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Nov 21, 2009, 2:26pm

Hermit Crabs

Humidity

Humidity is a key part of keeping hermit crabs, as you have probably read before. It should be kept constantly high. The reason? The thorough answer would start at the time they are eggs. They have gills; like fish do. When they’re babies, they live in the ocean as eggs, once hatched, they live in the ocean as plankton, yes, they are that small! Once they reach a certain age, their gills start modifying so they can breathe the humidity in the air, so they climb ashore and search for tiny little shells to protect themselves. This is where many hermit crabs’ lives are cut short. Predators, like birds, take this as “meal time”, and generally, about half of the hermit crabs are eaten. The ones that make it, dig down and moult rapidly, and turn into recognizable hermit crabs. This is the reason they need humidity, otherwise they basically cannot breathe, and will dry out. The humidity should be kept between 75-86%, and should be constantly measured and monitored to insure that it is stable.

Temperature

Hermit crabs are cold-blooded, in other words, they cannot control their body temperature. The temperature should be kept at (or around) 77oF. If too hot, the crab will overheat and will most likely start to “bubble”, brown/black bubbles start to emerge from the crabs’ mouthparts. This is most probably irreversible, though in some rare cases the crabs have survived. If too cool, the crab will go into a sort of hibernation, if constant the crab will most likely die.

Substrate

A popular trend with hermit crabs is to use play sand. From my personal play sand, with the high amounts of humidity, moisture, and the occasional crab splashing around in the salt/fresh water pools, a big soppy mess forms at the bottom of the sand. If you don’t notice it, it will get “sewery”, and smell terrible. I’ve personally lost crabs because they moult in the soppy sand. It simply doesn’t have the airflow it needs to support moisture, but not get soppy, or too dry. I have never had a problem with forest bedding; it keeps a balanced amount of moisture from top to bottom and makes the tank smell nice, too! The crabs love playing in it, and it also gives the tank a nice, natural look. Forest bedding also boosts humidity a few percentiles. It rarely gets mouldy, and usually if it does, it’s because the crabs dragged off some fruit and the juice caused it, which usually you simply have to scrape it off the top and throw it away. It rarely causes a “chronic” mould problem. You might be wondering about mulch or gravel, don’t use either. Mulch dries out, and when wetted, the moisture drops to the bottom and condensates and can cause mould. It’s also bad for moulting. Gravel is terrible for moulting, and the same problem happens with moisture, it all drops to the bottom.

Shells

I personally use the best quality shells I can get. I know it can, and probably will be expensive for you, but it’s definitely worth it. If a hermit crab is in an uncomfortable shell, shell fights and aggressiveness can occur. The shells you purchase should be slightly bigger then the crab, and before you put it in the tank rinse them under hot water and dry with paper towels to insure there’s no residue or anything on them that you don’t want on your hermit crabs and in your tank. Some shell types that I like myself are Tapestry Turbos, Pearl Turbos, Pearl-Banded Turbans, and Pearl-Banded Tapestry Turbos. You can find packs of these easily on E-bay (www.ebay.com).

Natural Shells VS Painted Shells

Now this is a controversial subject. Personally, I have strong opinions on this subject, in which case I much prefer natural shells. First, I will give you the data on why, in my opinion, you should not use painted shells. Painted shells’ paint peels, and is usually toxic. Even though it may be promoted as “non-toxic” and “non-peeling”, this is not the case. Hermit crabs are like babies in the sense that they will put virtually anything they find in their mouth to see if it’s food. Well, if they eat peeled paint to see what it tastes like, paint can’t be very good for their system. There have been hermit crab deaths that were linked to peeling painted shells. There have been loads of cases reported by hermit crab owners (also referred to as crab-keepers or crabbers) of when they buy a crab with a painted shell; they switch immediately into a natural shell. This is not always the case, but is quite common. There has been a disturbing amount of reports of hermit crabs literally being sealed tightly inside their shells by paint. By searching the Internet, you can find several cases directly from the people that bought the crabs sealed in the shells; you can also take a look at some pictures.

Food & Diet

Diet is an absolute critical part of hermit crabs. Your hermit crabs’ diets should be kept organic. I realize that is sounds rather ridiculous, but really, it is not. I also know that organic fruits, vegetables, and nuts can get a little expensive. I freeze my hermit crabs’ foods, it saves loads of money, it also reduces the stress of having to chop up fresh foods every night for them. I’ve found my hermit crabs enjoy strawberries, blueberries, corn, peas, broccoli flowerets, green beans, mangoes, apples, grapes, banana, raw shrimp, raw fish, cooked chicken (no seasonings or flavourings), papaya, plantain, pineapple, coconut (fresh, yes, you have to crack it yourself!), carrots, and many other things. Most of these things you can find in your local supermarket.

