Excited, Dazed and Confused

[pstice]

I just "inherited" my neighbor's hermit crab which had been kept for the last 8 months or so in one of those little 1 gal. plastic carriers with aquarium rocks in the bottom. I had met him/her - I call him Mort - before when I crabsat while they were away and grew quite fond of Mort, so I'm pleased and excited to have the opportunity to try to improve the critter's circumstances. Wish me luck!

[Jason]

Congratulations on the new addition.

I am sure you will be able to greatly improve his situation just by getting a larger tank and replacing the aquarium rocks with a natural substrate. Even better would be to get him a friend, as they are really sociable creatures.

Jason

[pstice]

Thanks for the encouragement! I have given Mort some hermit crab sand, dampened with salt water; two baths, one fresh one saltwater; a climbing log; and a homemade meal. This morning I caught him on top of the climbing log, doing his best to climb the glass, which is much more activity than I've seen in the past several days. I also placed some humidity pillows in there which he really likes. I live in New Mexico and keeping up his humidity level will be a challenge, especially in the winter, but I have good plans for him I think and included in the not so far future will be a companion. Thanks again.

[Jason]

Hi Pstice,

You can always try using the coconut fiber, depending on the brand it is called forest bedding. It helps to keep the humidity up. As to dampening the sand, I am not sure I would have used salt water, but it would help keep the bacteria at bay. I just use a spray bottle with bottled water, and mix the sand while spraying it. Please let me know how they like it.

Jason

[pstice]

Jason, he/she now has a larger enclosure with some EE and sand. The humidity is hovering right between 90 at the beginning of the day and about 80 by the end of the day. We have our swamp coolers running in the summer, so that helps. I am now pretty confident I can keep the humidity acceptable. So many questions . . . . How to choose a roommate, which will be my next project. I am very grateful for all your encouragement and I now go to search the site for other fine suggestions from all the crab lovers.

[Jason]

I know what you mean about choosing another crab. When I picked up my first three, I decided to go with crabs of different sizes. I figured that if I went with different size crabs, there would be no shell fights since none would close in size. Worked great for the first three crabs, but with the next three, I got crabs that were close to the same size of the original three. Luckily I have been able to provide enough shells that they have not had to fight each other for shells. I would highly recommend that if you get another crab that is the same size as your current, that you have enough shells for each to change into. Just my two cents.


Jason