I never though it'll be like this

First of all, hello! i'm "new" to having a crab on my house, but im not new to see them, i'll share you my little story as intro
i live in Puerto Rico, ((central america for those who dont know))
anyways, there's a beach everywhere here = /
the thing is, i was used to see this little beings since i was a child, and i'm 23 years now, but it never ocurred to me that these crabs could become pets = /
one day, i went with my wife to the beach ((btw Kailerie is a girl name, yeah, nevemind))
and we got abouut......... 70 crabs lol, they were one on top of the other, when we got tired of watching them we released them again in the sand were they took their own path, but i was thinking, ""could we have them in home""
guess what, i check google for hermit crabs, annnnd, WHAT IN THE WORLD!!! they'r .... pets? and people.... buys them? :whaaaat:
now, THAT'S something, i said what the heck, WE have the blessing of having millions of them in all colors and shapes 15 minutes away from the house..... we might as well get a tank ^^
so in ..... about a week im going to the shop to get a 10 gallon tank to start of, and i might aswell grab a few coconuts from the beach, dive in the water and grab some shells, there were quite a few,
but i might aswell give them proper feeding and some.... medicine? in case they come with something weird from the beach,
anyways ^^
HI!!!, that's the story that made me a crabber ^^ ,

 

Wow you're so lucky. I wish I could see that many hermit crabs running around in their natural environment. You should check out all of the caresheets on http://www.crabstreetjournal.com/ if you're going to get some. I'm not sure I agree with you in taking them, I just kind of like rescuing what's already out there, ya know? But I guess it doesn't matter since I am supporting them! Be sure not to get too many crabs, it's only a 10 gallon tank! Also you are sooo lucky to have quick free access to shells! omg! You should have no problem with your crabitat! Good luck with the little guys!!

:straw:

 

a few months ago the sea level was higher than is now, and there were LOTS of crabs of diferent sizes and colors, but the sea level is low now so they migrated to a place more humid, now there's a LOT of tiny (baby) sized, i guess they'r trying to expand again,,, the water level should go up again as soon as it starts raining in this area ((hurracaine season)) the sea level will go up, and so will crabs, they'll cover the whole area ((its a private beach area, so not many people goes there)) and those who does dirt the sand like there's no tomorow,,,,,,, cans, glass, beers, bah i hate it,,,, poor little beings, most of them are living now below cononu palms, there's only a few big ones, maybe they'r molting? anyways the area is a bit contaminated, people on this island are very uncosiderate ((well most of them, not all))
if i could i'd save them all........ im planing on buying more tanks later.... but i might start saving the ...... bigger ones? maybe smaller ones, so i can save more ^^

really....... its a natural habitat..... but its a contaminated one.......
the humidity i talked about earlier comes from a draiage from the street,,,,, what good is that for them? maybe thats why they'r so little, they die fast, cant grow, when the sea level was high they were quite big, but now............ its like a wasteland,..... anyways the hurracaine season should help a bit.... ill save as many as i can, at least those from the drainage thing

 

:madhouse: I get what you are saying about rescuing them from the drainage thing. That is kewl. Let us know how it goes. If you can take some pictures of the beaches when they are full of the hermies and post them that would be awesome to see.

 

right :think: i'd need a good camera tho, ops2:
dont have one = / not a good pc cam either ummm, i'll manage something
in fact u rarely seem hermits on public beaches, that area im talking about it from a residential area, surfers go there and stuff, and people who wants to be out of crowded beaches, ((like me)) coast area you could say, there's one wide big rock........ floor, that makes it bad to swim, but i know another beach i can dive in for shells, or maybe i can find a few around, i wasnt giving attention to the shells,. also.... they'r in a vey small area right now drainage thing, theres a few palms near it, so their hiding place are those palms, in a few weeks the sea lvl should raise, so at that time i COULD get pics ^^ cuz that's the show, when the whole rock/sand thing gets covered with crabs

 

Be careful about taking them directly from the beach. In many places it is illegal to do so withot a license.

Otherwise, congratulations on your newfound hobby!

