Fair crab rescuer new to crabbing

[RavenChild]

Hello! I've just joined these forums after lurking for a few days so I'd like to tell you the story of my crabs and ask a few questions from you knowledgeable folks.

These are all PPs. Our first crab, "soccer ball" Kirby (Painted shell), came from a county fair. He (She?) was in a birdcage in the heat so obviously not favorable conditions, but Kirby was active so we bought him the plastic carrier with the coco hut and brought him home. I read the info sheet but it wasn't very helpful and as I found out later full of misinformation.

That was on labor day. 9-4-17

That same week I ran out looking for more crabs and by Thursday already had a long 20 gallon tank as well as what I thought was decent substrate, thought were good shells and food, heating etc as well as 5 more crabs for Kirby to have company.

So 5 more crabs 9-7-17 from a Petco. One seemed to be very sluggish when the employee picked it up and on the car ride, none are in painted shells, more of a speckled cone looking rock. (Sorry I don't know all the names of the shells yet) They hid and such as they do when brought home.

As of now two of the pet store crabs are buried which they did about two days ago. Also around the same time another flipped onto its back hanging lifeless and isn't reacting to me being near nor food or water. One seems to be unmoving but he's in his spot and is sneaky so I'm not concerned. The final store bought (Ramsay, very active) and Kirby are in the crab hut as usual.

Here are the the things I'm having issues with.
The substrate I'm using is the store bought calcium sand mixed with coconut fiber. Its only about 3 inches at its deepest and even though they're small crabs I'd like to change the substrate mix and deepen it.

In my excitement I forgot to clean out the brand new fish tank I bought before putting anything in. I don't feel like I can rectify that with the crabs in there.

I used well water to boil their items which I know has no chlorination but may contain harmful metals. I'm not certain what type of impact that would make.

The shells I bought them to change into are the wrong type but correct turbos are on the way, so that's a plus.

I'm using an old heating pad as well as the correct lights to heat their tank but because we're in Ohio (and the fire hazard of an old heating pad ha!) I feel I need a UTH. I'm looking at the Ultrathermal but am wondering what size would be best to keep a 30 long 20 gallon at the right temp.

Thank you for reading all this! I look forward to my crabby journey with you.


-Raven

[ROSIEonFIRE]

Hi raven child! Welcome to the forums!

Although i am very new to hermit crabs myself there were a few things i felt i could say with certainty regarding your set up; first of all, congrats on doing your research in regards to your pets!

Regarding the substrate, the preferred kind of sand is 'playsand', which i got a 50 lb bag of at home depot for about 10$, mixed with a coconut fiber bedding such as ecoearth. Isnt it obnoxious that basically every kind of sand sold in petstores as substrate and labeled for hermit crabs is in fact not suitable for hermit crabs??? The same goes for basically EVERYTHING else in the reptile department. Sooooo frustrating....

It sounds to me like your crabs are not yet molting which means this is the ideal time to rectify that issue with the substrate! If it were me, i would just scoope em all out of there, pop em into some kind of tub with all their hidies and do it all in one go and get it over with. While the minimum depth recommendation is 6" minimum, I personally decided fo go with 9" just to be on the safe side. Never hurts to put a few extra inches to account for compaction!

Also, regarding your shells, although turbos tend to be the favorites among purple pinchers, they will certainly accept other shells as long as they are the right size so dont stress that too much.

I would mention that you shouldn't forget to have a salt water and fresh water pool in there but from the sound of it you really did your research so that goes without saying. Im sorry but i dont know about your question regarding the well water. Hopefully someone more experienced than me can answer that one. I do know that most pet/aquarium stores will sell you treated water for a nominal fee so if youre worried about it that could be a good backup for the time being.

Feel free to post pics of everything, we all love seeing other peoples crabs and setups. GL with ur crabs!

[LadyJinglyJones]

Hiya!

Sounds like the shells they came in are Citarium picas - the most commonly prefered shells in the crabs' native range... but they'll generally choose lighter shell types if offered them.

Many new crabs don't make it because they're just too physically depleted from wild capture, shipping conditions & petstores caring for them poorly. We call this Post Purchase Syndrome (PPS). There is a care sheet about this.

Your lifeless looking crab may be headed that way.

With metals in the well water a dechlorinator that neutralizes metals will do the trick... prime is the most commonly recommended one, but there are others.

Have you had a chance to read our care sheet?

All care sheets on various topics can be accessed either via the FAQ page, or are sticky threads at the top of their respective subforums (i.e. water treatment & the crab food pyramid pages in the food & water section, or moulting advice in the moulting section, etc. ).

And with salt, I always warn people to make sure they have synthetic ocean water (such as Instant Ocean brand), meant for salt water aquariums... not useless 'aquarium salt' meant to treat ich in fresh water fish. They are verr different products.
If you've got the marine salt water, you're golden.

Please continue to ask any questions you may have!

[RavenChild]

Thank you for responding!
Yes Rosie I am so frustrated with the pet stores selling products that are meant for animals when they really aren't. One bag of sand I bought for "hermit crabs" was actually dyed. (it was the last one left of any sand) Grr...

Crab update-
We got the new shells and "Soccer ball" Kirby is no longer a soccer ball! He originally picked a pearl turbo shell then switched to a green polished turbo.

One of the buried crabs came up with a vengeance. Ran about looking for new shells (settled on one similar to what Kirby is in and I caught his original shell change on video!!) and eventually kicked the crab that I was worried about out of its shell. That crab was most definitely dead so it may have been accidental.

So I have Kirby, Ramsay (still hasn't changed shells), and Maui alive and mostly active. One is still buried but I know they're alive because they covered up the small window I could see them through in the tank. One is still obviously sick but alive and I'm taking care of it as best I can.

I did read all the care guides.but am waiting for the final crab to come out before I change the substrate AND we got our heater so no more fire hazard!

[LadyJinglyJones]

Yay!
Congrats on seeing your first shell changes!
It's always so exciting, especially early on.

Sorry for your loss, too. Just remember you're doing the best you can.