2 dead possibly 3

Questions about unexpected problems.
Post Reply
POPPIT
Zoea II
Zoea II
Posts: 219
Joined: 05 May 2015, 17:26
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 4
Total gallons: 69
Total tanks: 3
Location: Melbournes Western Suburbs

2 dead possibly 3

Post by POPPIT »

I have just lost a second crab...I thought Gnome was doing a surface molt but today i inspected him and definitely dead...My other crab died not long ago underground during her molt...My last crab is in another tank and possibly died as today i am smelling a fishy smell she has been buried for 63 days today...Can someone tell me if too high a humidity level can be a factor as my gadge was faulty and i just bought a new one that works and was reading 85% when the faulty one use to read 65%...The food i got with them had chlorine and metals in it and i was using it for a bit but i would of thought they would of been affected sooner...I know crabs can get stressed from the move from the pet store and i did change tanks with them Rebel changed from a temp crabitat to a plastic crabitat(not including the tank in the store) and Gnome and Gynaveeve went from temp crabitat to plastic crabitat to new glass crabitat(also not including the pet store tank)...could this have been a factor too...I would like to have crabs but would like to find out why my others passed as i can avoid this in the future...i also wont buy my crabs from the same store as thats where i got them last time and thats where they sell the chlorine, metal food.
User avatar
appps
Zoea III
Zoea III
Posts: 292
Joined: 15 Jul 2011, 13:01
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 6
Total gallons: 57
Total tanks: 1
Location: NSW
Contact:

Re: 2 dead possibly 3

Post by appps »

Sorry to hear he didn't make it. Just remember that they came from and into bad conditions when you got them because of the pet stores advice. Once they get too stressed like that it's hard to not loose them. They likely wouldn't have made it with anyone.


My advice for next time would be get your tank setup with the new sand, add a heap more greenery so they can hide from view. Doesn't have to be permanent but it's important for the first few months.

Then I would tackle your temp. You want it to be consistently holding 28deg of a day and not dropping below about 24 of a night. Till you get that sorted I wouldn't buy anymore.

80-85 humidity is good.

When you do go to buy new ones find out when the store has their new stock delivered and ask them to ring when they arrive. By getting them straight away like that you aren't buying crabs that could have spent weeks going downhill before you got them.

It's really hard to loose them but you have learnt a lot in that time so if you get everything set up ready first you should have more success second time round.
Annette
Carer of 5 Australian Land Hermit Crabs
Fili & Voldemort since 12/07/2011
Turbo since 29/09/2011
Frederickson & Kai 12/02/2012
and our new addition Stripey Ninja 25/10/2014

Our Crab tank setup & Journal -http://crabbycreatures.wordpress.com
Post Reply