New to hermit crabs

Kiki_LHC · Post by **Kiki_LHC** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 3:34 pm

I have recently purchased 2 hermit crabs ( in a 10 gal aquarium set up by the specialist at the pet store. I have read books and besides crab food have put in there foods the book says they like but its never touched?? And one comes out of his shell and moves locations but the other doesn't. Why?

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 5:17 pm

@Kiki, first let me welcome you to the forums and the family here at LHC.com on behalf of the staff and the community. Secondly your hermitcrabs are not eating for several reasons: 1. they are stressed and need to be left alone for four weeks to allow them to properly acclimate to their new surroundings and molt if need be, the journey they take from their native habitat to the harvesters warehouse to the store can take several weeks to months and is very stress inducing as they have been in overcrowded conditions this whole time with little to no real care which most often leads to sick or diseased hermits when they finally reach the store not to mention during this whole process they have had to put off molting because conditions just haven't been suitable or conducive to such activities so the molt inhibiting hormone has had ample time to build up to extremely toxic levels and once peak saturation levels of the hormone are achieved it tends to throw the hermitcrab into a surface molt or just simply kills the crab which is unfortunate.2, the hermitcrabs may not actually be able to eat the food as small specimens really can't crush pelleted type foods and larger specimens will abstain from such foods as they lack any sort of nutritional value what-so-ever.You need to look at the ingredients list on any commercially prepared hermitcrab foods you might have and check for ingredients like ethoxyquin, copper sulfate, iron sulfate, ferrous oxide or sulfate, bha and bht.If any of these ingredients are present then the food needs to be tossed as these ingredients are actually normally used as industrial pesticides and as such can not discriminate against the insects they are meant to kill and the hermitcrabs they are being fed to. Here is link to our main safe foods list it will help you give your little ones an all organic diet that will give them long long lives.I'm interested in your tank setup, what are you using for substrate, are you offering both fresh and marine grade dechlorinated salt water, what are you using for heat and whats the humidity level like in the enclosure? I'll let you digest this bit and then I'll get back to you as soon as I can as I am eager to see if the associate at the pet store really knew what he/she was doing when they set your tank up for you.This community has learned the hard way that most books on the subject leave a lot lacking and even promote old or false care habits and most pet stores and their employees don't know the first thing about proper hermitcrab care which is why they so often have the hermitcrabs either with the fish or with the reptiles and try to care for them in a similar fashion as the other animals in the same section which rarely turns out good for the poor crabs.

Kiki_LHC · Post by **Kiki_LHC** » Sat Mar 01, 2014 4:06 am

Hi. To answer your questions: I crush the pellet food and it does not have any of the ingredients that you listed. I use hermit crab sand as substrate. The aqarium is in the kitchen which is our warmest room and the thermometer inside the cage stays right around 75 and the humidity gauge stays right around 70. I put in diced pieces of food that books and online searches state hermit crabs also like and even that doesn't seem touched. The one is fairly active, especially when you bring him out of the aqarium. But the second is by far not as active for some reason.

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Sat Mar 01, 2014 11:07 am

Sounds ok, except could you elaborate on the hermit crab sand? Some people mistakenly use calcium sand. It's supposed to be more like play sand that you get at Home Depot.And it should be about three times as deep as the hermit crab is tall.It can be difficult to catch the crabs eating, or even see evidence of anything chewed. Yet they do. If you can get a dried maple leaf or two put them in there and the crabs will make a lot more noise when they walk over them. If the leaf is perfect, then you'll see where the crab has been eating them, too.

Kiki_LHC · Post by **Kiki_LHC** » Sat Mar 01, 2014 6:52 pm

To be honest I don't know the name of the sand. Its in the hermit crab section at the pet stor. And I have it about 5 inches deep.they have a hut, fake foliage, a large bark to hide under and climb, cuttlebone, extra shells for molting, small shells the one likes to play around with. So they eat such small quantities that I wouldn't notice? But every night I smooth out the sand and only the active crab eats. The non active one doesn't make any tracks. Why isn't he active and how can I get him to be more active?

