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Thanks 🙂 I use the stuff that came with the kit.
Drinking water conditioner
Salt water conditionerYou mentioned that I wont be happy with a 10 gallon for long, and you are completely right. I have already been thinking of ways to rearrange or find a place for a bigger tank.
I will check out the hermit crab patch food, too. I have already been experimenting with food other than the pellets (kale, grapes, and pineapple) but they don’t seem interested in food at all… unless I just don’t see them eating. I didn’t know you could use cheerios, so thanks for letting me know. I will look at the list of safe foods!
I also did not know that the humidity could be too high. Good thing my Hygrometer is coming in Monday or Tuesday. I keep the air where I live on 64-68 at almost all times, so I think a heating mat would be a good thing to use even if i have to do a little extra work to keep the humidity at a healthy %.
The wood I got from my yard is not pine, but I will probably taking that out. I will try to look up the hideout log I am using to see what kind of wood it is. It does not smell like pine, but I will still look it up.
I have been researching since I got them, and I don’t plan on stopping 😛 Thanks for your help!!
My name is Jacob. I am 18 years old, and I am a very new crab owner. I am new to this website/forum and this is my first post, so forgive me if it’s in the wrong section or something. 😛
I purchased my crabs about 5 days ago on vacation in Florida from one of the souvenir shops on the beach. A few days later I was home. I bought a “Hermit Crab Starter Kit” which included a:
-10 gallon tank
-Hermit Crab Food
-Mineral Blocks
-8L Brick of Eco-Earth
-Hermit Crab CalciSand
-A food and a water bowl
-Salt and fresh water dechlorinator drops.I started out by only using what it came with, and after a little researching I discovered the calcisand is not good at all for the crabs, so out of the tank it went. The next day I bought all-purpose sand and another brick of eco earth, so I now have 6-7″ of a mixed substrate. I have bought them a big log to hide out under, some plastic canvas for them to climb on, and a few sticks from my yard. Here is where I am a little worried. I couldn’t find anything at all about sterilizing wood for crabitats, so I boiled them for about 20 minutes fully submerged in the water. Is this okay?
The food I am using is the crab food that came with the kit, the mineral blocks, and I have put in a piece of ripped up kale and a grape to see if they like it. I have not seen them eat or drink any. Is this normal? One is a lot more active than the other crab, but I barely see the active one even out from under the log unless I move him myself. I have Fresh dechlorinated filtered water in the pink dish, and salt water in the grey one. I have some big blue glass marble things (They are flat, I just don’t know the name of them) around the water dishes to try and minimize the amount of substrate drug in to it.
I bought a bag of green shells from Joann’s today (natural, Not painted!) because I have seen people buy those on other hermit crab forums and I have put them in the tank so they can switch if they like.
I have a small (6″x8″) under tank heater, and a thermometer/humidity gauge ordered and should be here Monday or Tuesday. My house is very dry, so I have been misting my tank with a spray bottle a lot, and keeping damp paper towels on the wire top to keep in as much humidity in until I get the hygrometer and can see what I need to change.
Is there anything I need to do to my tank to make them happier? Is it normal for them to not be very active and eating for a few days after I bring them home? It is a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be, and I just dont have room for a bigger one, so I am sticking to 2 hermit crabs for now, and maybe 1 or 2 more in time, but no more than that.
Here are some pictures of how I have it set up as of now.
Just want to make sure 🙂 Better safe than sorry!Jacob, looks good, but if that log is pine, it needs to go. You didn’t mention what kind of salt water, I use Instant Ocean, 1/2 a cup mixed with distilled water. I used to use the water drops to take out chlorine and metals from the water, but now I just use distilled water. Some people bake the wood items in the oven for a few minutes, I have never done it myself. I wouldn’t use anything found outside for climbing and such, you can’t really know what is on it or in it. As for humidity, you can cover the tank top with saran wrap, leaving a 1/4 of the top uncovered for fresh air exchange. Crabs have different personalities, some are more shy than others, some will hide for some time before getting acclimated to their new surroundings. Some people use different types of sand, many use play sand, the sand you would use for sand boxes. You must sift through it to make sure that there are no bits of metal or something in it that would harm your crabs. If the sand is wet in the bag, it may be moldy, and that is no good. I use CaribSea Oolite Aragamax sand, it is perfect for molting. It is expensive, but I love it, it is a preference of mine. The hermit crab food has pesticides in it, please do not use it. You can get freeze dried krill and shrimp. Please visit The Hermit Crab Patch for food, accessories, etc. You may give them organic fruits and veggies, cheerios cereal, there are safe foods listed here on the website. I want to tell you that you may have too high a humidity, with the eco earth and misting, eco earth is a moist substrate, so you must be very careful in distributing it in the tank. You have a 10 gallon, so not too much is needed in keeping humidity up in there. You also MUST calibrate the hygrometer, to make sure it is giving you an accurate reading. It could be off by several degrees. Please look up how to calibrate one. I don’t use a heat mat, I once did, and the humidity went down. I keep my home at a warm temp in the winter, and in the summer, I have my ac on low. The tank temp stays within 74-77 degrees. I also do not use a heat lamp or any such lighting. Once again, it is the owners choice. Too hot is no good either, I error on the safe side with my “kids” Crabs love to hide and climb, I am big on plastic plant, mine sleep in them. Some cholla logs, mopani wood. I have a forty gallon, with three crabs. You will upgrade, trust me, you will not be happy with a ten gallon for long……….its all about the upgrade! I use cork bark tiles for second levels. The bigger the tank, the happier the hermies! What you have now is fine for two little or medium crabs. My advice to you, is READ READ READ! Absorb as much as you can, because you cannot have too much advice and info on them. Read the info on Post Purchase Stress Syndrome, it is VERY IMPORTANT!
I made a mistake, I meant that the percent of the hygrometer may be off, not degrees, as in heat. Sand must have “sand castle consistency” for the crabs to be able to dig down, and molt. There is a wealth of information on this site. Please read it, almost every question can be answered here, and if you cannot find it, or you do not understand, we are here for you!
Update:
My hygrometer/thermometer and under tank heater came in today!! Just as I thought, the temperature was sitting around and a little below 70, so I put the heater on the side of the tank by the water, not the hideout. The humidity is around 75-80% (yay 🙂 ) I took the sticks out that I got from my yard just to be sure I wasn’t going to hurt them.
One of my crabs was digging a lot and has not been very active at all, and today has completely buried itself… so I am assuming that it going to molt. I read about isolating it with a plastic bottle, but it is right beside the hideout (almost under it) so there is not enough room to put a bottle in there. My other crab doesnt seem interested at all in it and has just been chilling out under the log unless i bring him out to let him crawl around outside the tank. Do you think the (possibly) molting crab will be okay even if there’s not enough room to protect it? I also read it is not good to dig up a molting crab, so I dont want to risk it by trying to move it to a separate container… It has been under the substrate since I woke up this morning. (about 8-9 am. now 5:45 pm)
I went to petsmart today to possibly buy another crab for my tank since molting can take up to a few months… I don’t want my other crab to get lonely, but the ones they had at petsmart were either way too big for my tank (Like really… huge) or not active even when held or moved. I will just have to wait it out until they get more in on friday, or I can visit another pet store.
I was walking around looking at the crab stuff there, and the shells they had were not right at all… the openings were way too wide, and some even had pointy “teeth” on the outside! These were the only options available!!
Sorry if theres a better place to be posting this stuff, but I’m still not that familiar with the website so just let me know. 🙂
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