New Crabber and Babies

[_PandorasBox_]

Hello all. My mom recently went to Florida and brought me back to PPs, one about the size of a quarter, female ( No hair on the legs ) , the other roughly around a golfball, male ( Hair on the legs ) , and I want to make sure I start getting everything set up for them!

Now, I've had Hermits before, a few years ago, but I was a lot younger and didn't know how to properly care for them, they ended up dying because I didn't know how to properly take care of one and they never got bigger shells ( I think I had one molt though, not too bad of a sign.. Still miss them though ) . I've been researching a good amount to make sure these new ones, Ender, the female, and Ark, the big boy, have a long and happy life with me.

I'm pretty poor in the money department, but we were able to get them out of their half gallon tank ( I'll use it for when I need to take them somewhere, it'll be their carry-cage ) , and into one of those Hamster-like-CrabShacks from PetSmart.. Problem is.. They ripped us off with the box.. It was supposed to come with some sand, it never did..
Anyways, we're using some aquarium gravel until we get the sand ( Hopefully it'll be soon, though the scrabbly noises on the gravel makes me feel better, knowing that they do come out of their coconut-shell-hut-thing to roam around their brand new home ) , and I was wondering what the best way to make their tank perfect, with a very limited budget? I've already been using food scrapes ( Baby carrots, lettuce, a few freezedried bloodworms from when I had Betas, a very small amount of their pelleted food for the moment, and somee eggshell pieces ) that were labeled safe, I'm working on getting their sands and such, and I have them by a rather bright, annoyingly hot lamp ( I used it for reading before, but it really gets hot underneath that thing ) on the shelves of my bed.
I'll try to invest in some form of heater / humidifier thingy soon ( I've just been spraying the tank down every now and then to keep it nice and moist with some bottled water, I use a mixture of bottled water and sea salt powder stuff that the petstore had to give them their salt, I use a sponge for fresh water, though soon I'll get a seperate water bowl for that. I also have some dechlorinator stuff, again from my Betas I used to own )

Any tips for a poor newbie like me? I might end up going the tubermate route when I get some playsand.

I would post pictures of them, but I don't want to disturb them while they're out, since I'm guessing they've been destressing in their coconut and never out during the day ( How I know they're okay - The loud scrambling of them moving around ) , and it's pretty dark in my room, so I wouldn't get a good picture anyways, maybe once they're used to their new home though~

I hope Ark and Ender live well and long with me!

[CallaLily]

Welcome to the HCA!

Unfortunately, those pet store kits do not set you up with a proper crabitat. A lot of the information given out by them is extremely outdated. I'll link you to a few articles that will point you in the right direction.

Here's the basic hermit crab care sheet. In it you'll also find links to more species specific care. http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 51&t=92457

You'll find more articles with more detailed info on important parts of their care here: http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 84934be615. There's also an article there explaining how to check the gender of your crabs. That whole section is really worth reading through. If you have any questions afterward, please don't hesitate to ask.

I hope to see more posts and crabby pics from you soon.

[soilentgringa]

Hi and welcome!
When you read the care sheet you'll find that all hermit crabs have hairy legs. The females have tiny pores called gonopores on one of their sets of legs by their abdomen. The males do not have the pores.
Welcome to the wonderful world of crabbing!

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

[_PandorasBox_]

I'll check out the links soon!
But I just got a whopping 99L container with a sealable lid and two bags of sand ( I'm going to use the CrabShack thing as an isolation tank, and the really small one will remain a carryin tank in case I need to bring them somewhere for some reason )
I'll be getting rid of all the gravel in all tanks and replacing them with the playsand ( Who knew it only cost 3 dollars for a 50lb bag of sand ) though I have yet to get some cocofiber stuff for them ( I just hope they don't try to bury themselves in the gravel while I work on setting up their brand new home.. )

Do any of you have any good ideas for mostly homemade items for their container? Or some type of thing I could use to keep some rope-like stuff ( That came around a bag of shells ) attached to a little hide-out thing ( I'm using an old frosting container, it's beyond clean, and the rope-like thing wraps around it perfectly for climbing, I just don't want them to eat whatever I use to hold it in place with, the container itself will be partially buried to keep it from being pushed around )

Also note, I won't be moving them into the new tank until I'm finished with it, but I might go ahead and replace the gravel with sand in the little one to keep them happier as they destress

[_PandorasBox_]

Oh no! I just found out that Ender is missing a leg! I don't think it happened here, because she always walked a little funny, I just never noticed it until now.. But they seem to be liking their new home! Ark is even shell shopping! This is the second time he's looked at a shell, the first one he got in, didn't like switched back to his painted shell ( Trying to get him to switch soon, but I amight need more shells )
And Ender is even looking at the smaller shells I have. I hope she makes it just fine, I really did not know she was missing a leg until now.. Any tips on what to do to nurse her back up? I set up the container tank, though I might need a little bit more sand in it ( It's about 4-5 inches, a full 50lb bag of sand ) .. Oh, and they keep climbing on each other, trying to stay in the same corner.. Any tips for that?

