For those who have never owned an exotic pet like a Hermit Crab, they may wonder what to expect from the pet’s care. It is a good question. Though the pet does have several benefits, like being able to help you identify specific crabs, it is not for everyone.
Hermit crab belongs to the Paguroidea superfamily, which consists of well over 800 different species. These species belong to seven distinct families. The Coenobitidae family, made up of hermit crabs, is one family. The remaining six families are known as animals that live in water. In comparison to other decapod crustaceans, the abdominal region of Hermit crabs is delicate.
Hermit Crabs have evolved to streamlined bodies that fit into scotched shells to defend themselves. These fascinating creatures have been able to live in the wild for 30 years. Yet their lifespan is usually much shorter in aquariums. Such marine or terrestrial crustaceans make a rare species and are not so easy to find in local fish stores. However, they can be bought in several places online. The cost of each species varies dramatically from 10 dollars to 100 dollars.
Hermit Crab is quite low-maintenance pets, yet that does not mean that they are easy to take care of. Just like any other pet, your crab has specific needs in terms of its habitat and diet. The first thing to remember when taking care of a crab is that it is a crustacean. It means that it lives both on land and underwater. And because it lives both on land and in the water, there are certain precautions that you must take for keeping your crab healthy and active.
Table of Contents
Habitat
A 10-gallon glass aquarium is an ideal entry-level home for crabs and can be purchased at a reasonable price. If you can’t buy an aquarium, there are other options, such as plastic box, but choose a clean and spacious home. It is where your hermit crabs will spend most of their time, and it is the best place for them.
Consider how many crabs you want to lay flat and what your home should look like, and this will help you decide when the time comes to determine the size of your crabs.
It means that the small plastic boxes you get at kiosks in shopping malls and promenades and shops do not provide the appropriate shelter for the hermit crabs. One way to give the crabs place to walk is to leave an area in the back or front of the crabs utterly free of obstacles. If you want, you still have space for crabs, but you want a big enough cage to hold things, so make sure it contains at least two or three crabs, and preferably more than that.
Buddies!
I’m not sure you’ve heard this before, but you really shouldn’t keep some hermit crab as a pet. I misnamed my little friend as a “hermit,” and I am sure you have heard it before. They are their way and love being with you as they are very friendly, so I would rather not worry about them.
They travel in wild packs of up to 100 crabs, scanning the fantastic beaches for food and shells, and the reason they travel with a pack is simple: there are more crabs, there are more shells.
They progress in packs of up to 100 crabs, and they travel with a pack of more than a dozen crabs at a time, sometimes even 20 or more.
I often find about 20 Hermes stacked on top of each other, some of them sleeping on their backs. So don’t drag your friendly Hermit into a lonely life: Get a friend or better two friends. As one experienced crab farmer once remarked: “Two crabs can form a colony in less than a day.
Substrates
The second most crucial aspect for crabs is the type of substrate you put on the ground. While plastic cages are a temporary home for hospital cages, they are also recommended for permanent housing.
There are many different types of substrates, but not all are ideal for land hermit crabs. You want your substrate to be at least 1 / 2 inch thick and no more than 2.5 inches in diameter. The crabs can sit on the substrate for up to 3 days, or 2-3 weeks as long as they want.
A suitable substrate is sand and coconut fiber (also called sand – coconut fiber), or any other fiber material with a thick layer of water in it.
The most expensive come in small bags and are labeled as special crab sand, but some crab owners report orange play sand they bought from Home Depot. It doesn’t matter where it comes from, as long as it’s clean, sand sand sand sand and applies to general cancer care: The sand must be at least 1 / 2 inch thick and no more than 3 / 4 inch in diameter.
If the sand is oily, it must smell and not irritate the eyes, nose, mouth, throat, or eyes.
If you open a sandbag and notice a decreasing odor, throw it away or return it to the store. The sand of consistently good quality is high desert sand, but do not place strong-smelling sand on crabs. If you have sick crabs that need calcium, you need to take care of them, as well as the crabs themselves.
