Second time owner of Purple Crabbie

[Giner13]

Hi all! I became a second time owner of a purple pincher, medium size this time, after my boyfriend & I bought a new one post-death of our first. This is currently what he has been informed the last 3 weeks that I've had him (Capt. Jack) and he seems to be doing good. But I am wanting to upgrade to a bigger habitat, and would love suggestions!! Plus he is currently loving his log & burying himself slightly after getting himself wet, enjoying the cool dampness. He does good when I take him out to clean habitat after he "rearranges" during the night.
Would love any suggestions for once I begin the upgrade!


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[Candie]

What size upgrade are you getting? A 10 gallon tank at the least and he needs a friend also he needs alot more Substrate thats sand castle moist. At the least 6 inches but he's smaller so 5 might be ok. We suggest a mixture of eco earth and sand from the home depot. Make sure he has fresh and salt water that he can fully submerge under but can get out. I would take out the gravel and make sure your upgrade is able to keep humidity so he can breathe, what he is in now he can't breathe or dig. Also don't forget to get a heater, the temp and humidity are best at 80 80 but can go at the lowest 75. From what I'm getting you have had him for 3 weeks? Did you hold him right when you got home? Just remember when they get home they have to de-stress and not be handled until Their first molt or a month, it's just safer to wait that long so you don't stress them out one of my crabs took a month and a week to de-stress, but once she did I was in the clear. Just make sure when you upgrade to have humidity, heat, 6 inches of Substrate, a friend, and deeper water that has been treated. Your cute little crabby will be much happier!

[Crabinski]

Candie's suggestions are right on target and now is a good time to get Captain Jack a better home: Petco is having their $1-per-gallon sale through May 7th. Small hermit crabs grow quickly with each molt and, at his size, he'll molt frequently. As @Candie said, a 10g will do just fine and will allow you to add one or two small crabs to keep Captain Jack company but, as they grow, keep an eye out for a 20L or a 29g tank.

Check out the Basic Crab Care Sheet for detailed info on water dechlorinators, aquarium mixes to create salt water (crabs need a bowl of each at all times), heaters (UTHs, although called "under the tank heaters", are actually attached to the outer rear wall of the tank above the substrate line), how to calibrate your hygrometer, etc. There is no need to buy commercial hermit crab food as most of what is sold is not nutritionally beneficial for them -- they can eat most of what we eat (without sauces and spices) so read the Safe/Unsafe Food Lists and save your $$.

Just curious: is Captain Jack named after the Pirates of the Caribbean character or the Doctor Who/Torchwood character?

[Giner13]

Thanks so much you guys!!! A lot of what ya'll said is along with what I have been considering, especially since he is bigger than the last crabbie I had.
I will check out the food list for sure!! And I do keep fresh/salt water but am definitely getting some different water dishes.
He has done well the last week with less & less of "trashing" his place, so he has been seeming calmer. But I'll keep in mind the handling when I move him.

And he is named for Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl!! Good guesses!!


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[Giner13]

Also do you recommend a male or female companion? I've considered what it would be like to breed, but unsure of what all that would entail!!


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[MamaKelly]

Also do you recommend a male or female companion? I've considered what it would be like to breed, but unsure of what all that would entail!!


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There are a few stickied posts where people have worked on raising the marine larvae until they transition to land. It's fascinating to read but sounds like it would be a ton of work!

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[Candie]

[quote="Crabinski"]Candie's suggestions are right on target and now is a good time to get Captain Jack a better home: Petco is having their $1-per-gallon sale through May 7th. Small hermit crabs grow quickly with each molt and, at his size, he'll molt frequently. As @Candie said, a 10g will do just fine and will allow you to add one or two small crabs to keep Captain Jack company but, as they grow, keep an eye out for a 20L or a 29g tank.



Thank you for confirming my advice, I'm new to this too (3 months ) and now I feel that everything I do is 100% correct. I knew the info I gave was right but it feels good to be told so

[DragonsFly]

Read, read, read all around this forum; there's no better place to learn everything you can about keeping crabs. If you are really serious about keeping these animals after learning about everything they need (which your pet store definitely will not tell you), then get the BIGGEST set-up you can stretch to (there are lots of options for second-hand tanks that are a lot cheaper than new), and set it up and get it balanced, then AFTER that, I highly recommend adding only one or two more crabs, total. Others will disagree, but more is not better with captive wild animals; with every individual you add into the comparatively tiny space you will keep them in--compared to wandering for miles every night in the wild, ANY size tank is tiny--the stress of captivity, and potential problems of illness, aggression, etc., are geometrically multiplied. And eventually, if they survive, they get BIG and need a LOT of molting space, so for most people, two or three is a good number to be getting on with. Remember, if you take good care of them, you could be "getting on with" them for 30 years or more.

[DragonsFly]

Oh--and, you are certainly welcome to look at what people have done to try to breed these animals in captivity, but you will quickly see that that is waaaaaayyyy down the line, if it's even on your horizon at all. I wish they could be bred successfully in captivity, because the wild trade is a horror, in every way. But for now, let's just see if we can keep Captain Jack alive. That's the place to start--one step at a time.

