I gave my boyfriend (hermit) crabs

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lyquidphyre

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I went on vacation and came home with two hermit crabs. I really bought them for myself, but "gave" them to my boyfriend hehe.

Ive read up on them online and everything.. so they are being wel taken care of.

Does anyone else have hermit crabs?
 
I just bought 4 hermit crabs. They are fun to watch. It's their first day and seems like they have made their home on this "dry" rock i have sitting in there.
 
I cannot speak for the other ad visors, but I would have let you get away with not putting (hermit) in the title of the thread. I still found it vastly amusing! :p :lol: :lol:

Hermit crabs always looked like kinda cool pets, I hope you got a good number of repacement shells for them. Some of them like to change "houses" a lot, even if they don't really need to for size. (My friend had some a while back, he said the ones changing shell all the time were females, no idea if it was true.)
 
hehe I didn't want to get in trouble... but the title WAS w/o the (hermit) at first


I need to get them a bigger tank and some more shells to grow into.

It was really cute when I bought them. I had picked out the one I wanted the day before and I was glad that no one had bought him so I put him down while I looked for another neat looking crab and I go "Mom, keep an eye out on my crab" because he was REALLY active. So I find this other really cool crab and put him down where the other was one SUPPOSED to be.. and I was like "Mom! I said keep an eye out on my crab" and she laughed thinking I meant for no one to take him. Anyways we looked and we looked and could NOT find the crab. He disappered. Well, the 2nd one starts to run off under this coconut so I lift the coconut to get him and there was the first one! It was meant to be *nod*
I might take pictures n stuff.
 
i bought my cousin two hermit crabs 2 weeks ago.. hers are really shy. they like to move the extra shells and sponge around, crab olympics :wink: my cousin is almost 6 and she loves her first pets she named them dora and boots :) my aunt said she couldnt have fish :( i wanted to get her a 5 gallon with a betta in it. she wanted a pretty pinkish one
 
I have 3 hermit crabs and unfortunately, they're like fish...people buy them all the time but don't know how to properly care for them so they die. Hermit crabs do not actually have true lungs. They have I guess what you could consider half lungs half gills. These gills need to stay moist. They're substrate should be sand with enough in the enclosure to cover 1.5 times the size of their shells when they molt. You need 3 extra shells per crabs for shell swapping one should be slightly smaller, one the same size and one slightly larger. Crabs are picky and I bought one crab that changed back and forth between 2 shells about 10 times before he decided to stay with his original shell. Decorations need to be something they can climb on like a rock or a piece of bark as they love to climb. Just make sure it doesn't reach the lid or they'll more than likely get out as they are escape artists. Water. Stressed in the beginning how important water is. Here's what a lot of people don't know: They need BOTH saltwater and fresh water. The water needs to be declorinated just like for your fish but they need a pool of salt and fresh each with a sponge. The salt water is vital for a healthy molt as they will drink a LOT of it right before they shed their exo skeleton. Make sure they have plenty of water on hand. They also need a warm bath in fresh water once a week. Prepare their bath with WARM, not hot water, and place the crabs upside down in the water. This way when they turn over anything stuck in the little crevices in their shells with become dislodged. More on water...you'll need one of those humidity gages for reptiles. It needs to stay in the upper range on a daily basis. I achieve this by misting the sides of the cage every day. Sometimes more. Food: Crabs love a variety. You can offer 3 or 4 different kinds of food every night and then throw it away all except for the hermie pellets which will stay fresh longer and allow them to nibble during the day if they want. Foods Hermies like to eat include (but are not limited to): Tuna, Cheerios (crushed), peeled Grapes, Peanut Butter, cooked veggies, potato chips, saltine crackers, really any kind of fruit, they also like those cans of hermie food...the smellier the better because they are scavengers also any kind of fish will go over well. You will probably hardly ever see them eat and when you go to dump their food out a lot will be left over. Offer small portions, but do change it out everymorning or else the cage will smell. I also crush the pellets because it makes it easier for them to eat. You will need a heating pad made for hermit crabs on one side of the cage. Put it on the outside on either the bottom or the side. I find mine works better on the side due to my crabs are big and I have over 60 pounds of sand in a 20 long and that makes for some deep sand. Cleaning: Purchase a sifter made for cleaning reptile sand. Once a week sift through the sand to rid it of any poop and food you may have missed. Also wipe down the sides of the enclosure with a moist cloth. For the top of the cage you can use a mesh lid, however these usually leave a lot to be desired when it comes to humidity. I purchased a piece of plastic from Lowes that partially covers the top to keep it more humid...something like what it looks like:

l------------------l-------

the dotted lines are the mesh lid, the longer lines are the length of the plastic approx. Hope this info helps. Also, don't let them crawl on the carpet as the fibers will irritate their gills. If you let them crawl on the floor, lay down a sheet or similar piece of fabric to make them comfortable. Molting: can't remember how often they do this, but when they do it, don't touch them and leave the skeleton there as they will eat it. Make the environment as moist as possible, but never wet the sand. Remove any other crabs and put them in a temporary cage. Leave all the empty shells for the freshly molted crab and make plenty of water available. Leave the crab alone, cover the sides of the cage and most of the top so it won't become stressed out. Also, you can tell the sex of your crabs by looking under it's legs. Girls have large ovipores located on the first section of two of their legs underneath them. Boys have none present.
 
Thanks for all the extra information.
As soon as I got home I looked stuff up on the internet because I knew there was more to it than what they offered me.

Ive been giving them their weekly bathes (in dechlorinated water) and Im going to get them a bigger habitat ASAP.

I didn't know about the carpet thing, thanks for sharing!

Also, they are in the bathroom.. so every time I go in there I put a warm, damp clothe over their cage to keep it moist.
 
A couple more things: they can stay underwater for a few minutes so let them crawl around in their bath for a while. They can live for upwards of 20 years if well cared for. You can decorate their shells with paint but never paint the crabs actual claws or legs. This is like their skin and it's not good for them. Buy a lot of extra shells and rotate them on regular intervals so they feel like they have a variety. They live in groups of upwards of 300 or probably more in the wild so they like to have friends. Also, try to keep similar sized crabs together that way if they start to fight over a shell, they have a chance. And they will probably fight over shells. Also, never try to pull a crab out of its shell. It would rather be torn in half then lose it's home. Hermit crabs make a sound similar to a click. I personally have never heard my crabs do this, but I've heard a recording on the internet at one point. Crabs are fun!!!

Liquidphyre, I'm sure with all the research you've done you've found all this info, just wanted to include it for anyone else who may not have done their homework if you KWIM...
 
and if you dont know they need those sponge things. but you prolly already know that
 
yes i have 2 hermit crabs and sometimes they flip over to their side and they cant back up so i have to stick my hand in there and move them but they are fun to watch and they practically cleaned my tank
 
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