new to hermit crabs.

[Drakezilla]

Handling -- Don't. At least, don't until their first molt when they've totally destressed. A shoe box is not big enough to allow him the proper sandcastle consistency he needs to build tunnels for him to molt in and dig down deep. Which can cause the crab a lot of stress. Please only handle him for now to move him from the box to his tank, until he's molted.

Good luck!

[JJmo18]

I finally got him a 10 gallon tank and filled it up with 6 inches of sand. He dug down to the bottom of the tank last night and I hope he'll come up soon. For now I'm just waiting and getting him some more supplies until he comes back up will continue filling his water tank too. Thank you so much for helping me and I will post more questions as I need help.

[YYWW]

You will need a heater and a temperature+humidity gauge, if you don't already have. Happy crabbing!
Ask as many questions as you can, lots of friendly crabbers here!


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[JJmo18]

Do you know the best place to get new shells for my purple pincher?

[moonbeam]

Have you checked out HCA's shopping resources? There's a list of online places where you can find great shells, food, etc. I have ordered from Naples seashell company (it's one of our resources listed ) a couple of times and have never been disappointed. You can also look at craft stores and dollar stores. Sometimes they have good shells in their decorating packs. Do you know what size shells your crab will be needing?


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[Hermit-Yote]

You can find a nice sized mixed shell bag at walmart for about 9.00$! I usually check there first and see if any of the current bags have any good and unbroken turbos in them.
They stock them in the fake flower section at my store.
Also Michaels has a ton of bags too, but much for pricey. I suggest using one of their 40% coupons for their stores.

[JJmo18]

Okay here's an update. My hermit crab has been down buried in the sand for over two weeks. It's beginning to be the first frost in Texas in the temperature at my house can be below 68°. I currently have an eight what heating pad underneath my tank to keep the sand warm. I also have a small for what heating pad on the side of the glass tank to help keep the temperature up at night. Lighting also has has two, 20w bulbs that I keep on during the day to help keep the temperature up as well. I don't have my hygrometer/thermometer yet so I'm not sure what I should do about that whole temperature situation. Should I keep the sand at a certain temperature in order to avoid hibernation? Or am I fine just the way I am. What should I do?

[moonbeam]

You need to remove the heating pad (I'm assuming you're talking about a UTH?) from the bottom of the tank. They aren't meant to heat through that much sub and can become a fire hazard! You want any UTH to be on the back of the tank above the substrate level. The substrate doesn't need to be heated and I don't think hermits hibernate. They are from mostly tropical climates and die if temperatures get too low (I think I recently read anything under 65 or 55? Can't remember exact temps)Also you need to a hygrometer/thermometer. These are very sensitive creatures and they have specific needs. Once you've got those (I think you can get a digital one at walmart? Someone chime in if I'm wrong, mine was from petsmart) you'll know what tweaking your heating and humidity may need. Both should be around 80. Oh and you can calibrate you're hygrometer before putting it into you tank. I'll link it in a minute.


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ETA: how to calibrate a hygrometer viewtopic.php?t=92540#p852642

[JJmo18]

Is it normal for new crabs to be buried for 3 to four weeks without making a sound? I was wondering where he was a few weeks ago and collapsed a little tunnel on him and pamicked and filled it in... I don't know what to do now

[moonbeam]

It's normal for them to stay down for several weeks, even several months if they molt right away. They dig for all kinds of reasons like destressing, molting, or just because they're enjoying digging around. Could you tell if your crab was molting when you filled the collapse cave on him? Did you actually see the crab in the cave or was it an empty tunnel? Have you smelled anything like the death smell since then?

Next time if you come across a cave it's better to put something over it like a hit or something to keep it dark. When a crab digs down its never a good idea to dig it up unless it's an emergency (like the tank flooded or there's a bacteria bloom) and even then needs to be done with extreme caution. I would be worried if it was molting and it was the actual cave that collapsed. There is a point in molting which they have no muscle control and can't dig and I think they're a bit weak after molting. But if the crab was just down to destress I wouldn't be too worried. They're excellent diggers.


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[JJmo18]

To me it looked like he was just sitting on his back with his legs hanging out. I'm not sure what the death smell is like... Right now there is no open tunnel I can see him through and I don't smell anything unusual


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[moonbeam]

The death smell is unmistakeable. It's strong and smells like dead rotting fish so it's good you haven't smelled it. It's possible he just went down to destress if you didn't see any signs of molting. In either case at this point it'd probably best to leave the crab be and let him come up on his own. If the cave collapsing did kill him it won't bother him to stay buried longer. But if it didn't (and I don't think it did) then it will do more harm than good to dig him up. You may have scared him and he may stay down longer to try and relax. Or he may be gearing up for a molt and will be down for a while anyway. I think you need to just let him be and just keep conditions right for when he does resurface.


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[JJmo18]

Could you smell a dead crab under 3+ inches of sand?

[JJmo18]

Also I know this might be a bad idea, but I dug him up to see if he was alive. He was alive. Just buried under 3 inches of sand. My mom took me to PetCo and the lady that works with hermit crabs said that he 6 inches of sand was way too much. She said that I should put only enough sand so that I could see his shell.... So I compromised and put about an inch and a half to 2 inches of sand. Will that be enough for a 1inch crab?

[moonbeam]

Unfortunately the lady at Petco didn't give you correct information. Crabs have to have substrate deep enough to molt in. This is at least 3 times taller than your tallest crab or 6 inches, whichever is taller. Not offering crabs enough substrate can cause several problems. It can cause them to have extra stress, it can lead to them putting off molting (which if they do this long enough will kill them), cause them to molt on the surface leaving them open for attacks from other crabs (also these molts are considerably more stressful and dangerous for the crab even if it is isolated from the group), and can be a factor in post purchase syndrome which they are susceptible at least through the first molt with you (sometimes it takes more than one molt before they're safe). I'm sure there are more reasons but it's almost 3am and my brain is mush by now these are some of the big ones though.

I'm glad to hear your crab is alive. He will definitely need more than 2 inches of substrate which you can add around him and even if he digs back down. If he does dig down just add it by the handful and don't press it down. Do it gently. Let us know if we can help you with anything else and let us know how the crab does! I'd keep an eye on him for the next few days, just in case.


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