New crab owner in need of guidance

Please post here if you are a new crab owner and someone will be along shortly to welcome you to the HCA! This is also the place to welcome new crabbies to your clan!
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Kermie16
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New crab owner in need of guidance

Post by Kermie16 » Wed Apr 13, 2016 10:04 pm

Hello wonderful crabbers!! My kids and I just happened upon becoming hermit crab owners. Wasn't anything planned but sometimes life is like that, right?! I had hermies when I was a teenager and never really knew just how much care these little ones needed! Anyways, im trying to do things the right way this time around and sooooo grateful for all of u and sharing your knowledge!! So, we currently have 4 PP's. We started in a 10 gallon with 3. Then happened to acquire 2 more and ended up returning 1 (back to his home as he was not doing as well with us). With the 4, and after much research on the HCA site, we purchased a 20 gallon with a glass top, and an ultra therm Uth covering the whole back side above substrate. My daughter and I have had a blast figuring out how to decorate the tank :) Our current status: 1 in the 10 gallon buried for past 3 weeks - assuming molting, 1 small pp buried in a 2.5 g for about 2 weeks, and 1 buried in main 20 g for about 5 days. That leaves us with our largest pp, my daughter named Zinnia :) I have some pics of her but not that great since she is shy amongst humans but tends to be a bit of a pushover with the smaller ones. She has knocked one of our PP's around a few times but hoping that was just them getting to know each other.

After that long winded intro, I have a few questions :
1. When the little hermie buried in the main tank - assuming he is finally molting - comes back up, do I need to isolate him for any period of time or can I just do a short bath and put him back in the Crabitat?
2. How do I spot clean with the hermies buried and possibly molting? Tried to do a little yesterday and I swore I hit his shell, and I wasn't even digging deep! I panicked and just threw a bit more substrate in that area and called it quits. I have about 6 inches mixed EE and play sand.
3. I have reptile dishes for both salt water and fresh water. But after reading on this site, I'm thinking it would probably be best to put in pools, esp for our largest, Zinnia. But, I'm afraid to do anything to the tank with Mike (our current hermie buried in 20 g tank) still being buried. What would u think would be best? Wait until Mike re-surfaces or go ahead and put the pools in? Don't want to cause harm to either hermies :/ Also, would it be better to make a bubble pool for improved air circulation in glass covered tank?
4. It seems I have a lot of humidity on the walls of the crabitat. Is that normal? I rarely need to spray inside because the humidity is stable between 78-80 and temp stays right at 80.

Will try to get some pics of our crabitat and maybe Zinnea will want to pose (lol!). That's it for now! Thank u!!

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CallaLily
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Re: New crab owner in need of guidance

Post by CallaLily » Thu Apr 14, 2016 8:51 am

Welcome! I love the name Zinnia. It's on my list. :D

1) Once he resurfaces and is climbing around, eating, etc like normal - I would place him in the freshwater pool of the main crabitat to make sure he smells familiar to the others. Then let him do his thing in the main tank.

2) Just pick up any obvious bits of food they've knocked out of the dish or hidden. Replace food and water as needed. Straighten up something they may have knocked around. That sort of thing. No need to disturb the substrate, though you can carefully scoop up a little of the surface if you're needing to remove a yucky spot from food/mold. Some crabbers add isopods to help with clean up.

3) If the water dishes you have now are deep enough that they can at least easily swap out shell water, it won't hurt to wait until your other crab is up. Though there's always a chance one of the others will have dug down by that time. :lol: If your new pools just set on the surface, you can change it up whenever.

Bubblers are great for boosting humidity, if you need it. They do also help with air flow. It's not a necessity but many crabbers use them with good results. Some crabs really seem to love the bubbles too. :D

4) Have you tested your hygrometer to make sure it's giving an accurate reading? viewtopic.php?f=26&t=92540 If so, it's good that your humiduty and temps have balanced out for you. So many have a lot of trouble with that. You can try opening up a small area of the lid along the front to clear up the condensation to help with visibility. Otherwise it shouldn't really be an issue, as long as it's not so much that it's leading to the substrate becoming flooded.

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Kermie16
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Re: New crab owner in need of guidance

Post by Kermie16 » Thu Apr 14, 2016 9:16 am

Thanks so much, CallaLilly!! I will give it all a try and see how it goes!! I got some pics of my crabitat this morning wanting to share it with the HCA, but still trying to figure out how to post it:) All of this is a big learning curve for me so just taking it day by day:) Thanks again!! :D

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Kermie16
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Re: New crab owner in need of guidance

Post by Kermie16 » Fri Apr 15, 2016 6:13 pm

I've updated my crabitat today! Wanted to post pic but can't figure out how to do it :?

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Rawrgeous
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Re: New crab owner in need of guidance

Post by Rawrgeous » Fri Apr 15, 2016 6:34 pm

http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... hp?t=87783 this will walk you through how to post pictures step by step from most websites. :)

Sent from my VS415PP using Tapatalk

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Kermie16
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Re: New crab owner in need of guidance

Post by Kermie16 » Fri Apr 15, 2016 6:55 pm

Rawrgeous wrote:http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... hp?t=87783 this will walk you through how to post pictures step by step from most websites. :)

Sent from my VS415PP using Tapatalk
Awesome!! Thanks, Rawrgeous!!

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Kermie16
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Re: New crab owner in need of guidance

Post by Kermie16 » Fri Apr 15, 2016 7:35 pm

Ok, I'm trying to figure out how to post multiple pics at one time. In the mean time it will just be 1 pic per post! Lol

Here is Zinnia, our only crab who has yet to go under with the rest!
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Kermie16
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Re: New crab owner in need of guidance

Post by Kermie16 » Fri Apr 15, 2016 7:38 pm

This is our tat before I learned about the pools.
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Kermie16
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Re: New crab owner in need of guidance

Post by Kermie16 » Fri Apr 15, 2016 7:42 pm

And tat updated today with sw and fw pools and bubblers. Also a reptisun led light on top of the glass top. I think the hermies need to come out now and check out their new crib! :lol:

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Kermie16
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Re: New crab owner in need of guidance

Post by Kermie16 » Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:36 pm

Also, just wanted to mention most of the extra shells r in the upper right moss pit. Vast majority r drying since I had to clean and boil them due to the mold from the old moss pit. Didn't want u guys to think I forgot them :)


mool
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Re: New crab owner in need of guidance

Post by mool » Sat Apr 16, 2016 10:15 am

Lookin' good! :crabbigsmile:

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Kermie16
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Re: New crab owner in need of guidance

Post by Kermie16 » Sat Apr 16, 2016 7:00 pm

Thanks!! The creating possibilities r endless!! Love looking at what other crabbers have done with their tats!! Figured I would share mine as well :D


mool
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Re: New crab owner in need of guidance

Post by mool » Tue Apr 19, 2016 12:21 pm

I don't put plastic in my tanks, but that's just a personal preference. My tanks look a lot more boring than many of the ones I see on here. If I ever get over myself, I'd love to add more color!

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