Don't be fooled by some pet shops

[kgbenson]

If not harmful why take the precaution of listing the number for poison control?

Legal requirement? Analogous to the warning on the side of a 5 gallon bucket.

Keith

[kgbenson]

Are there knowledgeable pet store people out there? Sure. But working in a pet store is not evidence of any kind of special knowledge, training or expertise. People often see it that way but if you pause for a moment and ask, what does it take to get a job in a pet store, particularly one of the chains, you will see that knowledge and expertise in animal care is not a high priority. So it should really not surprise anyone that many pet shop workers do not have any special knowledge relative to the average guy/gal.

As to the internet being a better source of info, I would argue that is certainly the case for many animals, and not the case in many instances. Apply the same criteria above. What training, expertise and experience is required to post advice on the internet?

I have a friend who calls the internet the disinformation superhighway. Many days, I think he is spot on. If you are going to follow anyone's advice, try to get a handle on their background, their credentials and so forth. you don't need a PhD to give terrific advice, but you need something more than a modem and enough fingers to type. It never hurts to verify new information with multiple sources.

Keith

[Wai]

There is definitely a lot of bad information on the Internet. However, even if someone is able to get in contact with someone who claims to have certain credentials or experiences, their advice may not necessarily result in good outcomes since no care method works for everyone. There is also the possibility of people lying or exaggerating about their background or achievements. 

No-one can know for sure if the advice they are given is helpful unless they try it out themselves. Whether or not people choose to take a chance and try something new depends on how much they trust the advisers. Some people expect to see published theses as proof, while others do not care where the information came from as long as it sounds logical to them. Of course, if people are not satisfied with the advice being given on forums, they can always stop posting and go elsewhere. 

Ultimately, advisers should let those seeking help make their own judgements about the information that they are presented with, rather than arrogantly bash other advisers without giving any logical explanations. New crabbers may also modify the methods that they read about if necessary to suit themselves and their hermit crabs. Hermit crabs have been kept healthy and alive for many years by people without university degrees in land hermit crab using different methods and their input is still very much appreciated on this forum. 

There is a small number of published theses on wild land hermit crabs. However, we have yet to encounter anyone who has any published theses that compare different captive land hermit crab care methods.

[hermiesman80]

I got my hermie Hermes from a petco and I was surprised by the conditions!The tank was huge!About 150 gallons of tank area, they had fruit and veggies for them by the bucket load, they had a beach area and a tropical rain forest area with salt and fresh water, I knew they were happy i actually wanted to be one of them for a while until i saw how the staff treated them, they picked them up and as soon as they felt any movement they dropped them... so i bought like 26 hermies and rescued them as soon as possible because they were all sick until i bought them all they suddenly became super lively and happyand moved like maniacs and climed everything they could.

[ladybug15057]

so i bought like 26 hermies and rescued them as soon as possible because they were all sick until i bought them all they suddenly became super lively and happyand moved like maniacs and climed everything they could.

You had 26 hermies in a 10 gal tank?

[hermiesman80]

I had a bigger tank back then .A way bigger tank .

[appps]

Well I did two trips before buying my Hermies, the firsttrip I knew nothing about them at all but we still just bought the tank to bring home and set up because they only had large in the painted shells so we were waiting till the smaller (cheaper) in natural shells arrived a few days later.
I walked out thinking I could keep them in kitty litter if it wasnt treated, didnt really need a heat source (It gets down to 5C here overnight at the moment). They said I needed both fresh water daily and salt every second day and just to give them the commercial food, they didnt eat much so one a day was probably enough. Oh and to put cotton wool in the water dish so if they fell in they could climb out as the dish she sold me was really deep. I wasnt given any sort of fact sheet, they never mentioned humidity or that I needed to monitor it. Oh and that they didnt have a very long life span.

We ended up going back a day earlier than planned to buy a few things which buy then Id read I needed and they had just arrived that day so I figured they were worse of being left there to get down to 5 deg that night than coming home with us still trying to learn what we were doing.

[Wai]

Obviously they would have a "short lifespan" if they had to survive 5'C nights all the time! Poor crabbies...

[appps]

Well we called back out to the petshop on the weekend to see what sort of accessories they stocked, and the kids were quite upset to see that the crabs that arrived with ours that are still at the store are dropping legs right left and centre. Some only had about 3 left.

So sad.

[Wai]

A few years ago, I remembered seeing an active medium-sized crab amongst a freshly arrived batch of hermit crabs at a pet store I used to visit often. A few weeks later, that crab had already died, but no-one had removed his body...