Marine hermit crabs from beach!

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ciaraalston
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Marine hermit crabs from beach!

Post by ciaraalston » Sun Apr 28, 2019 6:50 pm

My boyfriends mom took his sister to the beach today. They know I have hermit crabs, but they've never really learned much about them. They assumed it's the kind from the beach, so they brought me 4. I quickly explained the difference, but the beach is over an hour away! I wont be able to get there until Wednesday due to work. How can I make them comfortable until then???

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wodesorel
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Re: Marine hermit crabs from beach!

Post by wodesorel » Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:00 pm

A gallon of Instant Ocean changed daily should be fine. We've had them live for weeks before as land crabs. They are strong little dudes!
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ciaraalston
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Re: Marine hermit crabs from beach!

Post by ciaraalston » Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:06 pm

YEARS ago a friend of mine brought some home from the same beach. A quick google search and some items from walmart, I was able to keep them alive for about 4 months before we brought them back to the beach. I was living in a SUPER TINY apartment and they smelled! It probably didn't help that I kept them on my kitchen counter, what little bit I had. Lol

Here's what i threw together real quick:
Image
I had some leftover ee/sand from the 55 so I made a sloped bank and poured some salt water in. (Prime treated fresh water with instant ocean salt mixed)

If my memory serves me, I kept the previous ones alive on peanut butter, rice, and cheerios. I had a desk lamp beaming over their tote of dry sand with no lid. (Thankfully I live in Louisiana so its naturally pretty humid around here. Prolly not enough for them to be healthy, but enough to have stayed alive for 4 months)

Wode, are you saying I could actually keep these babies alive and healthy long term? If its decently attainable, I'm down! How extensive are we talking?

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wodesorel
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Re: Marine hermit crabs from beach!

Post by wodesorel » Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:21 pm

SG is the one to talk to, she's done it before!
Want to see all my crazy pets? @waywardwaifs on Instagram

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ciaraalston
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Re: Marine hermit crabs from beach!

Post by ciaraalston » Sun Apr 28, 2019 7:52 pm

Well, I have to get to bed. Work comes early in the morning!!
I put them some beef tripe and shredded coconut in there, hopefully that's something they'll eat. One is already comfortable in the deep end of the water, and another was starting to dig into the sub.
Image
Image

Thanks for the help wode!!! If anyone else has any advice, I'm all ears. If I can set them up a decent tank in the house, I'll keep them. If its an entire professional saltwater aquarium type set up, I might have to bring them back to the beach. We will see!

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soilentgringa
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Re: Marine hermit crabs from beach!

Post by soilentgringa » Mon Apr 29, 2019 2:01 am

They are thin stripes and if you can get them back to the beach take them.

I rescued two of them from HCA members about 6 months apart because they got brought home in shells.

They grow quickly, are aggressive, and need a complete marine tank setup. They are fully aquatic.

I think the only reason some have lived for long after being brought home is that they can pull themselves so far back into their shells that they are in the shell water and since they can wear more of a variety of shells than land crabs that some of them hold more water if that makes sense.

We set up a 20 gallon marine rescue tank and I had one thin stripe for months with some brine shrimp and even with great tank conditions, not too long after the second was added, one ate the other and then the other died in a large container of water overnight when I quarantined it to handle the massive brine shrimp explosion.

(Kid dropped a giant pinch of shrimp eggs into the tank and it became very, very shrimpy-but the crabs loved eating them.)

Also live rock is not cheap and you need 1lb of live rock per gallon of water.


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Re: Marine hermit crabs from beach!

Post by ciaraalston » Mon Apr 29, 2019 5:03 am

soilentgringa wrote:They are thin stripes and if you can get them back to the beach take them.

I rescued two of them from HCA members about 6 months apart because they got brought home in shells.

They grow quickly, are aggressive, and need a complete marine tank setup. They are fully aquatic.

I think the only reason some have lived for long after being brought home is that they can pull themselves so far back into their shells that they are in the shell water and since they can wear more of a variety of shells than land crabs that some of them hold more water if that makes sense.

We set up a 20 gallon marine rescue tank and I had one thin stripe for months with some brine shrimp and even with great tank conditions, not too long after the second was added, one ate the other and then the other died in a large container of water overnight when I quarantined it to handle the massive brine shrimp explosion.

(Kid dropped a giant pinch of shrimp eggs into the tank and it became very, very shrimpy-but the crabs loved eating them.)

Also live rock is not cheap and you need 1lb of live rock per gallon of water. Image


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Wow! Okay, I appreciate the advice! back to the beach they go!

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4 purple pinchers & 2 ecuadorians living a life of luxury in south west Louisiana.
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ROSIEonFIRE
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Re: Marine hermit crabs from beach!

Post by ROSIEonFIRE » Mon Apr 29, 2019 3:03 pm

Oy. Who doesn't like a living creature (read: responsibility) as a present lol. GL!

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soilentgringa
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Re: Marine hermit crabs from beach!

Post by soilentgringa » Mon Apr 29, 2019 9:07 pm

ROSIEonFIRE wrote:Oy. Who doesn't like a living creature (read: responsibility) as a present lol. GL!

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That’s how we ended up in this Image


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RiNiKy506
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Re: Marine hermit crabs from beach!

Post by RiNiKy506 » Tue Apr 30, 2019 3:50 pm

They are really cool looking, at least you can enjoy them for awhile before you take them back. Very admirable of you to take them back to the beach.

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