| Basic Crab Care Things you need to know! This is some basic information, found on the web and in books, about how to care for your crabs. For more information, check out www.hermit-crabs.com |
| First: The Crabitat |
| Before you buy any crabs, it is a good idea to set up a place for them to live. This should consist of a container to keep them in, a good substrate (floor) for them to walk on and dig in, as well as some shells and toys for the crabs to play on. |
| The Container: A standard glass aquarium is a good container to keep your crabs in. Dan and John's aquarium is a 30 gallon piece, but for 4 or 5 smaller crabs, a 10 gallon aquarium is probably fine. It might also be a good idea to keep a top of some sort on your aquarium... crabs are master escape artists. The Substrate: The crabs need some sort of a ground cover in the crabitat to aid in their footing, as well as for them to bury themselves in. We use small bead aquarium gravel, it is cheap and gives a firm footing. You can also buy some sort of sand bottom for your tank, but it doesn't give quite as good a footing. Many pet stores sell calcium enriched sand, and that can get very expensive. Finally, when putting any sort of substrate into your aquarium, check to make sure that it is clean before hand, with no bugs or mildew like smell. Toys and Shells: Crabs love to climb, and they also need a suitable shell to call home. Fill your crabitat with good shells that are roughly the same size, if not slightly bigger, as those that your crabs live in when you buy them. A good crab shell is one that has an opening just a little bigger than the crab's large claw, and that isn't excessively elongated or wide. Check out these shells... Also put in other climbing pieces such as driftwood and coral. |
| Second: Choosing Crabs. |
| First Consideration: First, know that crabs are social creatures. Don't force your crab to live a life of lonliness, keep several crabs in your tank. To the Pet Store: Well, now there are a few things to know about picking out crabs at the pet store. There are two basic considerations when choosing crabs at the store. These considerations are; size and health. |
| Size |
| Just a personal opinion, but I believe that it is a good idea to get crabs that are about equal in size to one another. Crabs can range greatly in size, and I just believe that little ones will do better without big ones stepping on them. Small crabs will get bigger by molting. |
| Health |
| You obviously want to get a healthy hermit crab when you go to the pet store, so here are a few ways to get a basic feel for the health of a hermit crab when picking one out. |
| 1) Activity Level: |
| An active crab is generally a healthy crab. If the crab is moving around quite a bit, it is a good sign. Don't be discouraged if a crab isn't active though, they are more active at night and may not come out right away in the pet store at two the afternoon. If they are slow to come out, spritz them with a little non-chlorinated water. This will usually wake them up. |
| 2) Number of Legs: |
| A hermit crab is supposed to have one big claw, one little claw, and four prominent legs when he extends from his shell. If a crab is missing more than one, they will generally have a harder time getting around and missing legs may indicate poor health. However, Ahab had only two legs and has since molted and regenerated his missing legs. |
| 3) Hygiene: |
| Before buying your crab, smell it. If it smells musty, it may be in poor health. If it smells fishy, it may be dead. If, when you pick it up, you notice mites coming out of its shell, its shell is infested and they should be de-mited before being placed in the crabitat. Crabs can be de-mited by being bathed in non-chlorinated water. We will talk about bathing later. |