hey all any one ever had hermitt crabs for pets? we went to the pet store and my daughter fell in love so , we have 2 crabs a 10 gallon tank and 4 extra shells. anything in paticular i need to know to keep them good and healthy? just wandering oh and their names are buttercup and superman. strange huh!!! :P

I've never had hermit crabs myself. My great uncle had one (by accident). He finally lost it when he let it "play" on the ground, and it went under the refrigerator.

The biggest thing with hermit crabs that's really not covered too well in books and on web sites is that they need high humidity and heat sources. Just putting a shallow water dish in there is usually not enough. You can put in sponges they sell and keep those wet too. Really they need high humidity and not just access to water. You could add a small mister. When I worked at the aquarium store, they did the following. Put an inch of water in an aquarium, add a plastic light grate to provide the floor, and then put the crabs and their stuff on the top of that. The water under the grate would constantly evaporate and increase the humidity. They told me that before they did that, the hermit crabs had a really high mortality. That method though would require frequent cleaning. You don't have to go that far, just make sure there are multiple shallow water sources.

They eat most everything but they should have a nutritious and balanced menu like with most animals.

i have aquarium gravel in there for a floor but under that i did put a little water in bottom and we clean it once a week we have 4 sponges but nothing for heat? she has bad them about 3 months. she has lamp that stays on right beside tank so that may be providing heat? all we have been feeding them is the hermitt crab foos from the pet store. is there anything else they can eat to ?

You can provide heat with an undertank heater (easiest) or an incandescent heat lamp or a ceramic heat emitter on top of the cage. You don't want to overheat it either as that will dry things out. For most houses, the undertank heater may be enough.

They will eat most anything. You might try various grains, fish foods, fruits, vegetables and more. Here's a link about feeding hermit crabs. That site looks to have some good information.

http://www.hermit-crabs.com/food.html

Hi There! :D

I've owned 6 hermit crabs for almost two years now, and they make great pets. They take a little more effort to keep alive than most pet stores will tell you, but they do make great pets.

So, first of all, Congrats!! Hermies are great pets...clean, disease free, and very fun to watch...plus you don't have to walk them everyday!

Second, here is a quick care sheet to help you & your hermit crabs out:):


TEMPERATURE & HUMIDITY:

These are two of the most important aspects of keeping a hermit crab alive.

(Temperature): The average temperature in your "crabitat" should be around 72-78 degrees F. If you have strawberry crabs (coenobita perlatus), you'll need to raise it to 78-82 degrees F. (Strawbery crabs are easily recognizable--they are bright red, all over)

You will need a reptile thermometer to gauge the temperature in the crabitat from day to day. You can find a reptile thermometer in any pet store such as Petco or PetSmart for $5-$8.

If your thermometer shows that your crabitat is too cold, you can purchase a reptile or fish bulb and light hood at your local pet store. You'll need to make sure that the bulb is not above 15 watts, or your crabitat can easily overheat.

(Humidity): The average humidity in your crabitat should be between 75% and 80%. The reason for such high humidity is that hermit crabs actually breathe through a combination of gills and lungs. This means that they cannot survive under water for more that 5-10 minutes, but they also can't survive in dry air for more than 8 months, at the most (a hermit crab's average life span is captivity is 3-10 years, though some live up to 30, and crabs in the wild have been recorded to live up to 60 years).

The main way to keep humidity so high is by having moist substrate, and having an enclosed (not screen) lid. Both these aspects will be explained in the next sections.


HOUSING & LID:

(Housing): A 10 gallon aquarium is usually what is reccomended for a new crab owner, but through experience I have found that a 20 gallon tank works better so that the tank is not so crowded with food and water dishes. But, if the 10 gallon is all you have availiable, then that will work also. Just be sure not to put more than 4 medium sized crabs in there.

(Lid): An enclosed lid to your crabitat is essential for proper humidity levels. The best two options are 1. A glass lid or 2. A screen lid with plastic wrap taped over the holes.


SUBSTRATE:
(Substrate is the substance that covers the ground, such as sand or eco-earth etc.)

Substrate is another huge aspect of keeping hermit crabs alive for two reasons:
(1) Moist substrate is necessary for keeping proper humidity levels. (2) Hermit crabs have to bury themselves in order to molt (shed the exo-skeleton). Molting is explained in the "MOLTING" section.

The two best options for substrate in a crabitat are playsand (like you would put in a sandbox) and compressed coconut fiber bedding. Compressed coconut fiber is exactly what it sounds like: compressed fibers from coconut shells. You soak it in water (dechlorinated) to "uncompress" it. A common brand name for coconut fiber is Eco-Earth. Gravel doesn't work very well because the crabs cannot burrow in it to molt, and it does not hold humidity.

Also, the substrate should be at least 4 inches deep, deeper if you have big crabs. This is so that your crabs can bury to molt.

A good rule for moistening substrate: it should be about the right consistency to make a sand castle.


