I rescued two more last night

[mool]

I brought home two PP's that had belonged to a little girl for about 3 years. They were in a 20T with about an inch of dry Eco Earth. It had a mesh top--no heat of any kind ever and no humidity ever.

They had a lot of useless supplies and food for the crabs and they truly thought they were taking excellent care of them. I asked when the crabs had last molted and they didn't know crabs molted...

Both crabs were in shells not traditionally worn by crabs, the types with long narrow slits for openings. Both crabs are small, but were in large shells that they were barely hanging onto.

I skipped the water pool test with both crabs due to their shells. I put them into the shell shop of my 40B and both immediately changed shells. One chose a rather too big, clunky unpolished turbo and the other chose a slightly too small Babylonia.

I didn't get pictures because you couldn't see them in their shells and I wanted to get them into proper conditions ASAP.

Fingers crossed. They are obviously resilient to have lived for so long in poor conditions.

[kieagcarm]

What you gonna name them? My mom went shopping and came home with a crab, said she couldn't help it cuz the lil thing was in a spongebob shell, I'm calling her bellatrix till I find out the sex. I was going to rescue some crabs from someone a friend works with who is planning on letting the crabs go by a creek. Now my tank has 2 small/mediums a baby and one in between those sizes and there is no room for the others

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[mool]

I don't name my crabs... Only one of my 12 has a name and its Molly. The rest are just "the crabs."

Knowing how many is too many is a problem many new crabbers face. They get a tank and put a couple of crabs into it. When the crabs go under the new owner gets bored with the empty looking tank and gets a few more. Soon they find themselves with 10-12 crabs in a small tank and wonder why the crabs aren't getting along. It's an easy trap to fall into. You think you are saving them and helping them, but really you're not. You might be making things better in the short term, but in the long term they are stressed competing for resources.

I have a 55 gallon tank; a 40 gallon tank; two 20 long tanks, a 20 tall tank and at least five 10 gallon tanks--my total crab count is 12 crabs. I'm really selective about adding to my colony. I think my 55 gallon is way over crowded with 6 crabs in it. I'd like to upgrade it to a 75 gallon without adding any more crabs. A 75 will fit on my stand, so that's what I'm looking for.

[Kermie16]

I think it is truly amazing that they had these crabs in such poor living conditions for 3 years! They have to be some tough crabs to make it that long! Congrats to your new additions !! They will surely love their new home[HEAVY BLACK HEART]️


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[Rawrgeous]

Congrats on the new Adoptees, I'm sure they'll love their new digs, and be much happier with you.

[mool]

So far so good. I got a better look at one of them and it has recently molted. It's legs are fairly hairy and it has somewhat sharp nails. The other, the one missing limbs, hasn't molted in a long while. It's the one I'm more worried about.

[Mareece]

Congrats on your new crabs! I'm glad you're providing them with proper conditions, they're tough little couple. Hopefully the one with the missing limbs molts and recovers soon

[KrabbyKris]

Sounds like they are going to a dream home! Congrats on your new crabs!

I think my 55 gallon is way over crowded with 6 crabs in it.

I feel like any tank is too small if you think about the fact in the wild they would have unlimited space... I read some hermit crabs have been known to walk miles in from the beach and back... That's sad if you think about the little 1-5 feet of space they usually get in captivity... I like to remind myself that as a proper owner I can adjust the conditions of a terrarium to be better than nature. I can provide clean water and huge unique food varieties unlike anything the crab could scavenge up on a daily basis. I can maintain perfect humidity and temp unlike the fluctuations of nature. They also have me as a safety net if they need help solving arguments or help picking out a new shell lol

[mool]

Good points Krist0ph. I do the same, but didn't really think of it the way you put it. The biggest thing I do is to NEVER buy my crabs from a store. I only adopt.

I have to say this with a huge asterisk because I did adopt over 150 crabs at once from a pet store that was going out of business. They were going to throw them away because no one wanted them. I asked them how much for the enclosure (a 40B with a screen lid) and all of the crabs. They initially shot me a figure of $200.00. I said no and eventually talked them down to $40.00. I was trying to get them for free....