new pets- hermit crabs!

[lisak1]

Does anyone here have hermit crabs as pets? We decided to get some this past weekend, and i am having alot of fun watching them!

Any advice on feeding, caring for them.... ? We have the basics down, i think, but if anyone has any tips or information i might not already know, please feel free to enlighten me!

Thank you.

 

[Honeibee]

I really think it's important that they be kept warm. I know there are some good websites about caring for hermit crabs. I will try to find one for you.

 

[betsyboop]

DD just got one this weekend as a birthday present. We found a couple websites that have a lot of information - http://www.hermit-crabs.com/ and
http://www.thefunplace.com/house/pets/hermit.html - were a couple we looked at.

Mostly they said to keep them warm & moist.

Since DD only got one, we were wondering if we should get another. Does anyone know if they like company, or do they fight?

 

[lisak1]

from what i've read so far, they love company and prefer to have other crabs in the same environment.
i bought an under aquarium heater off of e-bay this morning, so they should be warm enough. the room that they are in tends to be cool in the winter, so i thought that would be a must to keep them warm.

one of mine hides constantly in it's shell, and inside of a little mountain structure that i bought to put inside of the aquarium. the other is very active and changes shells a couple of times a day.

i am having so much fun watching these little things.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I taught in Trenton NJ, and had a few in an aquarium for my students to enjoy. The hermit crabs lived for many years, even after I left the school. I guess they all have aquired tastes, besides the regular food, mine loved a vanilla wafer!

Bobbi

 

[betsyboop]

About how big should the container be for two of them?

Also, Hermie doesn't seem to be liking his food. It's just the regular hermit crab food. What else would be good for him?

 

[gr8tpanther]

I have 4 crabs in a 2-floor 10gal condo!

I took chicken wire and made a 2nd floor so they could climb and each crab has it's own hermie hut and they LOVE different foods. They love coconut, bananas, fruits, also get a hermie meal that has some other stuff in it other than fruits.

I have sand on the bottom, humidity is REAL important, I cover mine with plastic wrap in the winter and I have a heater that is attached to the outside wall of the aquarium.

They are self doing creatures. And when they molt, sometimes they are in hiding for a month, but don't make the mistake of throwing away a crab that is molting cause you think that it died. It isn't dead till it SMELLS dead! Don't ask how I know this...

Hope this helps some, they are fun and low maintenance.

 

[lisak1]

Alot of what i've read says that you should give them a bath once a week. any tips on this?

 

[gr8tpanther]

Alot of what i've read says that you should give them a bath once a week. any tips on this?

I spray mine and bath when I get time. I keep a deep dish of water in the tank with a sponge in it. This evaporates quickly, so have to keep an eye on it. I also buy distilled water, chlorine is deadly to hermies. If you MUST, use fish tank dechloranator. But I really recommend distilled. Doesn't cost much and really is better for them.

Bathing is fun, I take a bowl, fill it with water, room temp is best, again, distilled, and put some Stress Coat in it, you can get this in the fish department and I put them in the water open side of shell UP so you can get water in the shell. If the crab doesn't come out after a few minutes, I take them out and dump the water, but the idea is for them to open up and let the water go in to wash the gills. However, my crabs aren't always that cooperative. Then I put them in a shoebox with paper towels to dry, then put them back in their tank. They are very active after a bath.

 

[lisak1]

i put out some applesauce for them last night, and i guess they really liked it. it's all gone this morning.

 

[MBeds]

Mine LOVE popcorn.....Especially one of them - i don't think he likes to share the popcorn...

 

[gooseberry]

omg! It is funny you should ask. I have two of them. One is male and the other is female. The male one has a giant claw and is all red and lost his leg recently, the vet said that is normal though. I took them to school with me and let them crawl around the classroom. The female is a bit more quiet and sulky than the male, she is a peach color. You know you have to bathe them or they suffocate, their little air pipes swell up.

 

[lisak1]

I was thinking i had a male and female as well, with the way they have been acting. the one i think is female always sits in the little cave in the aquarium, and you have to take her out, she won't come out on her own. the male is constantly changing shells and running around. he's always very active.I don't know for sure, and I guess it doesn't matter, but that's the way it seems.

 

[elgerber]

Mine liked Cheerios and popcorn. The only food they would eat I had to order off the web. I forget where though, I'll see if I can find it. They hated the pellet forms of food. They also LOVED something I got on the web called Hermit Crab treat, they gobbled that up.

 

[Cyndirella]

We have 7 of them! We just got them in August, and I didn't really have a clue how to care from them. We found a couple of websites and then bought a kit from Petsmart that had a book in it.

We bought this stuff at Petsmart to put in the bottom of their aquarium and they seem to love it. It is compressed into this little package, and you add water to it and it expands. It's kind of a cross between mulch and dirt. We have it in 1/2 of the aquarium, and sand in the other 1/2, and they are never on the sand side. We also have these 2 little 'hermie huts' for them to go into, but they will all cram into the smaller one.

 

[glindasdaughter]

don't forget to spray them with water to clean out their breathing pores.
never put them in salt or sanfd because that dries them up.
never set them out in the sun that is what happened to my last crab he had a heat stroke.

I am getting a softball sized hermit crab as an award for my good behavior. I am going to call him Wienerschnitzle. I am going to call his friend Americus!

pics coming once I get them!!

WIENERSCHNITZLE AND AMERICUS!!