Land
Hermit Crab Care Guide
1. ARE YOU READY
FOR A LAND HERMIT CRAB?
THE BIG PICTURE
As you would
have already guessed, caring for a land hermit crab is more
than just food and salt. The initial set up for a land hermit
crab can include much more than you previously thought.
The good news is that there will never be a costly vet bill,
no real expenses for food or medicine, no reproduction in
your crabitat, or having to worm and groom.
The main costs
are those of the housing; isolation kit, heating; substrate;gauges,
water dish, pond and food bowl; tank decorations; background
and other items such as seashells, Sea Sponges, Calcium
Source and the like. You are trying to offer everything
a land hermit crab needs while in captivity,the essentials
they cannot live without.
If you cannot
meet the needs of a land hermit crab, then it is best to
wait until you can. It is much better to have an isolation
unit set up and ready,than to be in a last minute panic
when there are moulting signs or you have had your first
moult. Most pets have a similar start up cost, which enables
them to live comfortably and have a happy home and environment.
Contrary to
popular belief, Land Hermit Crabs are not throwaway pets
and deserve the same humane treatment as other animals do.
Before you buy a land hermit crab, go through the checklist
on the next page. If at any time you find that you cannot
meet the needs of your land hermit crabs, or decide that
they are not the pet for you, please try and find them a
happy home with friends that may care for them as well as
their own.
For more details
visit http://www.crabstreetjournal.com for more information
about how to sign up to adopt hermit crabs, or place your
own hermit crabs up for adoption.
2. ESSENTIALS
Recommended
products for optimum land hermit crab care
Hermit crabs
are advertised as cheap and easy to maintain, which is
not necessarily true. To keep your hermit crabs happy
and healthy, you will need to provide a lot more than
food and water. The following is a list of the essential
items your pet hermit crabs will need:
A glass tank
is preferred over plastic tanks, which will scratch and
do not hold the humidity with the ventilated lids. The
glass lid of a sealed glass tank helps keep the temperature
and humidity within hermit crab's habitat with a slight
gap for airflow. This will help to cut down on mould and
bacteria, which can cause illness and even death among
hermit crabs, often detected by a musty or ammonia odor.
Substrate
is what we call the material that lines the bottom of
the tank, and creates the 'beach' within your crabitat.
The most popular substrates being: sanitised beach sand;
silica-free play sand; fine river pebbles (such as Australian
Pet Supplies or Estes NaturalStone); crushed coral (such
as Estes Reef Sand in the US); T-Rex Bone Aide Calci-Sand;
and other hermit crab-safe substrates suitable for your
climate. You will need enough of a depth to cover your
largest Land Hermit Crab; often twice the height is sufficient
for them to bury.
An Under Tank
Heater or U.T.H. is a heat pad made especially for small
animals and reptiles. Popular brands are: F.M.R. (US-only),
Four Paws(U.S.); PetZone (Australia); ZooMed(UK/Aus and
US versions). An U.T.H. is used to keep the hermit crabs
warm by gently warming the glass floor of the tank, in
turn warming the sand. You may need a thermostat to regulate
the warmth of the sand at the glass level within your
tank if the artificial heating temperature rises above
26oC or 75oF.
Use non-metallic,
non-porous dishes for your fresh water dish, another for
your salt-water pond and one for food.
Your Land
Hermit Crab has been used to a varied diet of foods
and needs a mixture of 'meat and vegetable' type foods,
such as the commercial pellet types, as well as staple
dried foods that will not perish as quickly as the fresh
foods they need on a regular basis. A sample diet may
be a dish with ground Aussie Hermit Crabs Pellets, a
sprinkling of Tropical Banquet, and a scallop shell
with fresh food such as grapes, rice, fish or vegetables.
Try to alternate the food types and offer small servings
to avoid spoilage.
Natural Sea
Sponges are added to the water dish to provide humidity
and moisture within your tropical crabitat. Place one
in your water dish to minimize spills and maximize humidity.
A thermometer
is used to observe the temperature inside the tank. Thermometers
come in three main types: the adhesive fish tank style,
based on a sticker that changes colour as the temperature
at the glass raises; the circular reptile-type thermometers
which are based on a coil which contracts or expands;
a digital gauge which uses a probe and allows you to measure
the temperature at more than one location.
