HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So I'm moving in the coming weekend finally, I have 4 crabs in a 2 story 40b. I just wanted to be sure they would be okay in a 10 gallon tank with about 4 inches of sub and 1 small dish of salt and fresh and a small food dish for no more than 14 hours? I just have to put them in, empty the sand into a few totes and then move just 10 minutes away with the tank and sub to set it all up again (and adding a new 2-3 inch layer of EE on one half, just to see how they feel about it) before transferring them back.

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I'd honestly just do an inch of substrate to discourage digging and make it easier to transfer them back to the 40g once set up. They will be fine easily for a day or two (heck even a week or two wouldn't be too concerning).

That's fantastic, I believe my smallest crab cheech is getting ready to molt as he is quite pale and digging a lot and I would love to have him tranfered to a temp tank before that happens.

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good luck on the move!

Arkos wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 02, 2021 9:33 am

That's fantastic, I believe my smallest crab cheech is getting ready to molt as he is quite pale and digging a lot and I would love to have him tranfered to a temp tank before that happens.

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If he does moult in the temp tank, isolate (a small cup, butter or deli container works great, keep the lid on and poke a number of holes) so the other crabs can't get to him and allow him to moult in peace away from the other crabs in a dark environment. Once the old tank is set up, continue to keep him in the 10g (you can take the lid off the container if you want) and keep him in there until he has finished. Normally this means he is actively moving around and then, add him directly in to the main tank after a quick dip in the freshwater pool to remove any residual moult smells and allow him to transfer incognito.

So. The move is done. And I’m very thankful I had to move as there was the beginnings of a flood stating with a very small amount of standing water, about 1/16 of an inch deep. I kept the good sandcastle sub in one bin and the super saturated half in another tote. Since then over 2 days I’ve had to dump off a considerable amount of water out of the tote that rose to the top. I’m wondering if I can throw a brick or 2 of EE in and it would be okay to reuse. Also how do I tell if it’s had a bacterial bloom? If I need to completely redo the half of the sub that was soaked I have a couple bricks of EE and about 75lbs of sand so I should be okay for a half change. My crabs have been in a 10 gallon for 3 days now and I would love to have them back in there big tank by tomorrow.

Also, I’ve kept the bowls and background and second level and shells in a tote without a lid in a room, shut from any of my animals. I can just put it right back in the tank after a rinse correct?

Yeah, I would totally just give it a rinse and put things back in.

A bacterial bloom will smell terrible, and the sub would be discolored, like black or grey. If it has just been wet, you can totally use it again.

Awesome. Thank you so much for your reply. They’re quite unhappy in the 10 gallon. Can’t wait to have them set up in their old home again.


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Okay. The moves done, and I won’t be moving again for a long time thankfully lol. So I did end up having to dig up cheech as he was still under, I waited as absolutely long as the landlord would let me leave the tank at my old house. He’s so far okay, and I think I caught him at the end of his molt, as I didn’t cave in his molting den, I was able to see that there was no exo left and he was brightly colored. I made a kinda cave in a Tupperware and buried it, and covered the 10 gallon with a towel and left him in there. When can I be sure I can let him back with his friends?


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