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Sun Mar 02, 2014 3:35 am

The quiet one is probably recovering from something. You can't force him to do anything. Just be kind and patient.My big crab molts for almost 60 days. Then she comes out of it happy.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Sun Mar 02, 2014 9:00 am

@Kiki, it's advisable to use commercial hermitcrab diets very sparingly as most brands have little nutritional value.You can offer the commercial foods once a week and then alternate fresh fruits and veggies for the other days of the week.Try doing proteins like raw whole shrimp, krill, fish and other types of crab at least twice a week but it would be preferable to offer one of these every day of the week mixed with something else you really want to cover proteins, cellulose(fiber), calcium, chitin, healthy fatty acids/oils, color enhancing pigments and nitrogen in every meal if you can as this will encourage healthy molts and can even speed up the growth process over time.A year ago I had three small Ecuadorians and now they are golf ball size in just twelve months due to the same diet plan outlined above.Your inactive crab is likely dealing with PPS or post purchase stress and just needs to be left alone for the next four weeks or so.It may decide to go down to molt in that time which is not at all uncommon.

Kiki_LHC · Post by **Kiki_LHC** » Sun Mar 02, 2014 9:31 am

If the hermit crabs can't eat the commercial pellets and I crush them, how do you feed the fruits, vegetables, and seafood?

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Sun Mar 02, 2014 5:58 pm

@Kiki, you can offer the shrimp, krill and various other types of crab as is the hermitcrabs will take care of the rest.Fruits and veggies can be given mushed, whole or diced its your choice as these are soft foods the hermits will have a very easy time nipping pieces off to eat on.

ILoveHermies · Post by **ILoveHermies** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 12:12 pm

You can also give them organic baby food as long as the fruits/veggies are on the safe foods list. My hermit crabs are not a big fan of fresh food besides baby food, but they love dried shrimp, fruits (especially coconut), and worm castings. Your crabs may not like certain food, so be sure to try and switch them around ever day

jenok · Post by **jenok** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 3:01 am

Try too find out if your sand is calcium sand/reptile sand. These usually come in different colors/dyed and are very fine grain. This sand while the crabs can eat it for calcium aren't a good substrate and the dyes they put in aren't good for the crabs either. When it gets wets it can harden almost like cement which can trap the crab in its shell. You can use playsand found at most home improvement stores and its cheaper than buying that other sand at the pet store. The sand needs to be moist/sandcastle consistency so the crabs can dig tunnels and molt/shed under it and it helps with the humidity. Try to get your temps up to 80 and the humidity up to 80 and your crabs will be a lot happier.

Kiki_LHC · Post by **Kiki_LHC** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 3:37 pm

I have done all of this. My concern is that I don't notice any food gone as if they have eaten.I put in a shrimp as you suggested but it was still whole the next day. I have done fruits and vegetables, applesause, coconut, honey, peanut butter, etc and none ever looks touched.

Keg · Post by **Keg** » Fri Mar 07, 2014 5:17 am

I know, they're funny like that - it's difficult to see them eating anything. Once I had a cockroach get in the crabitat and I watched it eat the crab food and it seemed to eat more than the crab.It can be a challenge to find evidence of anything eaten, even after many years. The easiest thing is baby food. You can see where they ate it. If you have a perfect, whole maple leaf, you can see (and hear) where they chew it, and they will eat the entire thing eventually. Another thing is walnuts - if the nut is perfect, you can see it being chewed.The shrimp... I know. It is hard to see where they ate it. But even so, if I put a shrimp in there, I have no guilt that the crab will go hungry because it only makes sense that it is a high quality food. I've heard that if they want calcium, they can actually break apart clam shells. They're really really strong. And if they actually get hungry, they will eat surprisingly funky things. Like rotting fish. Don't worry about them being incompetent about finding the food. They'll find it if they're hungry. They just take a long time to figure out because they're so alien.

Kiki_LHC · Post by **Kiki_LHC** » Fri Mar 07, 2014 6:52 am

Thank you very much! I have had them for a few months now and I just want to make sure they are eating (lol)

crazycrabber · Post by **crazycrabber** » Fri May 30, 2014 9:15 am

it is hard to see if they have been eating, they don't eat too much.