Spraying crabs with water

Post by **Wai** » 09 Feb 2005, 21:58

Don't spray your crabs directly with water. This may stress them out. Just spray the air in the tank.

Julia_Crab · Post by **Julia_Crab** » 10 Feb 2005, 07:55

Sorry to disagree, Wai, but not necessarily, in my opinion.

I only spritz my crabs -- very lightly -- when removing them from the tank on a deep clean, in the gill area, to help keep their gills moist while they're out of their humid house.

Also, when I have larger crabs in pre-molt, before they bury sometimes they have a hard time dragging themselves around. I've noticed that if I very lightly mist these crabs daily, they will hang far out of their shells and drink like maniacs. Clearly, they enjoy it.

I certainly wouldn't recommend misting them just to mist them, or for fun, or to get a reaction, but they get rained on in the wild, they are used to it. If you put some of your crabs in a container they can walk around in a little bit and then mist the air gently above them, they could very well enjoy it! When it rains in the wild is one of the times the tree crabs will become active in the daytime, as opposed to just the night. It's because the rain bumps up the humidity. They find it refreshing.

Spraying a crab hard in the eyes is rude. But a very gentle mist can be quite enjoyable for them.

At least, I have found this to be true with my crabs. Everyone's are different. So many people say their crabs love coconut fiber substrate, and mine run away like it's the devil! So, you never know how a crab is going to react to something like misting, until you try it.

Just a thought.

Post by **Wai** » 10 Feb 2005, 16:54

Fine with me

Hannah · Post by **Hannah** » 11 Feb 2005, 13:30

I mist my crabs from above, so it is like rain. Misting it in the face might stress them out and it is mean. They are not used to it from the wild. The only time they would get water sprayed in their face is when hypothetically they fall on their back when it is raining and they are coming out of their shell. Same thing with spraying into the shell, it doesn't happen in the wild so they won't like it. But I do mist my crabs, from above, like rain.

Mary Wanna · Post by **Mary Wanna** » 18 Feb 2005, 03:00

Finally found a cool forum that allowed me to register! Hi guys!

I will introduce myself in another thread/board, I guess, but I just wanted to say I'm very new to all this crabby business I have going on over here and I just know what I read from the internet / forums.

I come up with my two little crabs (Mr. Krabbs & Squidward) do not like to be misted (they clam up) but my jumbo (Plankton) loves it! I tested him by misting around him and he walks into misting with all feelers straight up at it! So Plankton gets misted and always seems to love it.. I'll test the other two on a irregular basis and see if they learn to like it.

DodgeGirl · Post by **DodgeGirl** » 16 Apr 2005, 10:55

I am new to all this, but I was in a pet store today and asked to see the hermit crabs. The woman working grabbed the mister and walked over to the tank and sprayed it alot. I guess she did it to get them to react, which they did!!! Did they react out of stress or pleasure?

Post by **Wai** » 16 Apr 2005, 11:04

It could be either. Personally, I never spray my hermit crabs in the face, and just gently mist the top of them like it's rain.

lilhermitgirl17 · Post by **lilhermitgirl17** » 17 Apr 2005, 04:40

my small ones don;t tend to like being misted ether, but my larger one, if he is out, doesn't seem to mind. I usually take all the stuff out of the tank, and mist the tank insted, for the humidity ect, cause I don't have a humidifier yet. It works pretty good, if I keep the tank mostly covered.

ayianna · Post by **ayianna** » 21 Apr 2005, 02:00

Hannah wrote:

They are not used to it from the wild

Have you ever been to the ocean, where hermit crabs live? There's a nearly constant mist coming off the water, so I would say that they are used to having mist flying around. However, this mist is particularly fine-grained and generally does not have the force that the misters we use have.

lukeformercrabowner · Post by **lukeformercrabowner** » 26 Apr 2005, 21:00

well it seems some like it and some dont, maybe you should just try spraying it once, and if it likes it keep doing it, and if it doesnt stop