 

actually, this island cant be mor illegal than it already is, seriously talking, the goverment cares nothing about nature, some people and organization do, but i've never seen anything to save a crab campaing, there's stuff for dogs, cats, cleaning beaches! but to have them clean and give a better place for those who go to take a bath ((tourists from usa maybe?))
anyways, trust me lol, aint breaking any rules, in fact, im doing this island a favor...... i might aswell do some bussines with shells and crabs lol, there's really quite a few of them around,, tomorow im buying the 10 gal tank, since the water lvl is so low, im gonna save tiny sized crabs, so i can get a bunch of them, also...... its harder for them to survive in such,,,,, place..... the bigger ones can hold their own better? hasnt it been like that always? even on humans, babies need to be taken care of, so im gonna take in those tiny with me, the big ones? i hope they hide well enough to fill up the beach with the sea lvl goes up again, i'll have to read a lot of guides here = / today i went to get some shells and coconuts for hiding places, i though i read something about making the coconut a good hiding places, boiling it in water or whatever, i'll have to check around, any tips? i also found some piece of good that they can exercise around, and im planing to make a send level within the tank, if its possible anyways....... ^^ wish me luk lol, i hope they dont die, = ( that would be sad

 

Sounds awesome. You can cut the coconuts in half and clean them out and let them dry in the sun then they make very good hiding places. Good luck on the saving them.

 

Just FYI: It is very important to boil out natural shells for 5 minutes to loosen any remains inside & kill germs before offering them to the crabs & also dip them in thier sea water a couple times after the boil to give them back thier "SEA" smell & the hermies will be more likely to use them. The shells should be smooth inside with no cracks or holes & if possible, file off any sharp points, espcially around the mouth of the shell. This can get a bit time consuming, but it's a good idea so as not to spread a problem through the whole tank. :clock:

 

Welcome aboard! I am so jealous of you! I want to live where everywhere is a beach! I'm trying to figure out how to turn my spare bedroom into a jungle...hubby might resist...hmmm.

 

oh i am soo jealous. Millions of hermis everywhere, and not being able to step outside without stepping on one. Hmph.....

Do you have any Palm Thief/ Robber Crabs/ Cocconut crabs there? (IE "Giga Hermies?")

 

Ahh, I have been o Puerto Rico ONCE, and that was almost 5 years ago! I didn't see any hermies, but then agian, I didn't even KNOW what a hermie was 5 years ago.

YOU ARE SO LUCKy! Just to see those little hermies just running around, lol. I can just picture it. It was be fun to photograph (ack, i am getting more jealous. :straw So, congrats on the little hermit crabby world, they're addicting little boogers!

 

maaaaaan, my phoneline was dead, i was out for about a month, anyways,,,, now i DID got some of them......... 54 in total, from 2 beaches, one looked like a junkyard, for real, and the drainage thing one, i managed to save a few from there becuz some idiot, ((if there's another word for it i dont know)) threw ummm rocks? who knows i dont know the name but ill try to explain, a BIG wall, smashed to bits and the idiot had to put the remains where the crabs were, he ALMOST bury them ....... he buried a few anyways = (........ i got the survivors with me, and i kept moving around the beach and some of them had moved from the drain thing to a grass area nearby,,
there's a lot of tiny sized, a few small and a few middle, about 2 or 3 at most.......... the weird thing is they dont fight...... = / they all sleep together in the hiding places i built them,,, there's about 5 - 7 places, biug enough for all of them,.,, and those anti-social aristocrats who wanted to be alone simplied buried into the sand ^^.... luckly none of them have died........ and maaaaan they loved strawberry wafers lol (( didnt had anything better)), since they didnt liked pears.... oh i got a question
i got 2 pools, one with salt water, ((from the beach)) and "normal" water, the thing is.......... do they drink it lol? i have found the "normal" pool empty a few times, and the salt one i had to refill it once and it was only half gone...... oh oh i got another question........ at this time of the year there's not hundreds of crabs, so im saving the few i find, but what there is now are snails....... MILLIONS!!!, no kidding, MILLIONS! of them, i was thinking....... if i get some of them......... is there anyway to make them move from their sells so crabs can use it lol....... i put 2 snails with the crabs, one i found dead outside its shell.... and a crab got in it, but the other is still alive, ((so far)) they have so much shell variety, i could just kill a few ((mad man :straw) and get their pink/orange/black/white/purple shells home for the crabs....... there' just way too much snails at the beach.......... way too much.............. too........................ too .......... much.......... if u get the idea ^^,,, i dont want to kill snails to give crabs shells, but its way tempting lol, man.......... WAYYYYYYYYYYY too much

 

:welcome: