anorexic !

[shell.shocked]

Okay so as you can see, i'm a Newbie! i have just adopted a hermie yesterday! his name is Krabontae. lol my ghetto hermit. i put him in a tank [with brown gravel] a little tree plant in the corner. [his hiding spot] and a water dish. i also put a heating pad beneath the tank so the bottom can be warm. its about 78 degrees in there. too warm??

anyways.. i don't understand why he just won't eat! i chopped him up some watermelon last night and went to sleep. i woke up to realize he hadn't touched them! thennn i diced up some peas & carrots. still, he did not eat them allll today. Thennn i put some smelly shrimp pellets in there, but nope. he jus stays in that little corner of his and doesn't walk around unless i take him out & put him on my bed.

i put the food directly inf ront of him. what is it, does he not like this stuff? does he hate his new crabitat? i think i' ma get some play sand..i hope he's not stressed. maybe he needs a buddy in there with him? or maybe bekuz i don't have the right dishes for him. i have to get the small shell dishes tomorrow. i'm using the spoon part of a plastic spoon. could that be it? what if he just never eats at all & starves & stays in that shell forever...& why does he walk around when he's NOT in his crabiat! everytime i put him back in, he just shuffles his non eating self to the same corner and is halfway in & halfway out his shell just chillen. i just wana make him comfortable you know.

can someone tell me what's up with Krabontae! please, i feel like a bad parent! thanks guys. btw, this is a really awesome site!

[Mommy2Crabs]

First of all you need to look at the check list on the front page of the site. He needs all that stuff listed there. He looks pretty small. Gravel might be hard for him to walk on, not to mention it's not proper substrate for hermit crabs. They need play sand or Eco Earth (ground up coconut) EE for short. He might be stressed and can't dig down in gravel to hide.

Hermit crabs don't eat everyday and they eat very little, very very slowly.

Do you have a UTH (under tank heater)? Hope not an actual heating pad!

Anyway WELCOME! Make sure to check out the check list and ask any questions you want. We have awesome people here who are willing to help.

[shell.shocked]

yeah, you know what.. i think you're right about the gravel thing. he does have little limbs so it probably is hard for him to walk or dig. where do i get play sand, and how much is it? i wana go grab some in the morning..

and yes, its an actual plug-in heating pad. lollll but its working! or atleast until i get an UTH.

but yes, hopefully he just isn't hungry now bekuz he ate at the petstore.. lol but i hope that he eats Something soon. im beginning to worry. & i've read too many negative things about store purchased commercial foods. im not even gona bother buying any. can i just feed him all natural, all orgranic and all fresh foods only? would that be okay?? let me know, i want a healthy growing crabbie.

thanx a lot mommy2crabs! you give good advice :]

[chermo]

He can pretty much eat what you eat minus the seasonings. The play sand is $4 for a 50 lb bag at your local home depot or lowes store. It may be a little higher at the smaller hardware stores. At my home depot it is called quick qrete concrete play sand which is by the concrete mixtures. Yesterday with the foods, my crabs ate well, they had steak which I cut a piece off before cooking it and left it seperated from the seasoned steak, they had shrimp with the tail, grapes, chicken, peas, carrots, dried coconut, dried apple. Just make sure with the fruits and veggies they are rinsed off in declorinated water. I personally would not get a UTH, I find they don't really work that great with heating above the sand since the sand has to be so deep, mine is on the side of the tank and it still does nothing. I got clip shop lights (metal ones) from home depot for $5.50 each and then exo terra 75 watt night glo bulb and a exo terra 60 watt sun glo bulb that helps with the heat and humidity and also gives them the light they are use to in their natural environment. They seem to love it. I have a 10 gallon with a plexiglass lid with holes drilled in the lid for air exchange. Just make sure you get a hiding place and some fake plants. It gets expensive creating the perfect place for them but once it is done to the way you like it then you can just change it up every once in a while and just spend a few bucks. My original tat cost me $130 for everything and that was before I knew exactly what to buy. I have now spent around $200 but won't need to spend anymore unless it is the occasional plant or more sand when needed. You are not a bad crab mommy, you just didn't buy him after you knew what you needed and I did the same thing, I bought them then got all their stuff. We all make mistakes. Just get what you need and go from there. You don't need an elaborate tat right now, it takes time to find what you want and if you want a theme it takes even longer to get everything for that theme. I just went natural and it looks great. They love it. Good Luck.

