Cursed?

[CrabbyJo]

RudhiraKhama, looks like Emma and Ladybug have covered it all pretty thoroughly! You remind me of me when I first started, I was exactly the same as you! I also wish we could put out notices all over the place not to purchase items meant for hermit crabs!
If people would only understand that these items were created probably with the idea in mind that hermit crabs are "throw away" pets anyway, then maybe that would put it into perspective for them. These guys can live for many many many years if taken care of properly!

So, like Wai, I'd like to congratulate you on taking the step of educating yourself, and while it takes a bit of time to tweak it all before you have the right temps and humidity holding stable (took me a couple of months, so don't be hard on yourself!) you'll feel great when it's done! So glad you came here, we will all do our best to help you out. These guys held my hand through two hermit crab emergencies, and held my hand while I worked hard to get everything set up right. I've had my crabs now for a year! Woohoo!

Welcome to HCP!

[ladybug15057]

Looks like Emma and my first reply to your answers to the questions were posted at the same time. Maybe that is why it took an extra minute for it to post?
I think it is great you are researching and trying to find out all you can about your hermies.

2. We have a 3 filter system that has a seperate small faucet on our sink. It comes out at the equivalent of bottled water, but then again, I haven't literally tested it.
I add 6 drops of the API to a gallon of that water.

I too use distilled water in the water ponds (and occasional baths) and have for a few years. A lot less guess work as to how much dechlorinator to use or even how ‘clean’ is the bottled spring water. Even using a dechlorinator it does not remove the fluoride that is in tap water, and known to cause defects/mutations to zoea. To the best of my knowledge though no real testing has been done on adult hermies.
But 6 drops of API is a bit much. (especially with the filters you use) You may wish to cut this back to 1-2 drops. (the directions actually call for 1 drop)

What are your thoughts on real sand that has been baked?

Not sure what you’re meaning by real sand? You may want to read up on Play Sand and look at the picture of the higher quality play sand after it was washed and baked.

5. Ditching Jungle Bed immediately and will get coconut husk substrate.

Make sure it is 100% coco fiber.

7. I am immediately going to buy a rheostat for the UTH.
What do you reccommend be placed on top of the heater in the meantime to provide a barrier so that my crab can't sit directly on that hot glass? I know someone mentioned marbles, but being glass, won't they also absorb and conduct most of that heat?

Emma has already addressed it is a thermostat you want, not a rheostat. Temps can still get too hot using a rheostat, it will not turn the warming device off.
I use marbles in my votive candle holders to help boost humidity, but I use the vase gems/glass craft stone over my UTH. They are a flat glass and don’t roll like marbles do. The glass permits for letting the heat through too, much unlike gravel and such that do not permit the warmth to go through.

9. Will be getting rid of the crab food.
What sort of freeze dried and dehydrated foods do you reccommend to feed them?
As far as "table" food, is it ok to to continue to feed them fruit (grapes, cantelope, pineapple, apple, etc.).
Should I add more protein or other things to the fruit?

There are freeze dried and dehydrated foods at the Product reviews link I provided and there is a store that also sells dehydrated food.
Please do remember that hermies also need a chitin source in their diet. Whereas many chitin sources are also considered a protein source, not all protein sources contain chitin.

[emmac350]

Also, you can buy dehydrated food at the Addiction Store. I've used this store's food for over a year now and my crabs love it. Vicki's store is great because she gives free samples of foods with every order so you get to try some stuff before you buy it to see if your crabs like it or not.

[Big MaC]

Just to add

5. Ditching Jungle Bed immediately and will get coconut husk substrate.


Make sure it is 100% coco fiber.

^ isnt nessassary as long as there is no pine in it. For my jungle side of my 95w I have a mix of forest bedding 100% coconut fibre and frog moss. It is perfectly safe and many people on the *HCA use it

*HCA = Hermit Crab Association

hope i helped some =)

[ladybug15057]

For my jungle side of my 95w I have a mix of forest bedding 100% coconut fibre and frog moss.

But it is 100% cocofiber? The Forest bedding is bought, and is not the Frog moss bought separately or is there a product sold that has sells these as a combination? The only thing I could find through researching "100% cocofiber and frog moss" was
100% cocofiber and frog moss

[CrabbyJo]

It looks like you were talking about mixing 100% cocofiber with Frog Moss?

So saying it doesnt have to be 100% cocofiber sounds kind of confusing to someone who isn't familiar with the products. It DOES need to be 100% cocofiber, like Marie was saying, but yes you can mix it with things like frog moss or aragonite sand, or other safe substrate materials.

