she has 10 now. they are really neat.

they like warm places if its cold they are not very active.
they like stuff to climb on. and they are very community orientated so you might want to start out with 4 or 5. Have lots of different sized shells and a water dish with fresh water and a seasponge. Hers likes to sleep in crab huts. Keep a spray bottle on hand so you can keep the tempurature humid inside the tank.

They get very active when the tank temp is 80 deg. Petco is pretty reasonable on hermit crab supplies.

Answer 5

Doesn't take much. A little food here- they have special food but some small pieces of fruit and vegis can do. my friend used cat food. A water dish so they can drink, maybe a spray bottle to keep the tank moist. Try to keep it (water and food dishes) clean. A "cave" like item so then can "hide" in. And other shells so when they get too big they can switch to the new ones. They're mostly active at night so don't worry if he doesn't do much in the day. And if he grabs you with a claw, don't rip 'em out. Go to the sink and run hot water on them. They should let go quickly enough.

Answer 6

We have 11!
They're great pets. They don't take much clean up, and the don't smell.
You can use regular sand as substrate (we do, and we have had ours over a year).
You MUST give them spring water, or dechlorinated tap water. DON'T forget to remove the chlorine! It WILL kill them. You also use this to mist the tank. (Don't mist it too much ~ Just enough so it sticks together.)
You also have to give them salt water. DON'T use table salt ( the iodine WILL kill them). You can buy the stuff to mix in the spring water at the pet store to make salt water.
Don't feed them citrus fruits or dairy products. Be sure if you give them any "table" food that it hasn't been cooked with or had table salt added to it.
You can buy "crab cakes" on the aquarium isle as a main staple.
They LOVE fresh fruits and vegetables. Also, peanut butter. There are SOME flowers you can feed them also, like hibiscus.
BE CAREFUL they love to climb, and they WILL find their way out of the crabitat if you're not careful.
We have a reptile light on our tank.
You will also need an under tank heater. Buy one that only takes up HALF the bottom of your tank to allow them to escape if it gets too hot. You only need these in the winter time in warm climates.
They also love hidey places, like: logs (you can buy the plastic aquarium ones at WalMart, etc OR use driftwood). We bought fresh coconuts and cut them in half. After we scooped out the meat (which we kept in the freezer and fed to them) we used the shells for hidey huts. We just cut little "doors" in the sides.
That's all I can think of right now. It seems like a lot, but it's really not once you get used to it.
BE CAREFUL, THEY'RE ADDICTIVE!!
Check out crabstreetjournal.com for more info.
GOOD LUCK!!

Answer 7

Do a search on Google for "hermit crab care" - there are some MARVELOUS websites out there that will tell you all the things that the pet shops WON'T (like humidity, temperature, sand, aquarium requirements, etc!).

Answer 8

make sure they have a friend, dont just get one, cuase it will be lonely. make sure they have water (put half of a clam shell in there and fill it with water, so they can drink and sometimes they like to sit in the water, the shell is the perfect solution) and hermit crab food(u can buy at any pet store) they should be put by the light, and make sure you put a couple bigger shells in there with them because they grow and switch shells. good luck :)

Answer 9

Hermit crabs are not really good pets. I would rather go with what you call the per rock.

Answer 10

No, but I want to get 1 so I did a lot of research. Just search it under a search engine. You'll find out a lot about them.

Answer 11

we've got 4, two purple pinchers and two that they refer to as Eccy's or something like that. We love them. I would advise to make sure that you have alot of substrate (sand or moss for them to dig and bury themselves in), LOTS of moisture (we have two plain water dishes with sponges, a salt water dish with sponge, and sevearl loose wet sponges laying around the tank plus mist them daily), a wide varity of foods (feed them the same stuff you eat but take it out of thier tank every morning and supply fresh foods daily). We give ours a bath once a month and the seem to love it.