First Adopted Hermit (not from a pet store)

[BrisHermies]

I'm so excited to present my clan's newest addition! (I really hope you can see the pics.)



I'm pretty sure she's a girl, and she's very friendly. She was shy for a little while, but after she kissed my palm with her antennae she took right to me. I can't decide on a name, but am thinking on it. You can see a pretty good gel limb growing on the side behind her BP if you look close enough!



She didn't have much in her tank before, not even a hide, so you can imagine her fascination when she got in my habitat. She adored dinner: chicken, chia seeds, walnuts and some apple. I don't think she's had anything but pellets. She's a LOT bigger than everyone else, but doesn't seem to be aggressive or anything, just grateful.

I want to wholeheartedly thank the owner Josh for taking such good care of her. His sister bought the hermit and a tank mate for her kids, but they lost interest and neglected them. Josh felt so bad for them that he took them in for two whole years! He may not have known exactly what they needed, but he did his best. He even turned down offers from people that wanted them as starter pets for kids, because he wanted them to go to a good forever home. Sadly, her tank mate lost his big pincher and didn't survive his last molt, but this big girl seems okay. She's buried now, maybe for a molt or to adjust to her new home. I adore her already!

[hermitcrabdc]

Congrats on the adoption! Sounds like she's found herself a nice home
I can't seem to see the pics, here's how to post from facebook if you're needing some help viewtopic.php?f=8&t=87783&p=947749#p947742

[BrisHermies]

I think I fixed it. Thank you.

[kadynadair16]

To me she kind of looks like a Ruby

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[BrisHermies]

To me she kind of looks like a Ruby

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I love it! That's definitely on the short list. My boyfriend likes Helga, but I don't. Makes me think of "Hey Arnold" or maybe a big fat opera lady...

[Crabinski]

What a beauty! Where did you adopt her from -- HCA, craigslist?

[BrisHermies]

I found her on Craigslist, sort of by accident. I was almost too afraid to reply to the ad, but now I'm so happy that I did. The previous caregiver had been looking for someone to take her for months, but no one who the any knowledge of hermits had responded. His big request was that she go to a bigger tank (her old one was a 10 gal) and hopefully to a colony. He's texted me to check up on how she settled in, and said how happy he is that I adopted her. I can't explain it, but it almost feels like it was meant to be. (Sorry for the cheezy line. I'm in love. )

[Crabinski]

I found her on Craigslist, sort of by accident. I was almost too afraid to reply to the ad, but now I'm so happy that I did. The previous caregiver had been looking for someone to take her for months, but no one who the any knowledge of hermits had responded. His big request was that she go to a bigger tank (her old one was a 10 gal) and hopefully to a colony. He's texted me to check up on how she settled in, and said how happy he is that I adopted her. I can't explain it, but it almost feels like it was meant to be. (Sorry for the cheezy line. I'm in love. )

That's pretty much the way I adopted my two craigslist crabs last year: the people who had them were overwhelmed once they realized the set-up and ongoing care involved but didn't want to just give to someone clueless like themselves. When I responded to their ad, I included a picture of my crabitat and when they brought the crabs over, they saw my set-up and said that they were so happy the crabs would be living in a "palace with roommates"!

[wodesorel]

I adopted from someone who had been looking for a good home for two years! I was the first person to contact them that had a clue about hermits. It was way outside of where we normally adopt, but I felt the same way - like it was meant to be.

[BrisHermies]

Its hard to explain, but there's something special about her, at least for me. I got my other ones at the pet store, and they were so afraid that I still don't do much other than watch them. But when I introduced her she didn't even duck into her shell when I moved around. She was fascinated by the plastic plants and the dishes, especially the salt water. I watched her for over an hour, until it was time for me to feed and go to bed. When I took the lid off, anyone who was visible was gone in five seconds, but she just watched and wiggled her antennae. I just moved slowly and tried not to startle her, but I was shocked when she ran right over and started chowing down. The chicken went in last, and didn't even make it out of my hand before she had claws on it. She buried some time after that, but the piece of apple was gone, so I guess she took it with her.

I guess maybe that's the difference in a crab that's used to captivity and seeing a human and mine that were wild on a beach somewhere before the summer. I hope the odd behavior doesn't mean she's sick, but she acts more like what I read about in other people's posts. My other crabs are annoyed at the mound she made digging, though. She's almost a large, I think, and my others are barely smalls. (They could all sit on a quarter.) They have a heck of a time climbing the hill to get to the moss pit now. Haha!

[kadynadair16]

Its hard to explain, but there's something special about her, at least for me. I got my other ones at the pet store, and they were so afraid that I still don't do much other than watch them. But when I introduced her she didn't even duck into her shell when I moved around. She was fascinated by the plastic plants and the dishes, especially the salt water. I watched her for over an hour, until it was time for me to feed and go to bed. When I took the lid off, anyone who was visible was gone in five seconds, but she just watched and wiggled her antennae. I just moved slowly and tried not to startle her, but I was shocked when she ran right over and started chowing down. The chicken went in last, and didn't even make it out of my hand before she had claws on it. She buried some time after that, but the piece of apple was gone, so I guess she took it with her.

I guess maybe that's the difference in a crab that's used to captivity and seeing a human and mine that were wild on a beach somewhere before the summer. I hope the odd behavior doesn't mean she's sick, but she acts more like what I read about in other people's posts. My other crabs are annoyed at the mound she made digging, though. She's almost a large, I think, and my others are barely smalls. (They could all sit on a quarter.) They have a heck of a time climbing the hill to get to the moss pit now. Haha!

After adoption crabs do you still need leave them be and not touch them? Versus the pet store crabs I've got I can already tell that the ones I just adopted are a lot less stressed.

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[wodesorel]

After adoption crabs do you still need leave them be and not touch them? Versus the pet store crabs I've got I can already tell that the ones I just adopted are a lot less stressed.

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Depends on the conditions they came from - if everything was perfect/near perfect (extremely rare! I've only had one adoption that was up to par, the same person I mentioned above) then you can treat them normally as they're healthy and well past any PPS risk. Otherwise you're dealing with a crab that has had subpar conditions for a number of months or years and has a lot of damage that needs to be reversed by good care and molting. PPS from an inability to adapt to captivity (personally I think is among the biggest killer) is not a risk anymore, but damage done from dehydration, malnutrition, cold, and lack of good conditions to molt in is much much higher since they've been dealing it with far too long. Many crabs can suffer through dry substrate or surface molting, bad diet, room temps, or lack of treated water for a long time, but at some point it will catch up to them. The question becomes how they are doing when you get them, and just how hardy are they. Only way to know that is - for them to molt. So not much different than a new crab from the store.

That said, I have rarely ever lost crabs from an adoption, unless it was in extremely horrible conditions for a decent period of time. If they made it long enough for someone to have the need for an adopter, they are usually the hardiest crabs out there!

[BrisHermies]

That kinda makes me nervous, but makes sense. Her conditions weren't right, but they weren't terrible either. I hope she'll be okay, I don't know what I'd do if I took in the guys pet and it died so quickly... She is well on her way to regrowing that missing leg, so maybe that's a good sign?