Should Temp/Humidity Guidelines Change

[moire_eel]

I feel what we go by now may turn out to be more specific to purple pinchers than land hermit crabs in general. Certainly when you look at what _Biology of the Land Crabs_ lists for typical diet varies from species to species, and our current feeding guidlines don't account for that. Though certainly offering a wide variety of food in abundance is a reasonable way to handle differences in diet.

Any thoughts on the differences for Indos versus Purple Pinchers? I am thinking of ordering some once I make sure my tank conditions are stable at my new house.

[froggz37]

My experience with Indo's is that they are VERY shy. I had one that you would have thought it was an empty shell except that it moved at night. I still prefer ruggies.

[Kali_Ma]

Personally, I'm not buying Indos any more. For whatever reason, I've had three and all three died trying to molt. I don't think I have the conditions they need, and I don't want to kill any more of them. I have better success with perlatus molts.

My favorite Indo, Rasputin, who I thought would live, is lying in the salt water dish without his shell. I'm leaving him until he starts to stink, though, because I'm hoping and praying it's just a molting coma. If they can't handle the conditions of the other crabs, there is no reason to torture them any more.

[Felicity Loves Animals]

Does anybody have a pic of a indo, because I want to know what they look like???

[moire_eel]

Here's a picture of my old Indo, who died. He came from a pet store that had their tank at 90+ degrees -- grr.



Kali_ma -- you got all your Indos at the same time, right? If so, it could be that they all had the same experiences that led to them being weakened constitutionally. I got my Straws together, and if it weren't for the fact that I've heard of similar deaths from so many others, I'd assume that and try with some more Straws.

[Ally]

My Indo, Shyla, molted just fine. She came up very pale in colouration, but otherwise, no problems. She's been up about a month now. Her name, in fact, is a bit of a misnomer, because she's often out and about exploring.

[Kali_Ma]

Sad to say, Rasputin is dead. He was starting to dissolve and nothing alive smells like that.

I did get all three Indos from the same place, same shipment, but the other two died within 3 weeks -- one was so badly damaged from being dropped it was a mercy buy, but Charlemaigne and Rasputin dying were a shock.

Ally, do you have your Indos in specific conditions? Maybe mine aren't right. All three died in the same ISO, but I've been checking the gauges and they are functioning properly, so I thought it might just be the Indos themselves needing something I'm not giving them.

I'm very sad about Rasputin. I thought he'd pull through, poor baby. He really needed to molt, his feet were all broken off, but he was a real trooper. It really puts me off trying to care for any more of them. but honestly, if I can't get them to live, what's happening to all the other ones from that store? It's not like I don't know what I'm doing...

[CJ]

Kali_Ma,

I'm so sorry Rasputin passed away.

cj

[froggz37]

My indo Scuttles pased as she was trying to molt also, it was a topside molt.

[Ally]

No special conditions..in fact, my conditions are kind of the opposite of the original topic of the thread. My temp and humidity are both in the lower 70's. The playsand is fairly wet, though...it would make great sandcastles. The crabs wet it themselves to the consistency they wanted.