Should I get a hermit crab?
you should not get A hermit crab as hermit crabs need to be kept in groups ... the costs associated with hermit crabs is the initial set up ... once they are set up and the supplies purchased they are very cheap and easy to care for ... you could not move them every second weekend as that would stress them out and most likely kill them but you could leave them for a weekend no problem ... my dog is afraid of my hermit crabs and cats are interested in them but a tank with a solid lid (what hermit crabs need) would protect them from other pets ... but please do some research on land hermit crabs ... they are not the pets you see in painted shells and tiny plastic kritter keepers ... land hermit crabs are considered exotic pets and require a specialized environment to live in ... if you buy a "hermit crab kit" from a pet store, that is nothing but certain death to hermit crabs ... so please do your research and make sure you have everything you need BEFORE you buy the crabs ... i think 50 dollars is not quite enough to buy the tank, lid, heater, temp and humidity gauges, substrate, water conditioner, marine salt, spare shells, climbing stuff, huts but it is pretty close ... but please do some research on hermit crabs ... they are nocturnal animals so really only active at night so i find when little kids want them, they want to "play" with them during the day which is stressful for hermit crabs ...
What do I do? Hermit Crab help?
Take them with you, they can be put into a smaller tank if they need to be leave no pet behind.lived in CA where there are forrest fires and such have been evacuated twice each time we hooked up a trailer to our truck and ran a generator to provide light heat and cooling for our reptiles. Wasn't fun but I care too much about them to just leave them
Hermit Crab for Pets?
Oh boy did I go through this when I started having hermit crabs. I know what you're going through. I found www.crabbagepatch.com to be the best one FOR ME. There are tons of excellent sites and forums but they can be more than a little confusing and everyone has different ideas on the best way to successfully take care of hermit crabs. This one went through the in's and out's of taking care of hermit crabs, the set up, what they like to eat, etc. etc. etc. They also have a shop and they're VERY cheap on their prices so I get things from them all the time that I can't find in my pet store. The people who run the website have been taking care of hermit crabs for 30 plus years so they know what they're doing and they even make their own food. I am in no way affiliated with the website. I stumbled upon it when I was at www.hermit-crabs.com and they recommended it and loved it. But please check out both. I do love having hermit crabs. But it's important to note that I have 2 dogs, 2 cats, a hampster, 13 fish *3 tanks*, 8 hermit crabs, and 2 parakeets. I love animals so taking care of them isn't something I find hard to do. There's not a lot of time involved with taking care of hermit crabs and they're a BLAST to watch. They are funny to watch climb things and so wonderous in how they check out new things. I really can say my family enjoys them. In addition I want you to know that I'm available any time you have more questions. I fell in love with my hermit crabs and have been building on every since. It was pretty scary at first when they started moulting and it's always nice to have someone to talk to when you have questions. I get emails daily so don't worry you won't bother me with questions. Ask away. These are all good answers so I hope I've been able to help you. Good luck! :)
Baby hermit crabs enjoy feeding on plankton until they mature and feed on the normal hermit crab diet. They are typically hatched in the wild and need oceanic conditions to mature. When the baby hermit crabs are in their larvae stage, they cannot eat large foods and must be fed marine infusoria. This is a single-celled organism that can be found on any type of marine algae. After the baby hermit crabs are over one week old, they are fed tiny brine shrimp coated with Spirulina. Spirulina is a type of algae that is grown in fresh water and the ocean. It can also be found in a variety of health food stores. Once the baby hermit crab has reached maturity, they can be given the same type of food that normal hermit crabs eat. It's important for the baby's to get their nutrients, so you will want to make sure they eat a well-balanced diet before they are given other treats. A pet store can often carry most of the food items your pet hermit crab will need for sustenance. A couple of important items needed for the growth of the hermit crab are to have decayed wood for tannin and leaf litter. They also need a variety of other foods that should be used on a rotating basis. When purchasing commercial food for your hermit crab, check the labels carefully. Refrain from choosing foods that contain ethoxyquin and copper sulfate. These are ingredients that can be found in pesticides and could be harmful. In addition to their commercial food,your hermit crab may also enjoy other treats. Some other foods the hermit crab can't seem to get enough of are peeled grapes, shredded lettuce, cooked potatoes, peanut butter, dried cereal, crackers, coconut, bananas, pears,shredded spinach and apples. When preparing the snacks for your pet hermit crab, make sure to cut the treats into sizes that they can actually pick up with their claws and enjoy. They also have a sweet tooth. You can also try giving them flavored baby food like apple sauce, fruit medley, sweet corn casserole and pears and apples. Try leaving the treats for them to scavenge and find on their own.