Commercial Food VS Organic

This is another controversial subject, however I lean strongly towards organic. Commercial foods contain preservatives, including copper sulfate, ethoxyquin, zinc oxide, zeolite, barium, and many others. Ethoxyquin, one of its’ many uses is a pesticide. It is also a rubber preservative. Barium is used in making bricks and also used in rat poison. Organic foods contain things like beta carotene, which will give hermit crabs a beautiful exoskeleton. Carrots and shrimp contain high levels of beta carotene.

You can research these preservatives further at www.wikipedia.com

Water

Water should be treated with a good quality dechlorinator. The dechlorinator will remove any impurities in the water, along with chlorine. Long term uses of water containing chlorine will/can cause chlorine blisters on the gills of the hermit crabs. This is pretty much irreversible. They are painful and will result in death of the crab, as unfortunate as it is. There isn’t really a problem with using tap water, some including myself use bottled water just to make double sure that the water is pure. Tap water won’t harm the crabs, though, as long as it is treated with dechlorinator. Bottled water should still be treated with dechlorinator as directed on the bottle.

Salt & Fresh Water
You might hear that Purple Pinchers (Coenobita Clypeatus) don’t need salt water, but enjoy it. Even though they most likely won’t die without salt water, they should still have it. Salt water provides minerals and vitamins that the crabs need to be healthy and happy. They should especially have it during moulting, where they need all of the nutrition they can get, as moulting is a very stressful process. All other species of the Coenobita family must have salt water, or they will perish. As I said, Purple Pinchers should still have salt water even so. All species must have fresh water. Both salt and fresh water should be dechlorinated and treated properly. For salt water, follow directions on the package your salt came in. Always use aquarium salt from a fish store, never table salt.

“The Crabitat”

The “Crabitat”, otherwise known as the hermit crab tank, should always be a glass aquarium. Never a “Kritter Keeper” or any other container. My rule of thumb is three hermit crabs per 10-gallon glass aquarium. You’ll probably hear on the internet 10 crabs per 10 gallon aquarium, but these animals come from the wild, where they have miles and miles to roam, even though some might be tiny, they should still have plenty of room. They should have plenty of things to climb on and entertain themselves with. Cholla wood has a tendency to mould in the moist environment, but can be bought off of E-bay when that occurs. I got frustrated with wire lids and switched to glass lids because of humidity issues. Glass lids seal the environment so humidity retains much better. You can put live plants in the aquarium to recycle the air, as you will read about later on. I’d say a 20 or 30-gallon glass aquarium is minimum for a crabitat.

The Horticulture Aspect

If you get a glass lid for your tank, it’s basically completely sealed. Therefore, you need something to recycle the air. What better then live plants! Pothos plants (Golden Pothos, Jade Pothos, Neon Pothos, and Devil’s Ivy are also other common names for them) are quite common, and can be bought in a common supermarket like Wal*mart or No Frills. They are very easy to propagate, all you have to do is take a cutting (cut one of the vines from it) and put it in your tank. It’s that easy! They will root down by themselves, and will drink from the humidity in the air. Your tank might look a little bland at first, but in a few months those plants will thrive in the environment and grow like mad! Don’t be surprised if your hermit crabs decide to chop a few of them down and possibly even eat them, not to worry. They are completely non-toxic and they will re-grow in a few weeks. If you can’t find a pothos plant, and must use artificial plants you must keep a look out for rust. Also, don’t worry if your hermit crabs even take a bite out of the artificial plants! They’re like babies, and once they taste it, they will spit it out.

Having Humidity Problems?

Not to worry! Almost every crab-keeper goes through this problem. It may take some experimenting, problem solving, and all around patience, but it will be solved. To make your life a little easier, I have some tips for humidity problems.

*Get a glass lid and some pothos plants! The glass lid will retain humidity and plants will recycle the air.
*Get a spray bottle (they generally only cost a dollar) (with dechlorinated water!) and mist the tank three times daily
*Use forest bedding for a substrate, it will retain moisture and produce humidity
*If you’ve done these things and are still having the humidity frustration, feel free to e-mail me at osippi_alteak@yahoo.com!

Having Temperature Problems?

This is also another common problem for people who live in the southern United States and in Canada. Here are some suggestions for this problem:

*Too hot? Keep some frozen bottles of water (half liter bottles of coke, for example, filled with water) in your freezer, simply place in the corner of your tank. Don’t worry about your hermit crabs getting too cold, they’ll go where it’s comfortable for themselves.
*Too cold? Get an UTH (Under Tank Heater), for a small one that works for my 55 gallon it’s $10.00 USD at PetCo.
*If you’ve done these things and still having temperature problems, e-mail me your conditions at osippi_alteak@yahoo.com so I can give you more suggestions.

Ick! Mites!!

For being so small those little bugs can sure cause some frustration! If you have little red bugs running around your tank, they are most likely Spider Mites. First step put your hermit crabs in your isolation tank. Next, take all of your decorations out of your tank, put them in a bucket or something else. Throw all of your substrate away. Wipe down the in and outside of your tank thoroughly, make sure to press in the corners to insure mites aren’t hiding there. Place the new, clean substrate in. Boil or rinse with burning hot water the decorations. Once you’ve finished drying them, put them in the tank. Refill the salt and fresh water pools. Give all of the crabs a bath in some salt water, making sure to be as thorough as possible. Remember: No soap! Once the crabs are squeaky clean put them in the tank. Make sure before you put them in the tank conditions are balanced and correct.

The Isolation Tank

Your isolation tank is important for less-stressful deep cleanings and other things. Some hermit crab owners use their isolation tanks (also known as ISO tank) for moults. I, myself don’t. I just let my hermit crabs moult in my tank, and I have small ISO tanks in my main crabitat if there’s a surface moult, it seems to work well. However, if you have a crab that’s jumbo size, you’re probably going to need a small KK (Kritter Keeper) to keep in your main tank for your larger hermit crabs. However, for deep cleanings and of the like, you’ll need a bigger ISO. A good rule of thumb for what size of ISO, I’d use a 10 gallon glass aquarium filled with 3-4 inches of forest bedding. You should keep this tank moist incase of emergency, however, you don’t need to keep decorations and climbing toys in the ISO all the time.

Moulting

Hermit crabs’ exoskeleton doesn’t grow with them, unlike our internal skeleton. So hermit crabs have to moult it off in order to grow. If hermit crabs don’t have preferable conditions, at times they will post pone their moult and they can get a bit aggressive. The moulting process is extremely stressful, and starts with pre-moult. Pre-moult is when the crabs start drinking and eating excessively to gain energy and prepare for their moult. During the moult itself the crabs flush moulting fluids inbetween their muscles and exoskeleton, which lifts the exoskeleton from the muscle tissue. They then begin to pull themselves out of their exoskeleton. After that, they eat their exoskeleton for calcium, beta carotene, and other nutrients and begin to harden. Sometimes if a crab has moulted, it can look like the crab’s dead. Before you do anything, check to see if there’s a crab behind some exoskeleton. They shouldn’t smell “fishy”, if they do there has most likely been a problem. If you come across a crab during a deep cleaning or of the sort who has moulted, give them a careful, gentle bath to cleanse them of mites, substrate, and of the like. If you have done the deep cleaning because of mites, throw out the exoskeleton and get raw, frozen shrimp with exoskeletons. Thaw one shrimp everyday and take it’s exoskeleton and give it to the moulted crab, give the meat to the other crabs. Be sure to remove the shrimp exoskeleton and meat daily; they have a tendency to go rancid overnight. Put the moulted crab in a cleansed isolation tank separate from other hermit crabs, the other crabs will eat the moulted crab.

Chirping

Have you ever walked past your hermit crab tank and heard a strange sound that sounds somewhat like a creaking door? It was probably one of your hermit crabs. You’ll know the sound immediately; it’s extremely unusual sounding. The hermit crab chirp is a mystery, similar to a cat’s purr. Nobody really knows how hermit crabs chirp. Until scientists really do an investigation into their biology and physiology, we really won’t know. The reason a crab chirps could be one of several. Some causes for chirping could be bullying, stress, shell fights, or you just have a talkative crab.

Aggression

Several different things can cause aggression; a tight exoskeleton, bad conditions, personality, and a bad shell are all causes of aggression. If you just bought a crab, and it’s aggressive, think of the conditions in the pet store. Did they have low humidity, too cold or warm conditions? These can cause a crab from the store to put off a moult, and an exoskeleton when not moulted tends to get rather tight, which can cause loads of aggression. A bad shell can make them itch, or if it’s too tight that can make them aggressive. But sometimes, a crab is just aggressive. You can’t really do anything about it when they simply have an aggressive personality. All you can do is do your best to discourage aggressive behavior towards other crabs, and if it is aggressive to you (ex. Pinching) simply don’t handle the crab. When you do, wear gardening gloves if you don’t have a high pain tolerance.

© Copyright 2006-2010 Lakota Robinson.
All Rights Reserved.
Osippi_alteak@yahoo.com

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