Carnival Crab

[Froggypjs]

There is a carnival near my house that has a game that you can win hermit crabs. I never thought to get one because the crabs are in such horrible conditions with out any substrate or food or water. But today my sister had came home with a crab from the fair! What should I do?
I already have a 50 gallon hermit crabitat with 3 crabs (two golf ball sized and one quarter sized) one of which is molting. I have a 10 gallon tank that I can make into a make shift iso if that would do any thing to help.
Here are some questions I have-


1. What should I do to clean it or make sure it doesn’t have any mites?

2. Should I put it in iso? If so, what should I put in there? And how long should it be in iso?

3. should I do anything different when caring for him?

4. Should I ever put him in with my other crabs?

Thanks so much I’m really worried about this little guy!!

[Moonlightdreams]

There is a carnival near my house that has a game that you can win hermit crabs. I never thought to get one because the crabs are in such horrible conditions with out any substrate or food or water. But today my sister had came home with a crab from the fair! What should I do?
I already have a 50 gallon hermit crabitat with 3 crabs (two golf ball sized and one quarter sized) one of which is molting. I have a 10 gallon tank that I can make into a make shift iso if that would do any thing to help.
Here are some questions I have-


1. What should I do to clean it or make sure it doesn’t have any mites?

2. Should I put it in iso? If so, what should I put in there? And how long should it be in iso?

3. should I do anything different when caring for him?

4. Should I ever put him in with my other crabs?

Thanks so much I’m really worried about this little guy!!

1. I believe just dipping him in fw will do the trick, but I'm unsure.

2. Not unless you think you need to. If he's in good health, go ahead and put him in the main tank.

3. Again, not if he's in good health. He should be fine receiving the same care as your other crabs do.

4. Yes, definitely! Crabs need friends.

[AwesomeHermit]

There is a carnival near my house that has a game that you can win hermit crabs. I never thought to get one because the crabs are in such horrible conditions with out any substrate or food or water. But today my sister had came home with a crab from the fair! What should I do?
I already have a 50 gallon hermit crabitat with 3 crabs (two golf ball sized and one quarter sized) one of which is molting. I have a 10 gallon tank that I can make into a make shift iso if that would do any thing to help.
Here are some questions I have-


1. What should I do to clean it or make sure it doesn’t have any mites?

2. Should I put it in iso? If so, what should I put in there? And how long should it be in iso?

3. should I do anything different when caring for him?

4. Should I ever put him in with my other crabs?

Thanks so much I’m really worried about this little guy!!

1. I believe just dipping him in fw will do the trick, but I'm unsure.

2. Not unless you think you need to. If he's in good health, go ahead and put him in the main tank.

3. Again, not if he's in good health. He should be fine receiving the same care as your other crabs do.

4. Yes, definitely! Crabs need friends.

Actually, if the crab did have mites, you would need to iso him/her and have saltwater dunks each day

[Froggypjs]

Thanks so much!!

[GotButterflies]

You can look him over for the mites. Mites would be red. They are typically in the soft part of the crab (typically joints), but can be on the eyes, mouth too. They would be tiny like a grain of sand. If you don't see any, then you can dip the crab in the freshwater of your aquarium and put him in with your crabs. I have been fortunate enough to never have a crab with mites. Crabs can have gill mites and you never see them though. Their gills are protected and to view them is impossible without doing harm to them.

Edit: Harmful mites aren't only red.. I was thinking of H. Miles mites when thinking about what harmful mites look like, when those are what kill the harmful mites. That is a big oops on my part. I'm sorry to anyone that I have misinformed!!! I have ordered the H. Miles mites for my tank and since then I can say I have never had spring tails or food mites. They can be pricey.