All About My Hermit Crabs

Ok... Why haven't I talked about my crabs yet?




Holley: The largest in the tank, the second least active. She has a very pretty shell. (And it's not painted! :D Just brown with swirls of yellowish-tan and bits of green and black) Holley likes peanut butter but I would know more about her if she were more active. But crabs are nocturnal...

Sebastian: In contrast to Holley, he is the smallest in the tank and the leactive. He too likes peanut butter and has a cool shell (greenish tan with black spot/stripes here and there). Sebastian often hides in the corner of the tank by the heater (guess he just wants extra warmth, my tank is almost always in the correct temp for crabs) and is very active at night.

Pelly: THE most active in the tank. And a peanut butter lover. Pelly comes out not just at night but if you pick her up she almost always comes out to say hi. Pelly enjoys baths, especially when I make a big bowl of salt water every now and then and dunk them all for a few seconds and let them dry off by running around a shoebox lined with paper towels.

Finn: A crab with a giraffe-print shell (not painted either, just white with orange spots) and a big claw. He is the second most active in the tank. And he also enjoys peanut butter!


Note: Don't buy painted shells. They are itchy, smell bad, and chip, which the crab will then eat the chipped-off flakes and die. Get natural shells and always microwave them for 5 minutes before using to kill germs.

Food

What's in my food mix?

Everyone knows living creatures need food. Hermit crabs are one of those things, so you should feed them if you want them to live. I give my crabs variety; pellets just aren't enough. Here is a breakdown of what's in my mix:
All Living Things hermit crab food (pellets)
Omega One Freeze-dried shrimp (Great source of carotene)
All Living Things Calcium Supplement (White powder that crabs won't even know it's there, but they'll get all the calcium they need)
1-2 fresh foods every week


Why these items are important

Crabs need calcium and carotene. It helps keep them healthy and builds their exoskeleton. Buy some freeze-dried shrimp made for marine fish (usually tetras) and feed 2-3 a day for a good carotene supplement. You can wash out an eggshell (get rid of yolk and other bits) and then crush it up into really little bits and put some in the tank. This makes a good calcium supplement, or you can just feed calcium powder like I do. Just put 1-2 pinches in the food dish per day and add shrimp and pellets. Good pellet brands are: All Living Things Hermit Crab Food Medley, Zoo Med Hermit Crab Food, and HBH Hermit Crab Variety Bites. Hermit crabs can't consume a lot, so only feed what's necessary. (10 pellets or less for ALT, 7 pellets or less for ZM, and 7 pellets or less for HBH) If you are worried that your crabs aren't getting enough to eat, I can only give you four words: Cut back on portions. Count out your portions and pick the right amount so there's a bit left over but not a whole lot.

Fresh Foods:

You can feed these to your crabs, all must be cut up!

Fruits:
Mango, banana, apple, papaya, coconut, pineapple, strawberry, melon, raisins or grapes NOTE: Avoid citrus!

Veggies:
Romaine lettuce, tomato, zucchini, celery, broccoli and cauliflower, and other leafy greens.

Other:
Popcorn (without butter, salt, or seasoning), cuttlebone, seaweeds, freeze dried shrimp or mealworms, and unsalted nuts. The reason why I say no salt is because of iodine, which can kill them. You can use sea salt but I don't recommend it. My crabs really like Jif crunchy peanut butter with sea salt, and you can feed that, but don't purposely put sea salt on something.

Thanks for reading this post!


Giving my blog comments helps it to be seen by more people. (So even thanks to the negatives) Enjoy my blog! Be sure to check out Crafts n' Cats at: www.addyscraftsncats.blogspot.com

Pet Parade!

Today my brothers and I are showing the hermit crabs in the Hendricks County Pet Parade. We are bringing 2 of them, Pelly and Finn. (Finn made it through his molt and is a lot more active now) They are in a "travel cage",  a plastic Critter Keeper with substrate, food, water, and lots of humidity. I know plastic cages are bad, but it's warm outside and we'll mist it a lot. Besides, the show is only about an hour and the drive is 5 minutes. So hopefully they'll survive, I'll let you know how they did later.
Wish them luck!

Molting: The tough cycle all hermit crabs go through

Did you know that hermit crabs molt? Well, they do. Nature takes care of it in the wild. As a pet, crabs can die through this without the proper care. Many first-time crab owners lose their crabs because they don't leave them alone and may throw away the shedded exoskeleton. So what do you do when your crab is molting? Take a look at my directions and it'll seem easy.

Step 1: Is my crab molting? 

Signs of a pre-molt crab are:

Your hermie may dig around the tank, looking for a safe place to bury himself. They need to dig deep to protect from predators during this time.

The crab will eat and drink like there's no tomorrow. When crabs molt, they need lots of extra energy during the process. They lose loads of nutrients, carotene, calcium, and energy once they shed their skin. Thus, you can't get rid of the shedded exoskeleton. They must eat it to regain lost nutrients and will die if they don't have it available. So if you catch a crab stuffing himself, offer him lots of food and prepare for a molt! 

The crab will be less active than usual. Hermit crabs need to rest to save energy before they molt and will bury themselves and rest after eating lots of food.

