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November 2008:
"Flower Paradise" |
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| If you are a member of Hermit Crab Paradise, visit the link above to enter the competition. If not, please register first. |
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Survey #023:
What is your second storey made of? |
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| If you are a member of Hermit Crab Paradise, visit the link above to vote. If not, please register first. |
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| Say NO to Crabinacup sold at Walmart! Such humiliation and animal cruelty against hermit crabs must not be tolerated. |
| Say NO to the painted shells sold in many pet stores! Hermit crabs are not toys, nor are their shells. |
| You can help our protest by signing the petitions and joining many other crabbers in the battle for the respect of hermit crabs. |
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| If Hermit Crab Paradise has proven helpful to you, please link back to us! You may use the 90×90 icon above if you wish, but please upload it to your own server. We appreciate your support! |
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Selecting Healthy Hermit Crabs |
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| Before selecting a hermit crab you want from a pet store, it's a good idea to check its physical characteristics for any lost or damaged limbs or even eyes. There are still many pet stores out there with shocking hermit crab tank conditions, so encountering stressed-out crabs is not unusual. When hermit crabs are stressed or feel uncomfortable due to extreme temperatures or insufficient humidity, they may drop limbs. Why they choose to drop limbs in response to stress is unknown, but one can usually conclude that it's not a positive thing. For more information on limb loss, please read our Lost Limbs page. |
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Limbs:
Check that the hermit crab has all its legs and claws. You can visit our Anatomy page for information on the body parts of a hermit crab. |
Colour:
The colour of a hermit crab's exoskeleton can also be used as an indication as to how healthy they are. Generally, hermit crabs that have been fed a nutritious diet prior to their last moult will possess a darker coat, such as toasty brown, red, purple or even black, depending on their species. Hermit crabs that have been deprived of essential nutrients prior to their last moult tend to have a "washed-out" pale grey colour. For more information on moulting, please read our Moulting page. |
Activity:
Look for hermit crabs that are actively running around in the pet store's aquarium. They may have arrived in the pet store for a short time and are still relatively healthy compared to the others. |
Aquarium conditions:
It is also worth noting the conditions of the pet store's hermit crab aquarium. If there are a lot of fleas and mites crawling about, try another pet store. |
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| If you feel confident that you have enough experience about hermit crabs, you can start selecting the injured or unhealthy crabs. Injured crabs are the ones missing legs or claws, and unhealthy ones are the pale grey coloured crabs. Those little unfortunate ones need a sufficient home with lots of love, and if they are not saved on time, they will die in agony. Being able to nurse a hermit crab back to health is no doubt very rewarding and fulfilling! |
| However, please note that you should not adopt every hermit crab you feel that needs help from every pet shop. We are very happy to hear about some kind owners who adopt all the sick or injured hermit crabs from a pet shop they can find, but this is not a solution to this on-going problem. When you buy a hermit crab, you support the pet store. Then, the pet store orders more hermit crabs and keeps them in the same poor conditions all over again. We call this the "Pet Shop Cycle" and is something that many generous hermit crab owners do not realise. |
| Tell the pet store that what they are doing is wrong. If possible, speak or write a letter to the manager notifying them that they are not housing their hermit crabs properly. If you don't tell them, they won't know and continue keeping the hermit crabs in poor conditions. If they refuse to listen, tell them that you will warn others not to adopt any hermit crabs from their pet store until they fix the conditions. Don't forget to remind them to research online for proper hermit crab care, so that they can pass on the information to their customers. |
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