HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello I've had my pp crabs for a few weeks 2 very small n I guess the other two are medium the one medium died think the stress got to him I have them in a 10 gallon tank with fluorescent bub bulb in the hood light also with a heater pad stuck to the inside back wall to cover up the big hole in the hood I have aluminum foil to keep heat inside also have calcium sand wich they seem to don't mind there barrier down in the sand now so the question is should I wet the sand or leave it alone ...i want to make there lives a happy one ...please help

Welcome to HCA! We don't recommend using calcium sand, as it is known to stick to the crabs and harden, basically turning into concrete and can kill them. Many use playsand (the kind sold for sandboxes) mixed with coconut fiber (the loose kind, not the chunks of wood, usually comes in a brick from pet stores that breaks down by adding water to it, a very popular brand is Eco Earth), or just one of the two. I would recommend reading over our care guides, which can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=51&t=92457
Happy crabbing!

Oh snap what should I do now they are way under the sand and from humidity the sand is moist

I would first buy the correct items for the substrate, and then carefully dig the crabs up and place them each in separate containers while you replace the sand.

Ty very much ...i don't know why these ppl in pet stores sell you stuff that's not suppose to be with these fragile things guess they want to make a quick dollar of the consumer

Tazz9040 wrote:Ty very much ...i don't know why these ppl in pet stores sell you stuff that's not suppose to be with these fragile things guess they want to make a quick dollar of the consumer

Most things marketed for hermit crabs aren't good for them. Even the food.

Hermiesguardian wrote:

Tazz9040 wrote:Ty very much ...i don't know why these ppl in pet stores sell you stuff that's not suppose to be with these fragile things guess they want to make a quick dollar of the consumer

Most things marketed for hermit crabs aren't good for them. Even the food.

The problem is that many of our pets are poorly studied. Most of what we know about crab care today is from anecdotal evidence.

That works for us, but corporations need scientific evidence to prove that a product is defective (from a third-party laboratory to prevent skewed results). Proving that the compounds used in food are unsafe in any amount would require a potentially expensive, multi-year food trial.


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Ok I got the play sand and a 3 brick pack eco earth compressed coconut fiber going to read up on how much each for a 10 gallon tank ...when I started to dig up my crabs the one had a tunnel..lolol now in that said should I rinse them off with a eye dropper with chlorinated water before I put them back in

I would recommend using a 5 parts sand to 1 part eco earth ratio, and just filling up the tank until it's 6 inches. How many crabs do you have again?

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I have 3 2 are like teeny n other one is almost medium

For my 10 gallon I used 1 bag of play sand and the rest eco earth. I didn't go by the 5:1 ratio because i like the eco earth look more, but it's each own opinion.
I'm very sorry about your crab that passed, PPS is terrible!!

Good luck! Welcome to the HCA!!