Help! Coenobita scaevola found on a plane!

[ReluctantCrabMom]

Hello,
Please can somebody advise me on what to do with a hermit crab found on a plane from the Red Sea? The poor crab was found wandering up the aisle, a passenger found it and handed it to the cabin crew. On arrival in England nobody knew what to do with it and I intervened when I heard suggestions of putting it in the sea or putting in on the grass at the airport (currently 6°C here in England!). I have had one hour to Google Red Sea hermit crabs and clearly it appears to be a small "Coenobita scaevola". Does anybody have any advice? Are there hermit crab people in southern England who would take him in? I know somebody going on holiday to the Canary Islands, would he survive on a beach down there?! Poor crabbie.. Thanks in advance!

[HermitGuy3]

Definitely do not release anywhere! He will either die, cause ecological destruction, or both. You will have to take him in or find someone willing to take him in. You can read the basic care sheet here for him. If you want a video form, watch Crab Central Station. You will have to do some special research for his species too. I have never even heard of his species before so you might have to dig deep. Please get him into some suitable conditions fast. If you get someone else to take him, please also recommend these sources.
Hope this helps and hope the little guy survives!
Can you post pictures of him?

[curlysister]

I agree with checking out our 'basics' care sheet. And with not releasing him anywhere.
Crab Central Station differs in a number of ways from our recommendations - also I find her extremely annoying. When I got my crabs, I decided to follow care advice from only one group, in order to minimize conflicting advice.
I hope that you can either find someone to take him, or can get a tank set up for him.

[ReluctantCrabMom]

Thank you to both of you. I have taken your advice and now I'm $200 in the hole for an entire habitat for this tiny hermit crab replete with hidey holes, rockery, fake Red Sea shrubbery, a beach and watering holes. Terrainium #1 is already being sent back for being too small and terrainium #2 is on the way. Right now Gary Gang Hermit is living it up in my biggest cooking pan with dechlorinated and de-heavy-metal'd filtered salt water rinsed speckled sand, two choices of water for shell replenishmrnt and a selection of food. His 250 shell replacement wardrobe options arrive on Monday, I decided to skip the findings of the 2013 Wadi El-Gemal ecological study of shell preferences for Coenobita scaevola and instead just let him do the work of deciding what fits. I had plans for my weekend, this wasn't them.

I wasn't able to purchase an inflatable companion for him, so he may have to try to tough it out until the summer when I might be able to enact a plan to smuggle him back to the Red Sea resort where he seems to have come from.

It's been a whirlwind 20 hours in the world of hermit crabs, thank you for the great resource that is Hermit Crab Association.

Edit: Read all about this discerning little critter here ...

https://coenobitaspecies.com/coenobita-scaevola/

[curlysister]

Nice! Good job getting everything set up!
One clarification, what is 'speckled' sand? Is that what we would call play sand in North America?

[ReluctantCrabMom]

Hi, thank you, definitely a work in progress, building a bigger tank now and still getting things I've not realised are needed, like water bubblers, etc. Here is a link to the "speckled" sand I got, I think it looks a bit dark when damp so I'm going to mix in some lighter stuff ...

https://amzn.eu/d/a8dhRee

[ReluctantCrabMom]

P.S. Can not work out how to post pictures yet

[HermitGuy3]

Hi, thank you, definitely a work in progress, building a bigger tank now and still getting things I've not realised are needed, like water bubblers, etc. Here is a link to the "speckled" sand I got, I think it looks a bit dark when damp so I'm going to mix in some lighter stuff ...

https://amzn.eu/d/a8dhRee

That sand is not safe unfortunately, you need to get playsand. You can buy it from your local hardware store.

[JoeHermits]

Hi, thank you, definitely a work in progress, building a bigger tank now and still getting things I've not realised are needed, like water bubblers, etc. Here is a link to the "speckled" sand I got, I think it looks a bit dark when damp so I'm going to mix in some lighter stuff ...

https://amzn.eu/d/a8dhRee

Is that sand or fine aquarium gravel? It looks like the latter to me, which may not hold tunnels well


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[noora2727]

Hi,

do you still have your C.Scaevola with you? I have one too. I got it in kind of similar way as you - some woman brought it to veterinary clinic where I work. She accidentally brought it to Latvia from Egypt- thought it was an empty seashell.
If you have some questions about C.scaevola - you are welcome to ask.
My little crab (his name is Hasan) is with me for almost 1.5 years. Living and growing beautifully. Very funny hermit crab - does lots of clumsy stuff. I love him very much - he was my first after all.
He is living now with two C. Violasenc and one C. Perlatus hermit crabs. They get along great.