If a crab is pre-molt, bathe him in a bowl of saltwater and create and Isolation Tank. This is a private tank where your crabs go when they are molting, being too aggressive (I explain more about behaviour later in the blog), or have just got back from the pet store and are having a hard time settling in and need some space to get used to "home". A 5 gallon or 2.5 gallon makes a good iso tank. It needs a heater, humidity gauge, food, water, saltwater, and shells. You probably won't need to use any toys, though. Be sure to provide it with at least 6 inches of digging material (calci-sand, coconut fiber, sand, crushed coral, etc.). Once the crab has stored up energy, he will bury himself. Once he has done this, he will usually shed his skin down there and bring it up the next day. Then, he will eat it. Some crabs "surface molt", meaning they will not bury and shed their skin above the substrate. One of my crabs, Finn, is going through the molting process now and he decided to surface molt, then I knew all of you needed the info on molting. Once you see the exoskeleton above ground, then mist the tank and leave the crab ALONE. You need to trust that the crab can do it himself and make sure others leave him alone as well. Not just pets and other crabs, but people, too. If you notice a strong fishy odor coming from the tank, you may need to have a crab funeral. Sadly, not all hermit crabs survive the molting process. But all you can do is mist him and make sure he has food and water. 

If your crab molts without you knowing, make a divider out of plastic or cardboard to separate him from other crabs, who will turn into crazy cannibals when they smell a molting crab. Make sure it is deep enough so they cannot dig under it, but make it tall so they can't climb over it either. 

Daily Requirements For Your Hermies

Now that you've got a couple crabs, it's time to see what kind of daily care they need to survive.
Every day, you'll need to change out the food, even if it was not eaten. Hermit crabs have tiny mouths and even smaller stomachs, so they can't consume all the food usually. Thus, giving them less food will reduce the amount of food wasted. You need to change it out every day to prevent bacteria. Then you'll need to refill the water. Never use tap or bottled water. It can kill the crabs. You can purchase a special crab water dechlorinator for them from a pet store or www.amazon.com. You'll need 2 water bowls, one for dechlorinated water to drink, and a deeper one for bathing. You need to use salt water for the bath. NEVER use table salt! It contains iodine, which will kill a crab! And don't use sea salt, as you might put too much or not enough in the bath. The same as drinking water, a special salt water solution can be mixed with regular water (as shown on bottle) to make salt water for your crabs. It can also be found at a pet store or www.amazon.com. Your bathing bowl should be just deep enough to submerge your largest crab and no deeper, as this could result in drowning. Make a big container of drinking water and saltwater so you don't have to mix extra every day. Just fill up the bowls with water and replace the food. In addition to commercially prepared food, crabs can be fed:
Apples, bananas,blueberries, broccoli, carrots, celery, coconuts, grapes, mangoes, melons, oranges, papayas, pears,pineapples,raisins, strawberries, romaine lettuce, seaweed, spinach, brine shrimp, unsalted crackers, unsweetened dry cereal (Cheerios works well), fish and shellfish, unsalted nuts, oatmeal, plain rice cakes, unsalted popcorn, unsalted rice, leftover bones (wash off seasoning first) and my crabs really enjoy peanut butter. You'll also need to make some water to mist the crabs with every day to keep them from drying out. Just use a misting bottle full of dechlorinated water and spritz the tank every day. Yes, I did say tank. Don't use plastic critter keepers because they don't retain enough moisture and crabs will die. A 10 gallon glass aquarium found at the pet store is best, but I've found buying a 5 gallon is much cheaper and is good for people with 3-4 crabs. You'll also need to buy a humidity gauge and thermometer. Zoo Med sells ones with both in one device that attaches to the inside of the tank. It is found at pet stores and www.amazon.com. You'll need to check that temp is about 75 degrees (Farenheight) and not more than 80. And a heater is good to have because it makes sure the tank is warm. Zoo Med sells a 4x6  heater that most crab owners buy. Enjoy your crabs!

Welcome to my Crab Corner! I recommend you to get a few of these little guys.

My name is Addy and I love pets, especially cats and hermit crabs. My house is a zoo! :D We have 4 hermit crabs, 4 cats, 1 betta fish, and 1 dwarf hamster. I am 9 years old. In this blog, I talk mainly on my crabs, give you a weekly newsletter on crab events and extra stuff, plus I have pictures of my crabs and some care videos, which I'll upload soon. If you are a non-crab owner, I would recommend making the investment to see if you could handle a few of these cool crustaceans. The best place to get hermits is at an online shop, such as www.naturegifts.com or www.backwaterreptiles.com. If you don't know what hermits are, check out the next post. Getting them requires special care and also a lot of money. Once you buy all the stuff, you just need to buy extra supply now and then, ranging prices of about 15$ extra per month. I mention more on care in my other postings. Do you have the time each day to refill their food and water, and play with them? And what about cleaning the tank once a month? Do you have other pets? For example, a big dog could knock the tank off a table, a cat might try to eat the crabs. I'm not saying having other pets means no, (after all, think of what I do!) just try to be careful with having other pets. And do you have the money? When you get all the stuff, it cost about 175$ total, and could go up to 300$. Also, if you're buying a crab for a child, depending on how old they are, you'll probably end up having all the responsibility yourself. If you expect your child to do all the care, (These crabs are basically mine, no one else takes care of them, but my mom helps me with the harder stuff) they must be about 9-10 years old to fully understand the concept. Also, do you really want a crab or two? You must own at least 3 crabs-in the wild they live in packs of up to 100 and will suffer if they live a life alone. If you just heard they were cool and wanted some, you'll need to study more before you grab a couple crabs. If a hermit crab isn't right for you, it may be time to put down this blog for now. Hermit Crabs for Dummies is an easy find at a bookstore  or online and covers everything about crabs. Enjoy my blog!