A Question For people Who Have Knowledge on Hermit Crabs?

Question

I have recently got into hermit crabs. I need to know as much info on them as possible. I want to get more, but I feel I don't know enough about them, the kids love them. I guess I need to know info on how they behave, just stuff about them that info pamplets don't tell ya. I have questions about their water...stuff that I feel I really need to know. If anyone can advise please contact me at [e-mail] or leave a way for me to contact you. Thanks guys!

Answer 1

Our email, [e-mail]

BASIC NEEDS AND TOOLS
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.

HOUSING
Glass tank with lid (aquarium with glass lid is best) You can use a quality Kritter-Keeper with saran wrap over the lid as a temporary shelter only.

SUBSTRATE
Options include... Calci-Sand, Sterilized play sand,
Aragonite Sand, Moist coco-fiber bedding, Crushed coral.
You can mix and match, have separate areas and
containers, it is up to you. You must however make sure
whatever you are using is deep enough for your largest crab to fully dig down and cover it’s self shell and all, usually 3 to 4 inches to start.
You can use sands moist or dry, only use de-chlorinated water. Also, do not use masonry or construction sand. If using found sand make sure it is clean and pesticide and chemical free.







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-glow and night-glow 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. A night glow bulb is great for night time viewing of your crabs as they are nocturnal and with this type of light you will provide sufficient heat while no light that they can see, but light that you can view them with. It also simulates moonlight which stimulates their activities.

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 buried.
A UTH (Under Tank Heater) is found in the reptile department and will warm the substrate. Monitor the temp. with a thermometer and never use them on plastic tanks and the fumes are deadly.
Stick it to the bottom of the glass under where there is sand in an open area, not under food, water or caves.



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 separating wet and dried foods or to switch out for cleanings.
They are to be heavy and sturdy, non-porous and NONMETALLIC. Remember there is to never be any metal within your crab’s home, especially which may come into contact with water or moisture.

EXTRA SHELLS
Rule of thumb, 4 or more per crab. They must be of the proper, type and size, paying special attention to the opening.
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, this will encourage shell changes. If the crabs do not have a proper shell they will die.

NATURAL SEA SPONGE
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
ugliness away, so have an extra or two so you can rotate
them. Boiling will also sterilize them.




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.

TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDTIY
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 by using gauges, 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 76-85% 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 or humidity add an extra moist sponge or even a bubbler in their water dish.


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 in their tank at all times. The salt should be obtained from a good aquarium store or pet department. It should be natural marine or oceanic salt mix and follow 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.
Deep water pools allow the crabs to flush and refresh their shell water and keep them selves hydrated and clean. They will flush out debris like sand and feces and will also equally interchange between the salt and fresh waters to adjust the salinity of the shell water they carry.
Another time you may find crabs soaking up water prior to molting to help soften their exoskeleton, or when they are overheated. Hermit crabs have also been observed “swimming” in the water pools for fun.



DECORATIONS
Your pet hermit crab’s tank should have decorations and activity areas for them to hide, climb and exercise. Each crab should have it’s own place to hide and be by it’s self.
You can use coco-nut caves made from coconut shells cut in half and with a door, pre-made aquarium or retile cage caves etc.
We also suggest fish netting and plastic leafy vines attached with hooked suction cups. Imitation or natural drift wood as well as smooth stones and rocks can be used.

Crabby safe items
Anything that is plastic can be used within a crab tank.
Plastic coated wire items must be used with caution because hermit crabs will pinch and ingest the plastic, exposing the metal to the warm and humid tank, rust will appear within a day.
Painted items also must be used with care because there is a risk of peeling and the curious crabs tasting the paint.

Answer 2

Hermit crabs are very easy to care for. They need a clean humid environment or they can dry out and die. Make sure you have a nice bowl of water with a twig in it so they can get out and not drown. If you get a few of them you should be aware that they do fight for dominance. You should keep them in a large enough container, old fish tank, etc. They love to climb so getting any type of accessory that they can climb would be great. Natural wood peices that you can get in nature for free work best, or buy them at a pet store. They eat pretty much anything you put in their tank that is natural fruit, vegetables, etc. You can buy hermit crab food pellets at your local pet store. they can grw to be fairly big, so if you buy them small make sure you get some slightly larger shells so thay can transfer when they current shells are too small. It is facinating watching them transfer. Their bodies look like your pinky finger, while their torsos' are what you see when they are walking around & curious. You can take them out and let them wonder around you floor however if you have any other anumals you will need to keep close eye on them, don't want them turning into appetizers for your pooch, or play toy to your cat. Good Luck.

Answer 3

You should have water for them all the time. I had hermit crabs when I was a kid and they suck water out of a sponge, make sure that sponge is wet all the time because they can die from not having water.

Answer 4

when i lived in costa rica the hermit crabs headed towards the ocean together by the hundred's and mostly at night,,didn't see them much on the beach in the day,so they do like it in a moist jungle in the heat of the day

Answer 5

I use to have hermit crabs, i know some things, there very easy to take care of..what would you like to know if i can ill awnser any question..

Answer 6

http://www.hermit-crabs.com

Any Google search for "hermit crab care" will turn up a ton of information.

Answer 7

i love hermies. i have 3. i went to http://www.hermit-crabs.com/
http://www.thefunplace.com/house/pets/hermit.html
http://courses.ttu.edu/thomas/classPet/1999/HermitCrab/student.htm
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=RNWE,RNWE:2006-14,RNWE:en&q=hermit+crabs

if questions contact [e-mail] believe me im an expert at animals.without my comp. i will be dum.

Answer 8

I have Hermit Crabs, and had to do a LOT of research on them after getting just 1, and not knowing what it needed.