Most sand is pre-washed and sterilized, but sometimes individual bags can develop leaks, moisture, or insects.
Finally, hold the nose and examine the substrate before placing it on the crab. Inhale to find musty smells that indicate moisture or pollution. Place something in a bowl and sift through, keeping it strong and light while looking for insects.
Process the coconut and press it into a dry, hard brick, then add the moist FB to the crayfish. To make the FB, put the bricks in a large bowl or pan and add enough water to absorb the water and soften enough to break apart by hand. It is an excellent substrate that can be processed like coconut oil, but with a little more water.
The use of forest litter has many advantages, as it seems to be one of the best mouse media. One advantage of FB over sand is that it does not collapse heavily on the newly molting crabs, and they have a lot of beautiful skin. If you allow the crabs to dig a small tunnel through the FB, it will compact a little and become stable.
As described above, the FB (Coconut fiber (Forest Bedding “FB” or Eco-Earth) is sufficient, but if you want to make it extra special and healthy, you can prepare some salted water. First, mix the salted water according to the packaging instructions and then use it to enjoy your FB. The moisture in FB helps keep the crab meat’s moisture at an acceptable level by sponging and fogging.
Hermit crabs like to eat FB, which helps them absorb other needed minerals in their diet. There is only one downside to using FB, which is that it attracts mosquitoes, but fungi are a tiny black bug that looks like a mosquito. Hermit crabs eat fungi and other insects such as flies, moths, beetles, spiders, worms, etc.
Hermit crabs, fungi, and mosquitoes are arthropods, so we must not treat them with pesticides; otherwise, we will kill them. But there is a solution to this problem: mosquito larvae are much smaller and much harder to attract in warm, humid areas. They lay eggs, establish their colonies with the crabs, and lay their eggs in the same size as the crab, but in a different part of the ocean.
In October 2003, biological warfare was found against them and people who had mixed their FB in saltwater.
Hermit Crabs is quite low-maintenance pets, yet that does not mean that they are easy to take care of. Just like any other pet, your crab has specific needs in terms of its habitat and diet. The first thing to remember when taking care of a crab is that it is a crustacean.
I prepared coconut fiber and put it on the crabs, but there is a combination of coconut fiber and sand. Lately, the combination substrate is probably a good idea; there are several different types of substrates for the crab, from sand to sandpaper and even a mixture of sand and water.
Generally, you want the substrate to have an excellent structure, not too thick or too thin for building a sandcastle. I mix it until it has the lovely, expandable consistency, then add some sand and remix it.
I expect to have a sand-bed in the kitchen and bathroom at some point, but I’m a little bit more concerned about the sand in the backyard and a little less worried about the house.
Note the pale skin contrasts with the black eyes and the buried grenades that I don’t care about. As they are carcinogenic, there is a chance they will be messy, so clean the dishes and shake the substrate. So no matter what substrate you use.
Hermit Crab Water Conditions
It means that we must remove chlorine and other harmful chemicals from the water before giving them to the crabs. We do not provide our crabs water that does not reach a tropical fish tank.
Filtered water is acceptable, but usually more expensive, so we would use the methods below whatever type of water we use. Furthermore, we cannot guarantee that the chlorine has been removed sufficiently during bottled water processing and that the filters we use have not been clogged or contaminated.
Removing Chlorine
Chlorine is harmful to hermit crabs, and repeated exposure leads to bubbles on the crabs’ gills, which leads to suffocation and death. Remove toxic chemicals from the pet shop where you buy them, as well as from your pet’s food and water.
They are usually delivered in a dropper bottle and are relatively inexpensive, so you do not have to buy much. Try to get a good idea of mixing a GALLON of dechlorinated water and calculating a little how many drops per liter. Due to a long storage period, drops of dechlorinated water can be gradually lost, but it usually lasts only a few days.