[Giner13]

Definitely!! But I do know he needs an upgraded house & a buddy around to keep company. Thanks!!


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[DragonsFly]

Right; I'm just encouraging you not to worry about sexing the buddy crab; handling them is very stressful, and it's unlikely you'll be able to do that if you buy the crab. You might look into adopting a lone crab someone is tired of (or somebody recently bought but didn't realize all they needed), or maybe a pair from someone in the same situation--in that case, the owner might already know the sex (and you won't be encouraging the wild trade by buying the crab from a store, so adoption is always a kinder idea for the crabs, anyway). But FIRST, get a much bigger tank set up and balanced. They do better with a buddy, but that is not an urgent need; it isn't like they groom each other or interactively play together; they do, after establishing a relationship, tend to "hang out" together, that's about it. And it doesn't matter whether their buddy is male or female. The only people who have managed to have captive crabs breed (and even then, usually not successfully, in terms of survival of the zoea) are folks with large colonies in really huge set-ups, with cycled salt water tanks to simulate the ocean, etc. (these crabs breed in the ocean, not on land). For most crab-keepers, this is not really an option; therefore, for most captive crabs, that part of their lives is no longer an option, either.

[Giner13]

Right; I'm just encouraging you not to worry about sexing the buddy crab; handling them is very stressful, and it's unlikely you'll be able to do that if you buy the crab. You might look into adopting a lone crab someone is tired of (or somebody recently bought but didn't realize all they needed), or maybe a pair from someone in the same situation--in that case, the owner might already know the sex (and you won't be encouraging the wild trade by buying the crab from a store, so adoption is always a kinder idea for the crabs, anyway). But FIRST, get a much bigger tank set up and balanced. They do better with a buddy, but that is not an urgent need; it isn't like they groom each other or interactively play together; they do, after establishing a relationship, tend to "hang out" together, that's about it. And it doesn't matter whether their buddy is male or female. The only people who have managed to have captive crabs breed (and even then, usually not successfully, in terms of survival of the zoea) are folks with large colonies in really huge set-ups, with cycled salt water tanks to simulate the ocean, etc. (these crabs breed in the ocean, not on land). For most crab-keepers, this is not really an option; therefore, for most captive crabs, that part of their lives is no longer an option, either.

Thanks! I do intend to get a better setup for Capt. Jack first things first. He's such a cute little guy and needs it! And adopting does sound more attractive to me than from the local pet store. I'll look into that when the time is right & I have the best setup.

[theornerycheese]

I would skip the 10 gallon and go straight for the 20/29 gallon were I you. The small ones seem to be super active and love digging/climbing over everything. Or if you live near any Petcos in America like someone said they're doing their dollar per gallon sale (I wish this was a thing in Canada ;-;). Or if you're finding yourself super into crabbing and want a much bigger tank for cheap, keep an eye out on sites like Kijiji. I saw a 125 gallon going for 200$, and I wanted to buy it but I had just spent 80$ on buying new crabs so they will have to make do with their 70 gallons until next year. :c

Also, since you mentioned adopting. You can also look on Kijiji for people looking to give away their hermit crabs.

[DragonsFly]

Yes, there are many options for getting larger tanks cheap or even free. And I would skip straight to the biggest possible tank you can find--our first two rescues were too big for our 35g in less than a year; so, if you really think you want to "go there" with the crab-keeping, plan to keep a 10g for an iso and start looking for really big tanks.

Options for low-cost tanks:

kijiji and craigslist

flea markets

ask at pet stores for "leakers"

All the above options, you can drive a good bargain if the tank does not hold water, since they won't be able to sell it to hold fish, but you don't care if it holds water, as long as there is no cracked or broken glass, it is fine for a crabitat.

You can also join freecycle; that's where we got our 55g. Often, people who are "over" keeping fish or whatever else they had in their large tank will GIVE it to you, if you will just come haul it away! The etiquette for freecycle is that you should OFFER something for free to others FIRST, before asking for what you want, so do a bit of a clear-out and see what good stuff you aren't using that somebody else might want; then you can post once a month for a large aquarium or terrarium, "doesn't have to hold water," until somebody responds. I think it took two or three months before we got the 55g. All we had to do was go pick it up. You can also post wanted ads on craigslist/kijiji, although that never worked for us; people post things they want to sell there and wait for people to contact them, I don't think many people scroll through those sites looking for things people want on the off chance that they might have it.

[DragonsFly]

Oh--looking at your pics again, I noticed that the two "extra shells" you have in the keeper with the crab are not shells he will be able to use (they probably were sold as "for hermit crabs," and it's POSSIBLE that snail shell could be used in a pinch, but none of ours has ever done so, and the other shell, whatever it is, has an opening that is far too narrow and the wrong shape). Just one more thing sold "for hermit crabs" that is a waste of money.

Take a look at the "Shells" forum here for the kinds of shells that they WILL use. Basically, once ours had access to polished or semi-polished turbo shells, they have never used anything else; turbos seem to have the most preferred opening for PP's, and they like them polished or semi-polished, since it makes the shell a bit lighter.

Welcome to the wonderful world of a million-and-one-things-hermit-crabs-need-that-the-stores-will-neglect-to-tell-you-about! Or tell you wrongly about. . .