New reluctant crab owner

[Brian_T]

Hello All,

While at the beach my 6 year old daughter decided we must get a hermit crab. After doing some quick research I determined we should wait and figure out everything we needed, get set-up and then purchase the hermit crabs. Well I was out voted (which is why I say “reluctant”) and we came home with three Caribbean hermit crabs (buy 2 get one free special) in one of those horrible wire mesh cages.

Going by the fact sheet provided by this site, I scrambled this past weekend to get them into a better home. I had to go with a too small 5 gallon hexagonal aquarium I had laying around. I am picking up a 29 gallon tank tomorrow, but so far I set up the small one with the coconut fiber bedding, dampened with saltwater made using Trufin brand salt water concentrate (also contains dechlorinators). I added some netting and wild grape vines for climbing, a hydrometer/ thermometer and two water dishes. I’m using bottled spring water for the fresh and left-over saltwater mix for the salt-water dish. They seem to be doing well. They spend most of the day underground and seem to take turns coming up at night. Two already switched shells, one within the first hour of being in the new cage. I took that as a good sign.

I am picking up a 29 gallon tank tomorrow. I hope to set it up basically the same way, but I am open to suggestions. I know most of you seem to go with sand as the substrate, but I am not sure of the permanent location for the habitat yet so I wanted to keep it lighter for now. I will probably switch to the recommended 5:1 sand/fiber in the next several weeks.

[Crabinski]

Sorry to hear you were railroaded into getting hermit crabs but, believe me, you will end up loving them more than your daughter will!

I'm not familiar with the Trufin brand so don't know if it's specifically designed for salt water aquariums. Most of us use Instant Ocean or Seachem Marine as they provide the minerals needed for hermit crabs and found in their natural ocean water source. For their freshwater, you can use regular tap water as long as it's properly dechlorinated. You'll want a dechlorinator meant for aquariums, not one marketed specifically for hermit crabs (most products -- foods, water treatments, etc -- labelled as such are useless). A good dechlorinator will remove not only chlorine, chloramine, ammonia and heavy metals. Check out the FAQS and Care Guides pages found in the Navigator panel on HCA's main page: safe brands of water treatments, foods (most of which you have at home), instructions on calibrating a hygrometer, etc., can all be found on those pages.

Good luck and please feel free to ask questions as you adjust to life as a crabber!

[Brian_T]

Sorry to hear you were railroaded into getting hermit crabs but, believe me, you will end up loving them more than your daughter will!

Funny you should say that. My wife said I seemed more excited than my daughter.

The trufin I bought at petsmart and said it is good for all marine, reef fish and crustaceans. Although I am reading reviews online that say people online don't trust it because its PetSmart brand, but no information about actual bad results from it. I won't be able to move them to the new tank until the weekend, but I think I'll get some Instant Ocean for the dish in the mean time.

Hopefully they'll be OK until then. It's crowded in that tank, but it's still better than where they were a few days ago.

[soilentgringa]

Hello and welcome to HCA.
Crabinski covered the basics. We are always here to help you if you need advice or have questions.

Crabs are totally not kid's pets, lol, to this day I have no clue as to why they are marketed as easy, cheap pets. The reality is that they most certainly are NOT!

My 9 year old loves them and asks "How are my crabs doing?" all the time and wiggles his fingers at them through the tank glass, but since they are hands off pets and he can't reach down into the tanks to feed them, he's not too fussed with them. (He was 7 when we started.)

[hprmom]

Hello again! I feel your pain, LOL. Our first crab came from a science teacher that had an annoying habit of sending hapless animals home with 1st graders to dubious fates: fish, snails, hermit crabs... thank God the tarantula was only an in-class display! That first crab didn't make it, but the Hubs and Boy outvoted my reluctance to try again, and when a friend offered us the two crabs her kids had gotten bored with... A 65g tank and seven crabs later, I'm definitely the lead crabber in the house. This forum is a lifesaver. Welcome!