Can I get more crabs?

How long have you had the crab(s) in question? 6 months

Do you know what species they are? no

Did you/Do you isolate new crabs? yes

Tank Size:6 sm

Lid Type: 2.5 х 3

Placement of tank in your home:in the bedroom on the bedside table

Substrate Used (moist or dry & depth):moist &depth

Type of Gauges: Strip/Analog/Digital strip

Did you test your humidity gauge for accuracy? yes

Placement of Gauges:on the walls of aquarium ,25sm above the ground

Temperature and Humidity levels in your tank: 29degrees Celsius & 80 %

Heating Source (if UTH how much of the tank does it cover and how much substrate is over it):I use warming rug for reptile (it's glued to a back wall)

Lighting Source (type bulbs & wattage): 11 w

Do you have at least one area for each crab to hide?yes

Is there any metal in your tank?no

What types of climbing things/toys do you have in your tank?big coral

What type of water do you use (dechlorinated tap/spring water)?filtred & settled

If you use dechlorinating drops-which kind?no

Do your provide fresh and salt water? If yes, what type of salt mix do you use?sea salt

Do you provide dishes for water or just sponges?dishes

How many extra shells do you have for each crab? for one crabe 6 shells

Did you boil the shells prior to putting them in the tank? treasure in hot water for 10 minuets

Do you bathe your crabs? If yes, how often and what do you use to bathe them in? 1 or 2 times a week.filtred settled water

Do you only handle your crabs with clean hands?yes

How often do you handle them?2 times a day

Have they been exposed to toxins such as chemical/cleaning fumes, perfume, spray deodorant, etc? no .(i cleening aquarim with water-acidus-water)

Do you allow your crabs to exercise outside the tank?yes

What types of foods do you feed?banans carrot cracker

What do you use as a calcium supplement? sometimes egg shell

 

Sorry, can someone clarify for me the measurement 'sm' thanks.

Ivka, for lid type, what is the measurement in? and I think the question was more for like if you have like a mesh top, or a plexi top. I have a feeling you have like an aquarium top with light?

How deep is your substrate? Are you using sand?

Can someone more knowledgeable clarify if filtered and settled water still needs dechlor?

The one thing I noticed that I would personally encourage stopping is the baths. Give them a nice deep dish, and a way to get out, and let them bathe on their own. And, if you do indeed need to still dechlor that water, you may be really damaging them.

There's a nice big section about food here too And some really nice links for additional types of food you can feed them Look into that, and expand their protein diet, amongst others.

GL!

 

If she is using distilled water she shouldn't need to dechlorinate it. I use distilled water for my beta instead of having to dechlorinate THAT much water.

 

The answer was "filtered and settled" which I assume means, it is through a tap and filtered with a filtering add on, and the water is left out for a day or two... However there was something about this NOT actually de-chlorinating the water, so that's what Im trying to find out, if letting water sit has any similar effects, or if she should start using drops.

 

Well 1inch = 2.54 sm.
Yes it is aqurium with plastic top.And I use sand 8 sm high,and 2 sm of carbone granulated.
So what you think about all that???May be I do somethig wrong??

 

i don't know what an sm is but you subtrate shoul be aleast 6-8 inches all over
if you have a filter on your sink you should be fine with out drops

is you tank a 10 gal?

 

I think maybe she means a "centimeter", cm.
It sounds like there is 4 inches or thereabouts of sand.

 

Depends on the size of the crab, if you have very small crabs 8cm would be just fine...

To be honest, I'm more concerned about the water, since I actually looked into for example, my filter, and it doesn't actually neutralize chlorine.

 

Yes,it's 8cm)

 

you can get a Cjhlorine filter in the Bath and shower dept. of Target

 

UH pretty sure this person said their tank was six cm. Whether it's long or wide, that's only THREE INCHES... which means it's a critter cage, which means they should not be having more crabs.

 

Part of the reason why I wanted to ask what sm is, as that lid size looks incredibly small, but the substrate they said was deep?

If you want to keep hermit crabs alive, you need to get a 10 gallon tank at least please.

 

I adopted a crab from a lady once that had it in a critter carrier, but her sand was a good four inches deep. So you never know.

 

Well I think you don't understand what I trying to say.I sad about it.
Size of aqu is 40х40х40/And sand is preety deep .

 

I'd say the confusion is where you said...

Assuming the 40x40x40 is in centimeters, that's about a 15 gallon tank? Just take a picture and post it.

 

I'm rather confused as well. If your tank is around a 15 gallon tank, then that's a good size for several crabs. Whether you can get more will depend on how many you already have in there and what sizes they are.

Your temperature seems a bit high - the safe range in Celsius is around 20-26C. If the heat mat covers the entire back wall, you might want to reposition it so that there is a warm end and a cool end in your tank and allow the crabs to choose what temperature they would prefer.

What type of substrate is it? If it's a coconut fiber, what brand? If it's a sand, what kind?

Filtered and settled water doesn't remove everything that needs to come out of it. It may remove some chlorine, but even a Brita filter won't remove both the chlorine and heavy metals that our crabs are very sensitive to and that might kill them. Please do either get a water dechlorinator like API or buy distilled water (no minerals or anything added) in jugs at the store. I prefer distilled as it's easier than remembering to dechlorinate the water. Even if you use spring water from a spring you visit or well water that has never been chlorinated, there will be heavy metals that would need a dechlorinator. Don't worry about bathing them, just offer them water bowls deep enough for them to bathe themselves in. Hermit crabs mix their shell water to a certain salinity and pH level that they like, and every time you bathe them, they have to redo it.

Your crabs need much more variety in their diet than just banana, carrot, and cracker. They need protein especially - this will cut down on aggression in the tank. You can feed them any sort of human-safe meat as long as it has not been seasoned with anything. They need it to help them make it through molts. For more on hermit crab food needs, see Hermit Crab Cuisine as they have a very thorough list.

One other thing - do you offer the crabs ocean water? If so, what brand? Most of the "hermit crab salt" or "hermit crab salt water conditioner" products don't actually provide them the type of salt water they need. All of the "hermit crab salt" type products lose the little bit of salinity they had overnight. Also, they just use table salt to make the water salty, but table salt is lethal to crabs. So please do look into getting a saltwater aquarium salt mix as it will provide what your crabs need.

 

Can you try to put it in gallons?

 

emmac350
Thank you for this post!