[Mommy2Crabs]

Yes you can feed the all fresh organic foods. That's the very best thing for them, no pesticides. Like Chermo said, when you give them meat make sure there are no seasonings. They cannot have iodine (table salt) it is poisonous to them.

I have a 29 gallon tank and my undertank heater works great. But I use EE, maybe that's why it works good for me. Winter is coming and I know I'll need to get some lights.

I bought my first crab not knowing anything. So don't worry, your not a bad crabby mommy. I actually thought about the heating pad thing myself at first *giggles*!

You can also get sand from the beach. Just bake it in the oven (on a cookie sheet or caserole dish) at 350 for 30-45 min. and stir occasionally.

Everything will be okay! Just remember to keep asking questions if you aren't sure on anything.

[shell.shocked]

cool!! im going go out & find the play sand now. and guess what! as i was sleeping, i heard Krabontae in there jus crunching away. he only ate the shrimp pellets & a few nipples of the popcorn. he didn't touch his veggies! well, atleast he ate. but that's the last time he will get the pellets bekuz i've decided im not giving him commercial foods. unless of course he NEVER touches his homemade meals.

today iam going to give him steak like you mentioned and can he have uncooked catfish? i have tons in my freezer! thanks CHERMO & MOMMY2CRABS! you both made me feel better about my crabbie parenting skills. once my tat is all setup, ima show you thee pics! any good ideas on hiding spots for him. any favorites?

thanx again.

[chermo]

Originally Posted by shell.shocked

cool!! im going go out & find the play sand now. and guess what! as i was sleeping, i heard Krabontae in there jus crunching away. he only ate the shrimp pellets & a few nipples of the popcorn. he didn't touch his veggies! well, atleast he ate. but that's the last time he will get the pellets bekuz i've decided im not giving him commercial foods. unless of course he NEVER touches his homemade meals.

today iam going to give him steak like you mentioned and can he have uncooked catfish? i have tons in my freezer! thanks CHERMO & MOMMY2CRABS! you both made me feel better about my crabbie parenting skills. once my tat is all setup, ima show you thee pics! any good ideas on hiding spots for him. any favorites?

thanx again.

Your welcome, in regards to you asking about the uncooked catfish, I would say yes. You don't have to cook any of the foods you give them that I know of. If I am wrong about that let me know, I always cook everything I give them except the shrimp.

[shell.shocked]

hmm.. this is so confusing. okay since my lastpost, my hermie jus will not eat. i can honestly say i haveNOT seen him eat since september! & even then, i saw him only eat about 3 times. but he only took a few nibbles from his food. so its ben what, 2months & he jus doesn't eat! i guess he drinks water, but is that all he's gona do? also a lot of the times he will just stay in his little coconut hideout, and stay there for weeks. & jus not come out. a few nights ago i picked him up & sprayed him with water to get a reaction. then placed him outside of the coconut. he walked around the tank for a while then returned to the coconut hideout without eating or drinking. actually, that was a week ago today.

but today, i saw him peeking out standing in the doorway of the coconut hideout. lol so i put some fresh water in his bowl & a piece of turkey. he's been roaming around the tank bus stillllll hasn't touched the food or water.

what is going on? now seriously, is my hermit crab anorexic??

[NotaMallard]

He should have a friend. I actually noticed that my crab became more active after I got a few more for him to be with. And I have only seen my crabs eat twice, and I've had them for months! That's because they usually eat at night when you can't see them. And they eat so little you usually can hardly tell that they've eaten.

[Hermie's rule]

If it's been weeks and weeks since you've gotten him, I'd go and get him another friend. Your doing good. Your on the right track so far. Don't get discouraged. One thing that you need to keep in mind is that anything below a 10 gallon tank is way to small for a hermit crab.