# Hermit crab questions



## hornet (Sep 24, 2007)

Well thanks to all this recent crab talk i have became interested in land hermit crabs. So anyone know good caresheets? Also where in bris can i get strawberry crabs?


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## lilmissrazz (Sep 24, 2007)

crab street journal is good for info


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## hornet (Sep 24, 2007)

yea i have just been searching but it seems the care sheets are missing


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## kelly (Sep 24, 2007)

I had three hermit crabs, then one went feral and killed the other two 

http://www.crazycrabs.com/main.html


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## hornet (Sep 24, 2007)

woot for mad crab


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## Inkslinger (Sep 24, 2007)

Kids have had and we found if we decorated the shells with brite color they would change to those instead of the plain ones


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## kelly (Sep 24, 2007)

It's name was Superman and it was HUGE, like 3 times bigger than the others, so I guess that wasn't a wise idea...


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## hornet (Sep 24, 2007)

i'm going to be going with a natural looking mangrove setup if possible, if not suitable for hermit crabs might get fiddler crabs or just change to a natural setup that will suit them..


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## The-Guy (Sep 24, 2007)

I prefer sea hermit crabs, they are evil. They just grab fish while theyre swimming and next second they are gone. nyum nyum nyum ynum


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## bylo (Sep 24, 2007)

Have you tried this link , i am not a member but will soon be http://hermitcrabassociation.com/


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## hornet (Sep 24, 2007)

already with them


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## bylo (Sep 24, 2007)

then you will find several care sheets , as the lady on the site pointed out to me


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## hornet (Sep 24, 2007)

main thing i'm after are enclosure pics or just a care sheet with a focus in housing


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## bunnykin (Sep 24, 2007)

they are pretty easy to keep the only hickups we've had are 1. if you get a large in with smalls (no matter what people selling them say) they will not be mates they will either fight, keep them away from the food or away from the housing ( only a problem if their arent loads of houses) ....2. you should leave the salt bath water in ( i was told to take them out to bathe them, alas this didnt work for long ) ..... other than that they are pretty cool oh and one of ours kept comming out of its shell and no matter how many hundreds of various shells i bought it didnt want anyothers just kept going back to its old ( too small) shell like it didnt want to give it up i even seardhed for one that was exactly the same but a bit bigger and used my finger to 'export' the smell of the other didnt work  but this problem started from the first few moments before i even got him home so may have been some 'bigger' problem..... oh yeah thats one hassle , if you think its hard finding a reptile vet try finding a crustation doc


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## PhilK (Sep 24, 2007)

Mate, I stumbled across this site this morning.. http://www.hermit-crabs.com/index.html
Lady really loves her hermit crabs... _Really_ loves them.
Heaps and heaps of info if you scroll right the way down you can navigate to certain parts of her site. Real helpful.
I also wouldn't mind some hermit crabs.. wonder if they'd bunk well with my land crabs I'm getting..?

EDIT: if you want to see enclosures, Google image search "crabitat" (hahaha) there are alot of enclosures to look at


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## Viridae (Sep 24, 2007)

Heat 22-26 Celcius optimum, I use an under tank heater. Substrate = damp washed beach sand. They need both a salt water source and a fresh water source - they will drink from both as they feel like and bath in both as they feel like. Humidity 50-60% - I spray them don every day and keep the substrate over the heater damp to keep the humidity up. They like somewhere to hide (a half coconut shell with a door makes a good cave) and something to climb - I use driftwood for both of them, I made a little cave with a piece of mangrove and a piece of driftwood and they climb it, sit on top of it and hide underneath it. They eat a commercial hermit crab food - it lasts a long time and is relatively inexpensive. They also like all kids of vegies and particularly fruit - some people say theirs like popcorn and peanut butter. Havent tried mine on popcorn, and they just walked through the peanut butter - they love apples and grapes though - I have seen up to 3 out of the 4 I have sharing a side of a slice of apple each, and when I gave them half grapes they hollowed the skin out pretty rapidly.

12 hours a day or so of light, 12 of dark - some people use moon bulbs and found them to be pretty active at night. Mine are pretty active early to mid evening.

Finally this is where I have mine - its a 30cm*30cm aquastart 320 with fine fishtank gravel as a substrate (I will soon be changing to sand to give them something that digs and stays dug - doesn't just collapse around them.







Edit: Strawberries are not available in Australia, as much as I would love one.

Edit 2: Don't use a heat bulb or anything like that, it dries out the atmosphere too much, a UTH is the optimum - make sure it is thermostatted.


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## hornet (Sep 24, 2007)

dont think they will go well with desert crabs, totally different environment, desert crabs live in dry river beds, hermit crabs live in mangroves and rainforests near the ocean.


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## DiamondAsh (Sep 24, 2007)

Viridae said:


> Edit: Strawberries are not available in Australia, as much as I would love one.





*Aren't Strawberries the really large red ones ?? I'm sure I've seen them in Pet shops around the area. :|*


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## Viridae (Sep 24, 2007)

DiamondAsh said:


> *Aren't Strawberries the really large red ones ?? I'm sure I've seen them in Pet shops around the area. :|*



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coenobita_perlatus

Oh there you go - you might have. I do remember reading that they can't be sold in australia, but maybe that has changed. I'm pretty sure they would be very popular if they were availiable, but give me a yell if you do find them for sale - I'm looking to get a bigger aquarium for these gusy to give them more room to run around and more things to climb, so I might grab a strawberry if they can be kept.


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## DiamondAsh (Sep 24, 2007)

*That's them mate. They are sold in the shops down here. Bunerong has had them, I saw one in a Passion for Pet's store this arvo and I'm sure they are in others. *


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## Viridae (Sep 24, 2007)

DiamondAsh said:


> *That's them mate. They are sold in the shops down here. Bunerong has had them, I saw one in a Passion for Pet's store this arvo and I'm sure they are in others. *



Wow! I might just grab one or two when I upgrade.

Edit: Don't know either of those stores, where are they?


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## DiamondAsh (Sep 24, 2007)

*Southern Vic, just up the road. *


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## Viridae (Sep 24, 2007)

DiamondAsh said:


> *Southern Vic, just up the road. *



I'm in north east melbourne (bundoora) can you be a bit more specific


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## lilmissrazz (Sep 24, 2007)

i was thinkin about gettin back into hermies coz i have a big spare tank (too small for beardies and not keen on gettin gex) so when i do ill post pics


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## lilmissrazz (Sep 24, 2007)

oh forgot to add i use to use pipi shells for their food and put cuttle fish in for them to nibble on they love drift wood and climbing so you can add suction cap (bathroom) containers for diff levels connected by fake vines etc... also when i had lil ones i use to crush up the pellet food a lil and wet it... other wise they drag them off and hide them and they decay and smell funky! hehehe i always use beach sand for mine anywho post pics if you set up a "crabitat"... also use to get whole coconuts and saw them in half take the flesh out and cut a "door" into them for them to live in


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## PhilK (Sep 24, 2007)

Woah Viridae, cool set up. I like them, they're actually really cute. If you can call a crustacean 'cute'... Funny how they peer out from under their shell. What's their 'personality' like? Do they just sit still most of the day? Do they react to you?


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## Viridae (Sep 24, 2007)

They ahve all different personalities - I'll copy what I wrote about them in another thread.

They have lots of personality. Goliath is the largest, an ok handler and a bit of a bully at times. Likes to sit in the highest spot he can for hours on end. He is also the most active during the day.

Next biggest is Hannibal. He is a great handler, and is one of my originals, he is somewhat smaller than Goliath and doesn't come out that much at the moment - likes digging holes and sitting in them - think he maybe getting ready to moult (stressful  ) - since I originally wrote this he has entirely buried himself and I haven't seen him for a day or so - unusual for him so I hope he is moulting and it goes well. I don't have anywhere to isolate him  I need to grab a critter carrier and glad wrap the top and fill it with sand to make a moult spot. Hannibal is called hannibal because he tried to eat my flatmate soon after we got him - took a chunk out of her pal and she swears he tried to eat it - probobly true too. She doesn't like him much.

A little smaller than hannibal is twitch. Twitch is entirely nocturnal - I dont see him much at all, he digs a cave and hides in it during the day - I only worked out he was coming out at night the other day when I got home pissed at about 3 am to find twitch at the front of the tank starring out into my room. Twitch is grumpy - he doesn't like being woken and will threaten you with his big claw - and pinch any piece of palm he can get his claw to if you let him. Only if that doesn't work will he actually stick his head out.

Aaand the baby - by far the smallest is a little fellow called Peg Leg. Peggy is missing the bottom part of his little claw and is terribly skittish. He is also very very fast and scoots around the place at the slighest sign of movement. He is pretty active during the day, just not as much as Goliath.


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## Viridae (Sep 24, 2007)

Oh and yeah - Hannibal is not very nervous at all - you can move around and he isn't jumpy - everyone else is a bit jumpy but not too bad (ie they hide for a few seconds then come out again - Hannibal knows its all good and just keeps going about his business)


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## Viridae (Sep 24, 2007)

I posted this in the land crab thread but I may as well post again - they LOVE climbing:


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## PhilK (Sep 24, 2007)

Ever had escapees?


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## DiamondAsh (Sep 24, 2007)

Viridae said:


> I'm in north east melbourne (bundoora) can you be a bit more specific




* Sorry mate, I didn't even think you were in Vic. Bunarong: Shop 2/3 Overport Road, Frankston Tel: 03 9783 6083 :assion For Pets: 562 Frankston Dandenong Road Carrum Downs Phone: (03) 9775 1361
*


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## Inkslinger (Sep 24, 2007)

Viridae said:


> I'm in north east melbourne (bundoora) can you be a bit more specific



No where near you Bunarong is in Frankston


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## Viridae (Sep 24, 2007)

Cool - my grab some one the way back from visiting my grandad one day (when I have the new tank).


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## Viridae (Sep 24, 2007)

Inkslinger said:


> No where near you Bunarong is in Frankston



Grandad and aunt and uncle live in Mt Martha and Balnarring respectively.


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## Viridae (Sep 24, 2007)

PhilK said:


> Ever had escapees?




Nope - and for a very good reason, I use a Aqua One aquarium with a fitted lid - keeps the humidity in, comes with lights and there is no openings for them to get out of. If you have a normal glass aquarium, make sure the lid fits tightly. They have been known to climb the silicone sealant in the corners.


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## Inkslinger (Sep 24, 2007)

Viridae said:


> Grandad and aunt and uncle live in Mt Martha and Balnarring respectively.




Not far from them at all very good shop too


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## crush the turtle (Sep 25, 2007)

umm hermet crabs.. umm yeah cool


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## Viridae (Sep 25, 2007)

crush the turtle said:


> umm hermet crabs.. umm yeah cool



Don't kncok em till you've tried em  They have heaps of personality.


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## hornet (Sep 25, 2007)

i saw a pic of one eating a bird, now i must have one lol.


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## PhilK (Sep 25, 2007)

Woah got a link for that?


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## pythonmum (Oct 6, 2007)

*Hermit crabs at school - very basic setup*

I've been keeping hermit crabs in my high school science lab this year. They are fun to watch and seem to have very individual temperaments/personalities. We've got 5 little crabs - 3 of which were donated by kids who got sick of them. My students have a roster of which year 7 is on carb care duty for the week. Students have to make sure the crabs have crab chow, clean (deionised) water and spray once or twice for humidity. On Fridays we give the crabs a saltwater bath. The housing isn't fancy - a cracked aquarium by a big sunny window. I'm using sand as a substrate (they enjoy burrowing) with wood, rocks and coconut shell for climbing with a clamshell food dish and a selection of spare shells. In winter I put on a better lid and 40W globe for warmth. Weekends I take the crabs home in a smaller plastic cage and put it on top of the snake cage - nice and warm over the basking side. When they are at home I give the crabs other foods. Wholegrain bread and apples are big hits. 

I've had 2 different care sheets which did not agree with each other. The main things I'm careful about are using only deionised water (they are sensitive to chemicals), keeping reasonable humidity and not letting them get too cold. It certainly seems to be working well.


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## GAZ-ROBOT (Oct 6, 2007)

Hornet pet city at Mt. Gravatt has strawberry crabs,I think they were around $39 pretty big crabs to...


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