A hygrometer
is used to observe the humidity inside the tank. Just as
with temperature, humidity is very important. If the humidity
drops and the air is dry, your land hermit crab will have
difficulty in breathing through their modified gills, which
act as lungs when moistened and correctly functioning.
Water Ager
or Conditioners are very important if the quality of water
is not suitable for use with fish in an aquarium. It is
important to removes harmful substances from tap water
such as chlorine and heavy metals, which can make hermit
crabs ill.
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals
Stress Coat® is used to bathe hermit crabs in. You
will only need one or two drops in the luke-warm bathing
water, so one small bottle will last a long time.
Hermit Crab
Salt is usually a Rock or Sea Salt based hermit crab-friendly
salt to add to the salt-water pond within your tank along
with the fresh water dish. Never use plain table salt.
A bathing
tub used to bathe your hermit crabs in. It needs to be
deep enough so that the hermit crabs cannot climb out.
A mister bottle
produces a fine mist of water, to moisten the hermit crab's
gills You may know them as facial misters. They are handy
for when you are travelling with land hermit crabs, or
in dry weather. Use sensibly and treat the water if needed.
2. CHECKLIST
OF CARE: Daily/Weekly/Monthly
=:DAILY:=
Replenish food
and water in the crabarium
Remove any foodstuffs
from the substrate on a daily basis.
Spend some time
looking over the tank and make sure the substrate is clean
and dry, Monitor temperature and humidity levels + adjust
accordingly
Try to handle
your hermit crabs every day or so, especially when they
are getting to know you, offering them a piece of fruit
or sultana
Give the sponge
a thorough rinsing until it smells clean. Squeeze all the
water out and soak in chlorine and chloramine free water
and return to tank
=: WEEKLY:=
Pick through
the substrate for leftover foodstuffs and give the water
dish and food dish a good cleaning.
Give the sides
of the tank a good wipe-down with moistened paper towels
and check the condition of the substrate.
Rotate the shells
within the crabarium.
=: MONTHLY :=
Clean out the
crabarium. This means, remove everything from the tank.
Take the hermies out first, then the driftwood tree, dishes,
rocks and shells. Then empty the sand into a large colander
(or something similar with small drainage holes), stir and
rinse out the substrate until the water runs clear.
Wipe out the
crabarium with a clean cloth.
Vinegar is about
the only cleaning product I would recommend if you have
to use anything. Remember not to use chemicals that may
hurt your hermit crabs.
Put the still
wet crabarium out in the sun to dry, along with the colander
of substrate spread out in a shallow paint tray.
Wash out the
bowls, shells and any climbing toys while my hermit crabs
are exploring in a safe, inescapable place before returning
the crabs to their now sparkling clean home.
4. RESPONSIBLE
PET OWNERSHIP
Why have a pet
land hermit crab?
Land Hermit
Crabs are an interesting pet that when kept healthy and
happy will live for a number of years. If you are willing
to pay for the essentials: to provide heat, humidity, hide
spots, good hygiene, food and suitable water; then you are
part the way to keeping healthy hermit crabs.
Choose Carefully
It is important
that you choose the hermit crabs that are suitable for your
family and crabitat. If you only have room for a small crabitat
in your home, then it may be best that you choose small
hermit crabs. Larger hermit crabs need more room to move
about within your tank, and will need larger versions of
water dishes, food dishes, hideouts and the like. It is
also important that if you have small children, that you
do not buy jumbo hermit crabs which may be able to break
the skin with a nip. Many larger hermit crabs are more wary
of being dropped and will latch on if they feel in danger.
It may be wise to choose micro, teenie or small hermit crabs
for toddlers Even if they do nip, it doesn't hurt or cause
distress.
Your Family
Lifestyle
Land Hermit
Crabs need fresh food and water every day. If you are not
able to be there to provide these essential needs, it is
important that you find someone to look after your hermit
crabs if you are gone for more than two days. A ZooMed Repti-Reservoir
may be helpful in providing water during the day if you
work, as the reservoir holds a few days worth of water,
and operates like the refillable dog bowls do, just a smaller
version.