Would a hermit crab survive?
I am planning on buying a few hermit crabs in north myrtle beach. I have a few concerns: 1: Will it survive the car ride back to Michigan (where i live)? 2: How big of a tank should i get for it? (plastic/glass) 3: Should i wait until i get back to michigan to get one? What do you think? I have seen a lot of youtube videos and websites on hermit crabs so i do have a slight understanding of what i will need. Thank You ahead of time!
Probably edible but I wouldn’t recommend it. They are scavengers, and as such they don’t hunt fresh food. They eat whatever they can find. The way I understand it, scavengers like Opossum and Coyote taste bad mainly because of that. Also it would be very expensive since they can’t be bred in captivity. A very tiny crab sells for $10 at the mall. It would have less meat than a shrimp of the same size.For comparison, lobsters eat crabs, clams, mussels, starfish, smaller fish. Most of that is probably fresh and alive. Shrimp feed on algae and zooplankton.
Hermit crabs do not develop their own shells so they steal their homes from snails, or gastropods, to protect their soft abdomens. Once they’re in, the curved end of their body holds on to the columella which is the central pillar of the shell. It’s the snails that manufacture these shells, so of course, once a hermit crab steals it the size is set. This is why you see hermit crabs shell hopping - they have to continue to upgrade their homes by scavenging larger shells.While it’s correct that hermit crabs reuse the shells of other critters like sea snails, they don’t necessarily wait for them to die first. Hermit crabs have been known to kill snails if they have their eyes set on their particular shell, or even oust other hermit crabs to take their property. It’s not always violent, though. Sometimes hermit crabs will form a chain, from smallest to largest, while they size up a vacant shell. When one of them fits, that crab jumps into the new shell and all subsequent crabs swap up to the next shell in line. Fun!As for how shells are formed, mollusks take in salts and chemicals from water and process those materials into calcium carbonate which is secreted from the mantle and hardens on the outside of their body: bam, shell. The details of how spirals are shaped, what parts of the shell are called, on and on can get very intricate; they have a whole field dedicated to the study of mollusk shells called Conchology.Final note: Not all hermit crabs are the mobile home type! Some prefer stationary structures left behind by worms, corals, and sponges, which means they’re locked in to one place. I like my home right where it is, so I guess I can relate.
How do I change the sand in my hermit crab tank?
basically you take everything out of the tank ... scoop the sand out ... you can rinse it and then bake it to sterilize if you want to use it again ... but a bag of play sand at a home improvement-type store, a huge bag is only around five dollars ... and you only have to change out the sand every six months so not too expensive ... it is more time consuming than expensive i find ... cuz once you have all the sand out, it is a good time to clean the entire tank with white vinegar and water, rinse thoroughly, and allow to dry completely before putting the tank back together ... and clean the dishes and climbing stuff too ... then fill up the tank with fresh or sterilized sand (bake in small batches, less than 2 inches deep, at 350 degrees for twenty minutes to sterilize) ...
Hermit crab care question?!?
hermit crabs are very easy to take care of i have two hermit crabs right now and they are very well behaved. all you need is (preffered by me) a accebtably large glass tank with some sand (WARNING if you use plastic sand it can get stuck in hermit crabs shells and they will become very aggresive and die!!!!!!!!!!!!) so use sand that you can buy at the store that is made for hermit crabs. you can feed hermit crabs the food that you can buy for them and also to keep them from being bored you can give them some fruit to eat most of them enjoy it some of them dont. hermit crabs can manage to smell very bad so try to get some hermit safe air freshener and spray it in their habitat every day.NEVER EVER EVER get only one hermit crab becus i PROMISE you it will die of lonliness!!! and last but certainly not least hermit crabs go through somthing called molting which means they literaly shed their shell and need to move into a bigger one fast. also when they are going through moltingthey can start to have canibalism so you should keep them separated so that doesnt happen