Crabitat done!

[HHIhermies1004]

I think I’m done with my crabitat finally. It’s a 40 gallon with 4 Es 8-10 inches of substrate and ideal temp and humidity. They have all the climbing options available to them as well as fresh water and saltwater. Food is a mixture of fresh and dried options from the safe list and of course pesticide free. It’s change every 2 days since I’ve noticed some of my crabs like it a little older than others. I would like a better shell collection but that’s a working process.

I’ve started from a critter keeper...the surf shop offered a deal buy a medium critter keeper comes with 2 crabs. I’d say the keeper is maybe 3 gallons and they sold all E crabs. One of my crabs was a lone crab kept in a tank at Petco and the last one was a adoption. Then I moved into a 10 gallon and finally this 40 gallon breeder with all the fixings. Who knew a summer time pet for my daughter would become such a delightful project.

We thought about adopting more crabs because we thought the tank was so “big” but with advice from HCA staff and upon completion of the tank I think we will stick with our gang of 4. Thanks for all the help everyone let me know if I’m missing anything.


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[fandt94]

Looks really nice! I can’t wait to get my new tank set up now

[HHIhermies1004]

Looks really nice! I can’t wait to get my new tank set up now

Thanks! Oh man setting up a tank is surprisingly relaxing!! Good luck on your new set up, I know it’ll be awesome.


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[AwesomeHermit]

I started with a five gallon with 2 medium crabs, bone-dry substrate, 5 mm deep pools, and no humidity or temperature in the recommended, and I thought I knew so much.

[hermiwormi]

Very nice! I'm now re-organizing my 40 because my crabs moved back into it after a small vacation. I'm adding and taking things out little by little

5 PPs: Koa, Moja, Siam, Chella, and Ozark.

[fandt94]

I started with a five gallon with 2 medium crabs, bone-dry substrate, 5 mm deep pools, and no humidity or temperature in the recommended, and I thought I knew so much.

I know! They store people made it sound like they didn’t need very much! At least when we got them home I DID know to at least get them something better than what they came in, but I sure didn’t know a thing about substrates, temps, humidity and the like. I am so happy to have hit upon this site quite quickly. I’ve been digging out the bad, dyed “crab” sand every chance I get and for now just replacing with EE. I’m glad we only did a small part of the 10 gallon with that junk. Now I’m just waiting on 2 crabs who have been down a week to see whether they are de-stressing or passed. Another is always hiding in the coco hut. It did come out the other night to check out the cholla but it was a brief visit. Keeping a close eye on that one as he is not very active. Then my other son came home with a huge, active crab that digs down for a day or two then appears to eat, drink and explore. He FINALLY changed out of his painted shell last night!

[HHIhermies1004]

I started with a five gallon with 2 medium crabs, bone-dry substrate, 5 mm deep pools, and no humidity or temperature in the recommended, and I thought I knew so much.

I know! They store people made it sound like they didn’t need very much! At least when we got them home I DID know to at least get them something better than what they came in, but I sure didn’t know a thing about substrates, temps, humidity and the like. I am so happy to have hit upon this site quite quickly. I’ve been digging out the bad, dyed “crab” sand every chance I get and for now just replacing with EE. I’m glad we only did a small part of the 10 gallon with that junk. Now I’m just waiting on 2 crabs who have been down a week to see whether they are de-stressing or passed. Another is always hiding in the coco hut. It did come out the other night to check out the cholla but it was a brief visit. Keeping a close eye on that one as he is not very active. Then my other son came home with a huge, active crab that digs down for a day or two then appears to eat, drink and explore. He FINALLY changed out of his painted shell last night!

Congrats on the shell change, I’ve been begging my crabs to change out of their painted shells I’ve seen them shopping but so far no takers. Omg the store I originally got my crabs from was horrible. They were kept in those mesh crabitats with no substrate with no way to keep their humidity in. All they had was a bowl of food and water. I got the two crabs and they gave me two tiny sponges and told me to wet the sponge twice a day and to put a tiny bit of hermit crab pellets on a shell dish the size of my thumb nail. I’m so happy I found this wealth of knowledge. Honestly if I knew before hand this is what I was getting myself into I probably wouldn’t have caved in for my daughter and bought the crabs. However now that I have them I’m glad we do. Happy crabbing!


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[hermiwormi]

I started with a five gallon with 2 medium crabs, bone-dry substrate, 5 mm deep pools, and no humidity or temperature in the recommended, and I thought I knew so much.

I know! They store people made it sound like they didn’t need very much! At least when we got them home I DID know to at least get them something better than what they came in, but I sure didn’t know a thing about substrates, temps, humidity and the like. I am so happy to have hit upon this site quite quickly. I’ve been digging out the bad, dyed “crab” sand every chance I get and for now just replacing with EE. I’m glad we only did a small part of the 10 gallon with that junk. Now I’m just waiting on 2 crabs who have been down a week to see whether they are de-stressing or passed. Another is always hiding in the coco hut. It did come out the other night to check out the cholla but it was a brief visit. Keeping a close eye on that one as he is not very active. Then my other son came home with a huge, active crab that digs down for a day or two then appears to eat, drink and explore. He FINALLY changed out of his painted shell last night!

Congrats on the shell change, I’ve been begging my crabs to change out of their painted shells I’ve seen them shopping but so far no takers. Omg the store I originally got my crabs from was horrible. They were kept in those mesh crabitats with no substrate with no way to keep their humidity in. All they had was a bowl of food and water. I got the two crabs and they gave me two tiny sponges and told me to wet the sponge twice a day and to put a tiny bit of hermit crab pellets on a shell dish the size of my thumb nail. I’m so happy I found this wealth of knowledge. Honestly if I knew before hand this is what I was getting myself into I probably wouldn’t have caved in for my daughter and bought the crabs. However now that I have them I’m glad we do. Happy crabbing!