Read the guidance on the container or packaging and the dechlorinated water label at your local grocery store or health office.
Check the individual brands, as the amount of each brand can vary significantly. Typically, you only need a small amount of dechlorinator per gallon of water (about 1 / 4 cup) because the dechlorinators are strong.
You can put the required amount of drops into the sink or tub you fill it with or leave the water open for a few minutes to ensure that the chemicals are neutralized.
VERY IMPORTANT!
Ensure the water in the bowl is not so hot that small crabs drown in it or too hot to drown.
A small glass lid water bowl does not need sponges, but a sponge is essential if you use large clams or mussels that can be very deep in the middle or back. If you have crayfish large and small together, put the sponge in a mold and have a stray little crab in it. Don’t take any risks if it seems low for a small crab; it immediately comes up and down.
Clean Your Dishes!
When you fill the water bowl for the crabs, you notice that sometimes there is a slimy residue on the bottom. This scum is believed to be oil traces used in many commercial crab feeds. The oil is used because hermit needs oil for its diet, but it is also useful for other purposes.
This scum is likely oil combined with other objects the crabs carry around in the bowl, such as food and water. It does not mean that you have to add extra oil to the crabs or feed them. Otherwise, you could kill them.
That’s no reason to worry, scrub the scum, and don’t use chemicals; wet paper towels work perfectly.
To wash or not to wash?
Like a hermit crab lover, I am a little confused as to whether hermits and crabs are necessary for this country or not.
When I was growing up, bathing hermit crabs and keeping them in the same water as the rest of the human body was considered a certainty. Over the years, however, I have stopped bathing them. One can certainly argue against bathing, but over time, and after my disease benefited from not being washed, I have decided to give up the practice.
The crabs are not bathed until they are awakened from their skinning, after which they are introduced to the rest of us in the same water as other crabs for a few days.
The general rule is that bathing can be stressful if the crabs’ humidity is kept at the desired level (relative to 70%). It does not mean that you should never bathe your hermit crabs, but what you need is to be able to wash them as you feel.
Some types of hermit crabs are afraid of contact with water, and there is always a chance that they will cling to you if you feel uncomfortable in the water or if a small crab accidentally falls into your tank. Add a sponge or bowl of pebbles and make sure it is at least 2 inches from the bottom of the bowl and not too close to the top. You should provide enough dechlorinated water for the water to flow when the crabs climb into the shells.
Read more about hermit crabs and the different types of crabs in this article, as well as some tips and tricks for their care.
You can bathe the crabs by submerging them in water and quickly removing them, but you cannot wash them if you have isolated them from the rest of the crabs for months and have not noticed any disease.
Hermit crabs need saltwater to regulate their bodies’ salinity, and they will die an agonizing death if the saltwater is withdrawn. They MUST have the opportunity to go into the water if necessary, but they do not.
Treatment
It is the second part of a two-part series about dealing with hermit crabs and how to look after yourself and your family.
The correct handling of hermit crabs is difficult, some people recommend to pick them out of the shell, and others recommend to put them in the outstretched palm. If you stretch out your hands, they could get out of the way and grab your flesh. If they hold them in the bowls, they pinch their fingers off and faint or even die.
Bathing new crabs
New Hermit is bathed quickly and gently as they emerge from their underground hideout. To prevent cannibalism, soak them in a warm, warm water bath with a little soap and water. New molters retain the scent of scales and exoskeletons, thus washing away the pungent smell. Hermit crabs bought at the pet store are bathed to remove dirt from them and smell them as any other hermit crab.
The water temperature should be lukewarm, not too hot, but warm enough for the surrounding space. Remember that hermit crabs do not tolerate chlorine, so make sure you dechlorinate the bathwater.
I applied a few drops of Stress Coat (r) on a very special Hermiebad (the name is named after me because I found out why).