Your Home Environment
You will need
to find a suitable spot within your home for the placement
of your land hermit crab's crabitat. Somewhere out of drafts,
and away from any chemicals, insecticides or fumes. Typical
locations are in the lounge room or in bedrooms, however
the noise of nocturnal hermit crabs partying the night away
has kept more than one hermit crabber awake. If possible,
the crabitat should be placed in an area which does not
receive a heavy traffic,allowing for some privacy and quiet.
Your Time
You will need
to spend at least five minutes at morning and night time
refilling water and food dishes; picking through the substrate
for any food that has fallen or been dragged out of the
food bowl and to check for signs of any problems or illness.
View the checklist for more information on what is needed
each day, week and month.
The Cost
The initial
set-up is something that you need to see as essential. There
should be no cutting corners when it comes to the crabitat
(glass with lids are best); heating (under tank heater,
even through summer); gauges (tools to enable you to keep
the humidity and temperature at suitable levels);substrate
(to line the tank with and enable your crabs to dig), etc.
They are all necessary expenses and you will need to set
up the crabitat before buying your new pets, or they will
not survive very long.
5. STARTING
OFF ON THE RIGHT PERIPOD (FOOT)
Where Do I Purchase?
It is important
that the hermit crabs are in good health when you buy them,as
it is often very difficult to undo past damage, especially
poor hygeine which leads to bacteria, fungus.
Try to purchase
hermit crabs from a pet store which has a range of hermit
crab accessories, or at least from a pet shop that will
get items in for you on request. If the store keeps their
hermit crabs in wood shavings or other unsuitable substrate,
then I would either try and recommend a more suitable one
(sand, coral sand, playsand, etc) or find another pet store
which will provide you with healthy hermit crabs that start
off on the right foot.
Studies have
shown that poor conditions and bad hygiene have led to bacteria
contamination, which can cause limbs to drop off, mould
and fungus, leaving them stressed and in many cases, they
will not make it through a moult.
To learn about
good pet stores within your area, or if you know of a pet
store that is doing a wonderful job with their hermit crab
display and well-stocked range, why not visit Pet Store
Report at The Crab Street Journal http://petstores.crabstreetjournal.com
6. IMPORTANT
CONSIDERATIONS
Does each have
a place where it can de-stress?
Each crab should
be able to retreat within the security of a hiding hut,cave
or space where it can feel comfortable and secure within
its surroundings.
Will each hermit
crab have enough space to dig down and moult?
Moulting is
responsible for most of the deaths of land hermit crabs
in captivity They need to have adequate moulting conditions
or they will not survive The substrate should be deep enough
so that it is double the height of the largest hermit crab
at least one section of the tank. You should also make allowances
for a small isolation unit for each hermit crab, and have
it prepared beforehand if possible.
Do I have three
seashells for each size of hermit crab?
Each hermit
crab should have access to at least three seashells of its
size and shape, and they should include some of the more
popular seashells for land hermit crabs for that size. If
it cannot find a seashell to fit, your hermit crab may become
very crabby. If you cannot take responsibility to find quality
seashells for each hermit crab, then you should stick to
hermit crabs of the same size. At least then, they will
have a range of shells to choose from.
Aggression
Larger hermit
crabs are often more aggressive than small hermit crabs.
It is not a good idea to pick a hermit crab that is overly
aggressive, as it may continue its aggressive streak in
your tank.
Signs of Illness
If you see a
hermit crab with signs of illness in a pet store, it is
often not a wise idea to take it home, especially if the
signs are of mould,bacteria, mites, fungus or other illness
that may spread to your current hermit crabs. Pet Stores
are not allowed to sell ill animals. If a hermit crab dies
within twenty-four hours, take it back to the pet store
and ask them for a replacement.
7. How To Help
To learn about
good pet stores within your area, or if you know of a petstore
that is doing a wonderful job with their hermit crab display
and well-stocked range, why not visit
Pet Store Report at The Crab Street Journal.
http://petstores.crabstreetjournal.com
The
easy to remember website addresses are:
Caresheets
Magazine
Land
Hermit Crab Owners Society
