I currently have a 10 Gallon crabitat with one small E (not yet named!) and a medium/medium-large PP named Finnick.
Don't worry! I know Finnick is much too large for my set up and have already arranged for her to go to a new home on Dec. 13th! Getting Finnick was a bit of an accident. I wanted a friend for Mori as soon as I learned hermies were such social sweeties. Some searches and a few rounds through Craigslist led me to a nearby family who had become disenchanted with their little lady. Knowing I was interested in the crab, but not the set up, the silly husband sold the setup and asked me to pick up the crab immediately. Throughout this I was given the impression that Finnick was a much, much smaller crab. Surprise! After bringing her home, she almost immediately molted for 6-7 weeks. By then Mori had passed, the semester had started, and I didn't have the faintest clue how to find her a better home. Luckily, with HCA I've figured it out now!
My little E remains nameless because I'm hoping for a chance to sex them first. My boyfriend has decided that if it's a girl, she should be named Gurdy, and I fully support this adorable decision. This little one was an impulse-accident. I was at PetCo picking up a couple of small things for my pets (a cat, some fish and snails and shrimp, and hermies!) and made the mistake of peeking into their hermit crab tank. As I was watching an adorable little E walk along the edge of a massive water bowl, the poor thing fell right over the edge and into the lake. I watched for a moment, expecting them to find the way out, but as much as they tried to scale the sides, it was far too deep and they couldn't get traction, finally sitting still on the bottom. Then it was my turn to panic. I found an associate and pretended I was interested in purchasing a crab so he'd open the 'tat and I could get the little guy out of the bowl. He scampered away when I set him on the moss and I told the associate I was finished, but not before I noticed a cute, brave Ecuadorian watching me and not even remotely hiding. I spent the rest of my time in the store trying to talk myself out of the impulse buy, but I couldn't forget the little bugger and ended up taking them and their ugly cartoon car shell home. They've proven to be quite a brave, sweet little hermie that I really enjoy watching with my moonlite at night. Again, don't worry! I have tons of D-opening shells of varying sizes and types I've read E's prefer already ordered and on their way.
If you've read this far, thanks!! I really appreciate it!
Here's my 10 Gallon all set up! I have Fluker's corner bowls for both types of water, a wood hidey behind the vine that I'll be replacing as soon as someone empties an appropriate container I can cut up, a "moss pit" in a space where I've dug out some substrate until I can hijack and destroy another container to suspend and crochet a hemp net, a humidifier, a reptile vine Finnick LOVES, mopani wood for climbing from THCP, an Ultratherm heater across the back (thanks for the tip YYWW!), a climbing wall, some basic gauges I'll be upgrading to digital soon, and a shell shop! I've taped plastic wrap to the under side of the mesh lid and already have a piece of custom glass ordered to be cut as the lid for humidity purposes.
Thanks everyone for sharing the excitement with me! Each of you had helped me more than you know! See you around!