[ladybug15057]

I typed in frog moss and came up with frog moss Some look like it maybe natural, some look really green A natural moss is usually a greenish brown, not the deep green as in a couple of the pictures. Even though a package may say natural, please do inspect it closely as here with the Fluckers moss

[RudhiraKaama]

Thank you for all the detailed information! You guys are wonderful!

Concerning the water, I just looked up the API Tap Water Condioner online and yes, the instructions online say 1 drop per gallon. Strangely enough though, the bottle I purchased about 2 years ago is a different shape and instead the instructions on the back of the API bottle say 6 drops per gallon to break the chlormaine bond. I've just been doing what the directions on the bottle said.

Ditched the HabbiHut and raffia hut and put in a cholla wood log... I just wish I could find those with larger openings. Will try to find a coconut hut (same with those, they never seem large enough so more than likely, I'll go buy the biggest coconut I can find).

Will order organic hemp and thank you for the crocheting idea - that would make it go much faster than a lanyard-type stich.

The driftwood wasn't purchased from anywhere, it's literally driftwood, so I have no way of knowing exactly what type of wood it is. Should've thought about that one before I asked, sorry!

The "real sand" I was referring to is just that - I have a huge bagful from the shore and was wondering if I baked it, would it be safe for use...?

Ah, yes, I would prefer a thermostat instead of a rheostat. Thank you for clarifying. I have tons of glass marbles so will most likely use those over the UTH... althought, would it be better for me to use the coconut husk over this area so I can try to keep it moist?

I found instructions on how to calibrate a hygrometer and will set it up this evening.

Concerning the painted shells... I no longer have any in my tank, but my boyfriend has 2 crabs that are both in painted shells... (I set his up too so at the moment, it's identical to all the original negative things that I've described. I will be changing it this weekend pronto!).
Now... all the shells in my tank are snail shells from the shore. I have cleaned those so thoroughly it's ridiculous, but all my crabs have loved them...
Should I offer those to my boyfriend's crabs, or should I just purchase new shells online and ditch all of my snail shells?

Thank you for the link for dehydrated foods, that is a wonderful site!

I have birds so the cuttlebone is great!

[CrabbyJo]

Little did you know, but all those shells our crabs are using are snail shells! That's where hermit crabs get their homes, usually from when the original denizens have left them and gone to the great ocean in the sky, or maybe the crab will remove the original owner himself? Not sure about that one! They usually are marine snails, though, not land snails. From what I understand, land snail shells can be rather thin, but I'm no expert and have not done much research on that one.

If your crabs love them, chances are his will too.

As for putting the cocohusk over the uth, that's a fine idea, you will just have to make sure and sprinkle it regularly with water to keep it moist, as it can dry out pretty quickly, esp in winter months with overhead heat lamps in use.

If you want the uth to actually effect the temperature of the crabitat itself, you'll want the substrate to be no deeper than 1 1/2" or so. I decided I just want my crabs to have a warm end of substrate to dig in if they choose, so it's about 3" over the UTH. My sand end is deeper, and they do seem to prefer molting in the cooler end from what I've observed so far.

[emmac350]

CJ - a quick reply to your question about crabs and snail shells. I've been poking around on Google Scholar, reading what I can (and using Google to help me with what I don't understand) about land hermit crabs. The article I'm referring to is located here. Wait a second - last time I looked at it, it was free! No fair! I remember a good deal of it and apparently my computer saved it, so I'll be going off of that. (If you can see it, I'm discussing from page 179.

Seems that marine hermit crabs are attracted to dead/dying snails for shells, but land crabs are not. Land hermit crabs respond to dead/dying snails as a food source, not a shell source. They base their 'why they are attracted to the item' analysis based off of how the crabs responded to a clean shell placed in their midst (length of shell-change cascades, fondling each others' shells in an exploratory manner) and how they responded when the source of the attractant was removed (i.e. remove crabs from the pit and place them in bucket - do they respond to shells or food?).

Other interesting note from this study is it found that crabs with 'shells on the mind' (crabs that were attracted to dead crabs of the same species) will not respond to new food placed in their midst, nor will they respond to the dead crab as food. They ignore all sensory inputs other than shells. Conversely, crabs who didn't have 'shells on the mind' tended to not even respond to a new shell. This could have something to do with the fact that they would go for shells if their shell was broken/ill-fitting, but if their shell was comfy they'd go for food and not bother trying for a new shell that may fit less well.