Hermit crabs are pretty expensive to get started. For starters, despite the name, Hermit crabs are very social creatures, and will be more likely to die if they are alone. That means, you should never buy just 1, unless you already have some at home.

Next, the environment is very important for these guys. A lot of people presume they need lots of sun so that they stay warm. They do need heat, but that's different than sun. Hermit crabs come from tropical regions, and actually have gills on them. They require a humid place to live. The best way to achieve that is to use a fish tank with a hood on it. That helps trap moisture inside of the tank. An open air tank, or a fish bowl, is an absolute No-No! They will die if they are not kept moist.

Humidity guages only cost about $2, and can be found at all pet shops. Buy one, and stick on on the inside of the tank. It should read 70-80% humidity. If it's too low, spritz the tank with lots of water. The tank also needs to stay above 75 degrees farenheit, but below 90 degrees. That requires a simple stick on tempeture guage, which again, can be bought for about a buck.

Now, as I said, they have gills. But unlike fish, they are not able to breath under water, and will drown. Their gills are different than fish gills.

They also require a balance of both salt water (no, don't sprinkle table salt into regular water!) and non-chlorinated water. You can get liquid conditioners at a pet shop for around $2-3 a bottle, and when you fill a small container for water, you need 2. One for salt, and one for dechlorinated water. What you need to do is fill them both with tap water. Drop a few drops of the non-chlorinated conditioner (it's blue) into both dishes. Then, drop the salt water conditioner (it's yello) into 1 dish. That way, they have both fresh & salt water.

They require hiding spots, as well. A good one to get are little halved coconuts, which have a door cut into them, and are usually called Cocohuts. Hermit Crabs require both a shady side of the tank, and a warm side. To achieve this, you can use a heat lamp (though I don't recommend it- a heat lamp can get too hot, and cause the tank to dry out faster), or an undertank heater. The under tank heaters around anywhere from $10-20 each. I use a 20 gallon tank, and have on for a 10 gallon tank, and have it slapped on one side. That's my "heat" side.

Bedding is also important. It should be something like a coconut fiber or calcium sand (though, this is expensive, and should be used only as a partial bedding- it's around $6 a bag for about a pound), or regular play sand. I fill the bottom of my tank with about an inch and a half of play sand. Then I add calci-sand to the corner area's. Calci-sand is important because crabs need calcium in their diet, and they WILL eat this sand, which is very healthy for them. I did buy the coconut fiber bedding once, but it's expensive for how little it makes. It comes in a disc that you hydrate in water. It cost $2 for it, and barely covered 1 corner of my tank. I can see how expensive it would be to use that as the only bedding.

Crabs do require bathing, but it is NOT every other day. It should not be done more than once every two weeks. Some people question whether or not it should be done, and claim it's stressfull to the crabs, but mine love when they are bathed. It's simple to do, as well.

You fill a dish like a pie pan or cake pan with water that is only deep enough that it will cover half of your crab. You put him in by holding him upside down- so that his opening is facing up, not down. You put him into the water, and kind of scoop him a bit, so some water gets into his shell. Then just lay him on his back, and he will flip himself, and work some of the sand out of his shell.

The crabs also require extra shells, so that they can change from time to time. Some crabs will change shells weekly, others will only do it once in a while. A good rule of thumb is to have 1 that's the same size, 1 that's larger, and 1 that is -slightly- smaller.

Another thing to know is that hermit crabs molt. That is, they shed their exo-skeleton a few times a year. When they do this, they go into a mini-hibernation. You'll notice your crab isn't out and about doing things like he may have in the past. If you poke around, you'll eventually find him buried somewhere in the bedding, or hiding out in one of the houses. Leave him alone if he is!! Your crab will hide out about a week before he molts. Once he molts, he'll stay in hiding. This is because his new exo is not hard yet, and he could get hurt. During this time, you might notice bits and peices of legs and body near his shell. Don't worry- this is normal! He should eat it, though. It's perfectly normal (albeit, a bit gross to think about), as it's very high in calcium, which again, your crab needs.

You crab also climbs, lots. So get him some sticks, or drift wood. Do NOT use fish net. I tried that, and mine got hopelessly tangled in it.

Ok, as a general thing, when we bought 1, we figured since we had a fish bowl, we'd be fine buying just the crab, the food, and a few toys, plus the calci-sand. We spent probably $30 total on that stuff. One good thing for us- we bought a starter kit, which came with a book, which we read through immediatly. We realized that by setting him up like we did, we were going to end up with 1 dead crab.

In the end, we had a tank already, but no hood. We needed the humidity guage, and a tempeture gauge, the tank heater, the hood, more crabs, play things, water conditioners, etc. We ended up having this pet we thought would be cheap, and spending over $100 on it, just to get all the stuff, plus more crabs.

Now, we absolutely LOVE having them. They are great to watch. But they are NOT cheap to set up, unless you have a majority of the things needed already (a lot of people already have the tank & hood, for instance, as well as some climbing toys).

Also- a hermit crab properly taken care of can live in captivity for up to 20 years. That's a LONG life. They also do NOT breed in captivity, as they require an ocean to give birth, so you won't have babies to worry about. That also means that any crab you buy at a shop will have been captured, not bred.

I forgot to cover food- Hermit Crabs will eat just about anything, from lettuce scraps, to peanut butter. You can give them small scraps of different food around the house, but keep it small, they barely eat much. Anything "fresh" left after a day needs to be cleaned out. They will even eat baby food, which is healthy.

http://www.petshub.com/forums/forumdispl... <---a hermit crab forum with very knowledgable people. They have a pet forum for just about any pet you can imagine. Visit it!