Spilt household

[BlueStatic]

I love this forum! My 12 year old son bought a hermit crab while on vacation with his mom over 2 months ago. I’ve used this sub to help create an appropriate crabitat and he has molted and is back walking around and seems to be doing great! We will add another PP soon!

My question: we are a split household - my son stays with his mom during the week and then with me every weekend. How stressful is it on the hermit crabs to travel every weekend for a 20min car drive? We had been transporting a 10gal tank back and forth between houses but I felt that it could be causing stress and I want to get him a bigger tank which we would not be able to move back and forth. What if the crabs had a tank at my house and at his mom’s house - would changing their environment like that not be a good thing? I’m thinking it is best for them to stay at one house all the time for consistency.

[ItsMixed]

It is probably better to keep the Hermits in one tank instead of moving them around. It is a little stressful for them when picked up and transported. There is also the issue of the long-term damage of temp and humidity drops when transporting. Bringing the whole tank would solve this issue, but the car ride may be uncomfortable. It is ultimately up to you whether you switch them between houses or not, but I would recommend doing so with caution and keeping them in the tank while moving them. Doing this would not necessarily kill or hurt the hermits, but if this can be avoided and have them kept in a singular place, that is the best option. Cheers to crabbing and good luck!!!

[ROSIEonFIRE]

I second the previous poster. Not only will it be stressful for the crabs and bad for the crabitat, but if a crab is in the process of molting it could be seriously injured or even killed if moved or transported. Best to just have the crabs live at one house.

[crabocado]

Absolutely, I agree the crabs should stay in one house. Probably his mom's, so he can attend to his crabs 5 days a week instead of 2. (But, if you are more into crabs than his mom, then your place might make more sense.) As the crabs grow and molt, and the tank is upgraded with lots of substrate, it will become next to impossible to regularly transport them.

Perhaps he could have a different pet kept at your place, for the weekends? Like maybe a fish? Just a thought.

[wodesorel]

This raises a good question actually, I'm not entirely sure it would be very stressful for some inquisitive crabs, so long as the enclosures stay the same between moves, once they have time to get used to the process. We have members who regularly do out of tank time, and moving between tanks isn't that much different. It sounds like the transport period is brief, so if you can keep them calm and without major environmental swings, that really shouldn't be harmful.

However, I wouldn't suggest trying it until they have molted at least once though, as they're still recovering from the heck that they go through when collected from the wild and shipped half a world away. Any additional stress before they've had time to adjust to captivity and heal any hidden injuries can push them over the edge to where they can't recover. The beginning (of course when new owners are the most excited!) is the crabs' hardest time and when they need to be left alone as much as possible.

You'll also have to figure out what to do about molts, and buried crabs. Once they are down, they should never be disturbed. That would mean leaving behind any that aren't up and moving, and they may just be hiding for just that day, or they may end up molting for months. Are both of the adults involved ready to deal with that, so that the crabs have stability while your son isn't around? Is your son patient enough to not press the issue and poke around for a missing crab because it's time to leave?