FOOD & WATER:

(Food): Hermits crabs are scavengers in the wild, and therefore should be offered a variety of foods. Before you buy food from the pet store, check the ingreadients list and check to see if it has copper sulfate or ethoxyquin in it. These are both harmful chemicals that will build up over time and eventually cause sickness and death. So why do almost all hermit crab foods contain them :unsure: ? I wonder myself! The only commercial food I have found without these chemicals is Crab Island, the orginal recipe.

You should also offer fruits and veggies at least every other day. Bananas, carrots, romaine lettuce and grapes are some of my crab's favorites. Honey (raw) is also a good treat, and it is great for the crabs too. You can offer walnuts and almonds (unsalted) as protein. Visit www.epicureanhermit.com for tons of great info about hermit crab diet.

(Water): The biggest rule for water: Never give your crabs tap water, this will kill them (it sometimes takes a few months, depending on the amount of chlorine and ammonia in the water).

Next, hermit crabs should be offered freshwater and saltwater. I buy fresh spring or distilled water for my crabs from wal-mart. For freshwater, offer in a bowl large enough for your crabs to half-way submerge in. A sponge is only necessary if you have problems keeping humidity up, or have small crabs that cannot climb out of a bowl.

You can mix saltwater by mixing API Aquarium salt (availiable at wal-mart) with bottled spring or distilled water. Simply pour 8 teaspoons API salt into one gallon water and shake/stir. Just never mix saltwater with table salt, as this contains anti-caking units which are extremely toxic to crabs.

MOLTING:

Every 2-18 months (time between molts depends on size of crab. A tiny crab will moly about every two months and a huge crab will molt about every 18 months) you crab will go through a process called molting. Molting is the shedding of the exo-skeleton. When your crab molts, he will make a burrow for himself in the substrate. He will then stay in the burrow for 2 weeks to 4 months (the bigger the crab the longer he'll stay in his burrow). During the time your crab is buried it is extremely important that he is NOT bothered or dug up. This usually results in death. It is extremely nerve-racking not be able to see your crabs for so long, but it is just part of having crabs.

I know all this seems overwhelming :blink: , but it is necessary. You can visit www.landhermitcrabs.com* for more info on hermit crabs. I really hope this helps :D !!

PS: Sorry this so long:( !!!!







*Hope it's okay to reccomend other forums here, if it's not I'll remove it or an admin can. :)

Thanks for sharing. I've never had hermit crabs myself. I think few people who have them keep the humidity up high enough or have deep substrate. Yet, their crabs seem to be able to survive at least a few years. I didn't know they buried and hid while molting.

You say they need both fresh and salt water. Why do they need the salt water? What are the benefits? In the wild, are they are found near oceans/seas on the shore or inland or a combination depending on the species?

With the substrate constantly wet, how do you keep down the growth of bacteria and funguses?

Yes, many people, even the majority of hermit crab owners, do not provide high enough humidity or deep enough substrate, and their crabs may be able to survive a few years. However, there is a huge difference between surviving and thriving. Of course with any animal you have, you will want it to thrive, not just survive, right?

I, personally, have never seen a hermit crab survive for more than a year in humidity lower than 55%-60%. However, they could survive longer by keeping extra water inside their shell in order to rehydrate their gills more often than normal.

Substrate is extremely important also, and it is uncommon to see a crab deprived of enough substrate survive it's first molt. This is due to the fact that crabs natrually bury in the wild because 1. When they molt, their exo-skeleton is very soft, so they bury to protect themselves from predators 2. A crab has to have darkness in order to produce the hormone that begins the molting process. Sometimes, if the proper conditions are not availiable to molt, the crab will be forced to molt on top of the substrate. When this happens the crab will very rarely survive. A reason for moist substrate other than keeping the humidity high is that crabs need the water in the substrate to help soften and crab their shell.

To answer your question "Why do they need the salt water?":

During molting, a crab needs a combination of salt and water in order to build up the hydrostatic pressure necessary for the crab to shed. Crabs also drink saltwater when they are not getting ready to molt. No one knows why they do this, but since they drink ocean saltwater in the wild, it is best to offer it all year round.

"In the wild, are they are found near oceans/seas on the shore or inland or a combination depending on the species?"

A combination depending on the species, but all hermit crabs live near enough to the shore to mate, lay eggs and return to drink saltwater ocassionally.

"With the substrate constantly wet, how do you keep down the growth of bacteria and funguses?"

This has actually never been a problem for me when using sand and eco-earth. Eco-earth supports mold growth a little more than sand, but neither are bad about it. If the crabs drag food onto the substrate then there will be mold the next day, but as long as you remove it, it won't spread. Occasionally mold will also grow on wooden ornaments, but I've avoided this by placing river rocks where I want an ornament such as driftwood and simply setting it on top of the rocks.

Most of my knowledge came from www.landhermitcrabs.com. This is a forum filled with wonderful, nice people as well as at least 3 members that have kept crabs over 20 years.

More links:

www.crabzilla.net

www.thecrabbagepatch.com (a GREAT website!)

www.thecrabstreetjournal.com

www.thehermitcrabassociation.com