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That's horrible. I've seen crabs kept like that in a souvenir shop, near the toys.

5 PPs: Koa, Moja, Siam, Chella, and Ozark.

[Hermiesguardian]

Congrats on the shell change, I’ve been begging my crabs to change out of their painted shells I’ve seen them shopping but so far no takers. Omg the store I originally got my crabs from was horrible. They were kept in those mesh crabitats with no substrate with no way to keep their humidity in. All they had was a bowl of food and water. I got the two crabs and they gave me two tiny sponges and told me to wet the sponge twice a day and to put a tiny bit of hermit crab pellets on a shell dish the size of my thumb nail. I’m so happy I found this wealth of knowledge. Honestly if I knew before hand this is what I was getting myself into I probably wouldn’t have caved in for my daughter and bought the crabs. However now that I have them I’m glad we do. Happy crabbing!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[/quote]That's horrible. I've seen crabs kept like that in a souvenir shop, near the toys.

5 PPs: Koa, Moja, Siam, Chella, and Ozark.[/quote]


I went on vacation a couple of weeks ago and went prepared to "rescue" 1 or 2 hermies. Sure enough...every store of course had crabs for sale. At one store I didn't see any and I was going to commend them. But I figured I'd ask first. Sure enough. They were in the back with the toys. I muttered that all the way back. "They're in the back with the toys, they're in the back with the toys, they're NOT toys!" This was the worst display. First, that part of the store was very air conditioned. And they were kept in a chicken wire cage. Even the floor was chicken wire. I asked to see 2 of the smallest. The ones I got are most likely small but possibly it just looked like that because the shells were small. One was very active the minute I held him. Their shells were freezing. As soon as we got back to our car, I transferred them to the carrier I had. It was still nice and humid with the wet moss. I sprinkled in dry food. One immediately dug down. The other one was all over the place. 

[fandt94]

Congrats on the shell change, I’ve been begging my crabs to change out of their painted shells I’ve seen them shopping but so far no takers. Omg the store I originally got my crabs from was horrible. They were kept in those mesh crabitats with no substrate with no way to keep their humidity in. All they had was a bowl of food and water. I got the two crabs and they gave me two tiny sponges and told me to wet the sponge twice a day and to put a tiny bit of hermit crab pellets on a shell dish the size of my thumb nail. I’m so happy I found this wealth of knowledge. Honestly if I knew before hand this is what I was getting myself into I probably wouldn’t have caved in for my daughter and bought the crabs. However now that I have them I’m glad we do. Happy crabbing!


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That's horrible. I've seen crabs kept like that in a souvenir shop, near the toys.

5 PPs: Koa, Moja, Siam, Chella, and Ozark.[/quote]


I went on vacation a couple of weeks ago and went prepared to "rescue" 1 or 2 hermies. Sure enough...every store of course had crabs for sale. At one store I didn't see any and I was going to commend them. But I figured I'd ask first. Sure enough. They were in the back with the toys. I muttered that all the way back. "They're in the back with the toys, they're in the back with the toys, they're NOT toys!" This was the worst display. First, that part of the store was very air conditioned. And they were kept in a chicken wire cage. Even the floor was chicken wire. I asked to see 2 of the smallest. The ones I got are most likely small but possibly it just looked like that because the shells were small. One was very active the minute I held him. Their shells were freezing. As soon as we got back to our car, I transferred them to the carrier I had. It was still nice and humid with the wet moss. I sprinkled in dry food. One immediately dug down. The other one was all over the place. [/quote]


That’s terrible! That sounds similar to the ones we saw at the fair....wire chicken cages all around, dry dish sponges randomly placed...many had climbed to the top of the cage by the lid to get out of the sun.

[GotButterflies]

Looks great! A few things I recommend with the Es - a minimum of 10" to 12" of substrate. Once that minimum is met, then you can make changes in height with the depth. I'm sure you have heard me recommend the two proteins a day as well as a couple of different calcium choices. If you really want to make your Es happy...get them a hamster wheel and modify it! Es are very active crabs!

[HHIhermies1004]

Looks great! A few things I recommend with the Es - a minimum of 10" to 12" of substrate. Once that minimum is met, then you can make changes in height with the depth. I'm sure you have heard me recommend the two proteins a day as well as a couple of different calcium choices. If you really want to make your Es happy...get them a hamster wheel and modify it! Es are very active crabs!

One more bag of playsand then hehe. However 3 of my 4 guys went underground should I wait it out until they all come back or can I add on top? I need to add sand anyway because I have more EE than I think is suggested. Will it be okay if the top layer is just playsand and the rest is EE mix?

I was looking at hamster wheels at the pet store but I’m not very handy and don’t know how to add one in without taking up precious floor space. Any suggestions?


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[GotButterflies]

You can add 1" of substrate once every 24 hours as long as you don't push it down, or move items. (You don't want to collapse tunnels).

I hang all of my wheels upside down by using command strips

I personally love the kaytee silent spinners.

[HHIhermies1004]

You can add 1" of substrate once every 24 hours as long as you don't push it down, or move items. (You don't want to collapse tunnels).

I hang all of my wheels upside down by using command strips

I personally love the kaytee silent spinners.

Aha! Thanks will totally do that!!


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[GotButterflies]

Yw!