I think Ark chose one of those golden turbos! My weird little boy! He's moving around in it, kinda ignoring his old shell. Should I leave the old one in there, or take it off if he stays in the turbo, since it's painted?

I have pictures, I'll post them via my phone, more than likely.

[_PandorasBox_]

Here's Ender. She still has both claws, but one leg is missing. But, at least that isn't affecting her movement too too much. She's running around ( Mostly sideways, but, still moving around the entire tank ) , climbing on things, climbing on top of Ark and using him to push herself up more ( She's a little bully! He actually backs away at times! ) , and now she's digging down in the corner, either destressing or about to make a cave for molting, I don't know.

Here's the corner they kept climbing on each other for. Ark even shoved Ender out of the way once in it. But, she choose the opposite one, near the shell shop.


Ark in his old shell

Ark looking at another shell, and he didn't stay in it that long.

And finally, Ark in the golden mouthed shell, the kind most of his species hates.

[meg_and_the_zoo]

I'm new here as well but I do know that the minute you see one ditch a painted shell you want to get it out of the tank


Zoo mom of 3 cats, a dog, a fish and 3 crabs

[_PandorasBox_]

I just wanted to make sure, we took it out once he switched to the golden mouth to keep him inside of it or the other shells. I hope Ender is digging for a molt, the poor thing needs one to grow her leg back. She's lucky we got her, otherwise I'm sure the others would've ganged up on her completely and killed her.. They just had pellets as their food, and now I don't even feed them those now. Just parts of banana, lettuce, salmon , pork, chicken, carrots, and eggshells. Note, they are separated into two bowls, so they choose if they want more protein or calcium, depending on what food they want, really. Ark has changed shells give times, but I think he's keeping the golden mouth, strangely enough

[KellyCrabbieLove]

I had someone that I got missing a leg molt and grow it back only to lose another. Lol she is whole now. She was not happy when she lost the one.

I could almost hear the swearing coming from the tank. Lol

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[KellyCrabbieLove]

BTW you might want to increase the variety of food. They love fruits, veggies, leaves and lots more calcium sources. They are scavengers by nature so they are used to all kinds of different things.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[_PandorasBox_]

Yeah, that's why I want her to go ahead and molt so badly. Ark is mostly leaving her alone, I dunk him whenever he's being bad and bugging her so that she can bury herself. Anything special I should do, and do you think it's a molt, or just destressing she's preparing for? She was really active when I first put her in the tank, but now she's slowed down and digging into the sand a bit. Hasn't covered herself, just kinda sitting in the hole, sometimes poking out of her shell and looking around, sometimes just kinda sitting inside of it. It's tempting to call the petstore she was bought from and cuss them out.. They aren't feeding them properly, and they are beginning to loose legs.. As much of a sweetheart Ark is, I think he easily fought anyone off of him, due to him being the biggest they had.

[KellyCrabbieLove]

It is really common for them to lose legs when they are harvested from nature and brought to us. Pet stores are stupid. Lol cussing at them isn't going to help. She sounds fine. Destressing and getting used to her new home most likely. Watch her though since she could have PPS. It is very common again because of how they are transported to get to us.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[Suzenqanderson]

Here is an idea for you- see if you have Freecycle in your area. It's free to sign up, just google "Freecycle" and the organization website will come up. It will ask for your zip code or area and you just sign up with your email address. People post things all the time available for free- all you have to do I pick it up. I gave a 55 gallon fish tank away. Now that I've fallen for hermit crabs I'm really kicking myself- but hey- whatcha gonna do? Check it out- maybe you can score a free aquarium on there- especially if you want more or they get bigger. Good luck.

[_PandorasBox_]

Ugh, my first post didn't get submitted in time for me to switch to something else..
Ender is doing just fine at the moment. I just got back from the movies ( Watched Jurassic World in 3-D, amazing movie ) , and was so worried that she might be trying to do a surface molt ( I placed the coconut hut around her to give her some darkness / peace ) and was afraid Ark might go after her and I wouldn't be able to stop him in time.. She's wandering around near him while he is shell shopping. Still, apparently he can't decide between the shells, though I think the one he's in right now and the golden mouth are his favorites.
Probably a stupid thing to think, but I like to think of Ark being the giant Teddy Bear that picks on, yet protects, his little 'sister', considering he's brave and active as anything, yet still acts sweet to her. I think he's even afraid of her at times, and he allows her to, literally, step on him in order to help her do something.
I also checked for a gel limb, I think I saw a tiny one, so, hopefully she'll have her first molt in a week or two, depending on the size of it. Not sure about Ark though, he's just going wild with the shells and not seeming to care much about anything else xD My weird little prissy boy..
At Suz, I'd rather not trust things like that. We have weiiiiird people where I live.. And we live in the middle of nowhere with us being the only neighborhood / building clump for miles.. I don't think I would find much, plus I only want maybe one more right now, and that'll wait until Ender's first molt to make sure she'll make it. Ark seems to be doing just fine, probaaaably because of his shells.