Most people bathe their hermit crabs in a bowl or plastic container mixed with a little water and a few drops of stress coat (r), and a little salt. Try to put them in the bathwater with your hands and arms, but you can slowly lower them into the tub if they do not. Place them on the bottom of your tub until they are completely submerged and take them out with their crabs and fish.
Please do not remove the bowl from the bath within a minute of stepping out of the bowl, drain the bowls of excess water and let it dry. Please do not leave your hermit crabs unattended in the baths, as they become very active while bathing and may crawl outside, run away, or get lost in your house.
Some people have dry zones where their crabs can let off steam as they dry, but this can be a paper towel or shoebox that absorbs excess moisture.
They are incredibly active and like to explore after the bath, so sit back and put the dried hermie back in your crab and relax.
Spot Clean-Ups
The introduction of crabs itself is an excellent time to clean up and rearrange things. Use a sieve or fishing net to strain the sand to remove the crab pupa, exoskeleton, and buried food.
Shake the sand out of the empty bowl, replace the food bowl, and put the climbing toys from the previous week back in their place and arrange them differently. I’m all for rearranging the crabs, so they don’t get bored, but I’m a bit of an expert at it.
He likes to climb everywhere and hide in almost anything you can give him, but he wants to hide in the back of the pet shop. He has behaved like an average pet in a shop selling many varieties of Hermie toys.
Dried choya (or cholla) wood (they like to eat it too) Sand-blasted grapevine Driftwood in any shape or form Plastic plants Coral, barnacles, and sea fans (Coral also provides additional calcium) Man-made ‘hermie huts’ for them to hide in Man-made ‘half logs’ even as hiding places Unpainted clay flower pots
So you can see that there are all sorts of things you can put in a tank full of crabs to keep them happy, but what do you do?
Crabs are arthropods in the same trunk as insects, so be careful not to put resinous evergreen wood on them. Crabs can annoy hermit crabs when they are irritated by cedar or pine moths, but they can also be troubled by other insects such as beetles, spiders, and other spiders.
Oh no! So I Shouldn’t Catch Them with hands?
The most important thing to remember when holding a hermit crab in your hand is not to forget your eyes. I respect crabs’ ability to pinch themselves, and most people associate crabs with claws, but crabs are much more. That is perfectly fine as long as you keep them as close to the surface as possible, not too far away.
By caring for migratory crabs, the crab’s probability will escape and get lost or even starve is reduced.
Never put the crab in your pocket, never lift it in front of you, and never close your fist around it. When you catch a Hermit, grab it not only by the neck or even the head.
The crab gets scared, stretches out its claws, and you carefully lift it out of its shell and place it on the ground.
If you want to hold the crab in your hand, make sure it has a walking area and appears comfortable. It can be done by placing one hand in front of the other to give it a continuous walking surface. If you are very active with your crab, you can also move it to another surface, such as a sofa or bed, when it moves. The most important thing for a well-cared-for hermit crab is that no one walks from hand to hand without stopping.
If there is not enough space, you can put your hand in front of the head or the middle of the crab’s body, or even over it if necessary.
Sponge Guidance
Sponges help pump moisture into the air by providing a large surface area from which water can evaporate. A substrate covering the sub-tank for heating, such as a sponge, effectively distributes moisture in the air.
The key to using sponges is that some tend to turn into a sponge, preventing mold and bacterial growth. It could be compared to the time it takes for a bowl of water to evaporate instead of the time it takes for it to disappear.
A short soaking in a sea salt solution, followed by a rinse with a little dechlorinated water, helps clean the sponge. If you need to disinfect, put a dry sponge in the microwave for two minutes. If it is damp or even damp, put it in the microwave and squeeze out the extra water and let it dry. Otherwise, it will shrink quickly to almost nothing and cause mold and bacterial growth.
When it sits in the water and crawls inside, some bacteria could kill the crabs and mold. Large natural sponges can be expensive, and their maintenance is mandatory, but the method chosen must be the best solution to the problem caused by regular cleaning of the sponge.
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