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| The basic and advanced information that the crab kiosk or pet store didn't tell you... | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Land Hermit Crabs are often sold as low maintence and cheap throw away pets. Maybe you went to the pet store for a goldfish and found a crab instead. Pretty much the same right? A little food in a shell, some water in a dish. BOOM! instant crab tank. Chances are if you have or own a land hermit crab your pet came to you (or is still in) a small plastic carrier which is not adequate housing for your new pet. Hopefully this page will give you a better idea of how to properly get your new pet into a more 'comfortable' environment that will both be better for the crab and pleasing to the owner. Did you know that all hermit crabs that are sold at a crab kiosk or pet store are caught straight from the wild? There has yet to be a proven instance of someone that has successfully bred land hermit crabs. They are plucked straight from their natural homes and into tanks/cages. But don't let all this shy you away from hermit crabs as pets! They are amazing pets once properly set up and will provide you years of entertainment and companonship. If your looking for a unique pet - your in luck. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| What is PPS? | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| PPS is more commenly known as Pre-Purchase Stress. This unfortunantly is the cause of death for most new crabs. Between being caught in the wild, being shipped, stored for who knows how long without the proper humidity or temperature, and then waiting in a pet store... a lot of crabs just can't handle it. Unfortunantly there is no way to tell if a crab is suffering from PPS at the time of purchase, It can take anywhere from 6 months to a year to present itself. The only thing that can be done to prevent this is make people aware of what a crab needs to survive. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| What is MOLTING? | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Have you come home to a tank filled with crab legs and have no idea what has happened to your precious pet? You might want to check and see if your crab has indeed molted... The actual molting process only takes somewhere between one and two hours, and can be a crabbers worst nightmare. Molting takes place about once to twice a year depending on the size of the crab. Sure signs of a recent molt will include: hallowed out limbs in the tank or SHARP tips on the ends of your crabs legs. It is NOT unusual or should it worry you for a crab to molt more frequently. Smaller crabs will molt more often and bigger crabs will take longer in between molts. So that leaves a sort of time frame for a molt. There isn't an exact amount of time the crab will take, when the crab is ready and needs to do it he/she will do it. Over time an owner will learn which 'symptoms' a crab shows to tell that he/she is in "pre-molt." After a molt it will take the crab about a week or two to become "hardend" and ready to return back to the tank with his/her tank mates. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| How do I bathe a Hermit Crab?? | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rub a dub dub! Yes, thats right from time to time your hermit crab will need a bath. To bathe a hermit crab your going to need a few supplies. First and foremost your going to want to find "Stress Coat" (this will be available in the fish section of most pet stores...) and a sturdy small container to hold the water. The water should be deep enough to cover your crabs shell completely and be about room temp. What your going to want to do is fill the dish and add a drop or two of stress coat. (This will add to the hermit crabs natural slime coat with aloe vera, making it easier for the crab to breathe) Dip the crab in the water briefly (not too long a crab can and will drown if left in the water for longer than two minutes...) I reccomened about 30 seconds, and allow the crab to dry off in another seperate bin. It's easier if the second dry off bin has paper towels to control the excess water. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Do "Land Hermit Crabs" need water? | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| I get this question pretty frequently, and the short answer is, yes. Land Hermit Crabs should be given water in a shallow dish that is kept in their tank at all times. As far as I'm concerned I personally don't use sponges and have no problems at all with humidity. However, some may opt to use sponges in the water dish as it DOES help with humidity if needed. Hermit crabs breathe through modified gills so humidity is very important to them. Without having humidity in the 75-79% range they will have difficulties breathing. (blech!) This is one of the main reasons that one should not keep crab in a tank that either doesn't have a lid or has a slotted lid. (or worse a cage...) a lid can either be purchased or if your really handy, home made. To make a lid all you need to do is wrap Saran wrap around a piece of cardboard and use it as you would a lid. The only thing you need to remember is to allow for some airflow to prevent mold from developing. Easy, eh? | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| I heard hermit crabs can be held? Won't they pinch?? | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| This may take a little bit of time but can be done with great success. You might not be able to 'hug' your crab but your crab (once tame) will be able to walk from hand to hand without you risking a pinch. To start the procees take your new (or current...) crab and place him on a stretched out palm. This will allow the crab to get used to you safely and learn to trust you without giving the crab something to crab on to. Keep this going for awhile...most crabs will do this right away and you'll be done, however, some might need work. Children should be supervised when holding a crab at all times. The crab should feel safe from being dropped or 'squeezed.' Most crabs will only pinch out of fear. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hermit crab just left his shell! What now? | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| First off, relax. Relaxed? Let's coninue... :) Your going to want to take the crabs old shell and a few shells that are the crabs size and steralize them. To do this take the shells and place them gently in rapidly boiling water for a few minutes. Watch closely to make sure there is no cracking etc. Allow them to cool for a few minutes. Take your now steralized shells and place them with the crab in a small container away from other crabs. - - hope for the best. Once the crab has chosen a home you can either put the crab into ISO and watch for a day or two to make sure the crab is not under too much stress or you can put the crab back into the main tank. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Don't leave quite yet! There are TWO pages today... | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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