Hermit crabs

[PETsMARTchick]

I love hermit crabs. But I've never had one for more than 6 months. I've had small ones, big ones, ones bought form beach stores, and ones bought from PETsMART. They always die! My last two big guys buried themselves and didn't come out for a long while so I checked on them and they were dead. But for some reason my little bros' hermit crab is doing great. He's gotta be at least a year old. I give up! I want fiddler crabs!

 

[bahja]

what's your brother doing differently that you are?

things i learned about crabs are that they do better in brackish water, and if they have access to land

 

[Cian McLiam]

Are you keeping the air moist enough? You need to buy a humidity meter, they are very cheap and stick to the hood of the tank. The kind you get for reptiles would work fine. The humidity needs to be between 60 and 70% because although they breathe air, their lungs function almost like gills, if they dry out they can suffocate.

The easiest way I have found to keep the air humid is to buy an under tank heating mat (1/4 the size of the tank) and place a long, shallow dish of water just above it. It needs to be topped up regularly. If the air is humid, they will come out more often during the day. They will also fill their shell with water in this dish.

Also bear in mind if you have Ecuadorian crabs, they need some salt in their water.

One other caution is to keep the substrate they are on as dry as possible to avoid bacterial infections.

Ken

 

[utahfish]

i had hermit crabs back in the day. i had one for about two years. he molted once and actually lived yet he didnt switch shells. they need a variety of empty shells to choose from when shedding. i kept my crab in a ten gallon tank with some fake grass covering,almost like astro turf. he didnt have a heatr or anything. i fed him pellets and sometimes tried friuts and vegetables,(fresh). he had a water dish, no humidifer just a water dish. he dint stay in his tank much though. we let him out alot and he crawled all over the house. he also had a little wooden cave deal that he slept under. i hear they need things to climb on like wood but i never had any i just let mine crawl around stuff in the house. anyway good luck with them.

 

[EX-AmP]

same experience with utah, then he get out (i dont know how....) and i never found him again. just his shell when i was looking in a pot collecting pennies (i was like...7) =/