Adventures in Crabbing

Haven't Posted in Quite a While

2005-12-09T23:05:00.000-08:00

I'm away again...in Yuma for work. Again, I miss my crabbies! I realized that I haven't posted in a while. I will when I get back home. I still need to put pics up for Crabby (my old roommate's crab). He is doing very well. Although, Sebastian decided he didn't like the weather and died suddenly one day while I was at work. Crawled out of his shell and never went back in. I was upset.

Anyhow, more later...I promise. It won't be for a few weeks though.

Getting Nervous

2005-08-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

A little less than a month ago, two of my babies went under the sand. They haven't come up yet and it has been well past the time that their monthly tank cleaning is due. Anyhow, I have put my pacing slippers on, because there isn't much I can do until they decide to resurface. Since there is no visible or olfactory sign of mold and other extreme nastiness, I will have to let them wander in the dirty sand until they come up and say hi to me. I still haven't gotten to take pictures of my old roommate's crab, because I had the camera stolen. However, I got a brand new one last week, so I will take pictures on bath day or tank cleaning day, whichever comes first!

On other silly animal news, my brother's Red Eared Slider Turtle escaped his tank yesterday afternoon and we have been looking for him ever since. I keep hearing him, but I can't see him. I know he will come out eventually. The same thing happened to one of my friends and when the turtle got hungry and thirsty it made itself visible and they were able to catch him and put him back into his home. So, wish us luck on finding him!

I Miss My Babies!

2005-07-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

I'm in Yuma on travel for work and I haven't seen my crabbies in three weeks. My mom is crabsitting for me, so I hope everyone is well. But I miss the sounds of them crawling up the centerpiece and dropping off of it going KERPLUNK! into the sand. Its funny when they do that. Oh well, I return soon, early this week, so I will find out if any damage was done when I get back. Just had to write that I miss them.

Two Cross Over The Rainbow Bridge

2005-06-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

Rigby and Darth, I was sad. My move back home claimed them. I'm not sure what went wrong, but I know that I have never been able to keep crabs of Darth's type for more than a few months. I'm not sure why this is, but I can't. I can keep a Strawberry Crab healthy, which is hard (so I've been told) and a Ecuadorian Crab healthy, but for some reason the Rugosus kind just don't last very long. I'm thinking it has to do with where I live more than with how I take care of them. But normally I can't find one of those in anything other than a painted shell, so maybe they go through more torture before they go to a home or something. It really saddens me. I don't think I will buy anymore Rugosus Hermit Crabs. I've had two in the past few months. One of them lasted a day, Darth lasted about 2 or 3 months.

There is a bright side to this post, however. My roomate from college couldn't keep her hermit crab, so I adopted it. I have lots of room for strays and those that need adopting, so I took him on. His name is Crabby and he is a rather large Purple Pincher. Right now, I don't see too much activity out of him, but he did change shells for me. I think he is still trying to get used to home. He huddles in the Coco Hut and a lot of times Sebastian likes to keep him company. Sarge likes to barge in while Pepper will linger around the hut and only go in to crawl on the ceiling of the hut or crawls on top of it. I think they like him. Ok, I will have to provide a picture of him in the future, so when he is settled, I'll do some pics.

Trying New Foods

2005-05-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

I made a trip to Pet Co yesterday to buy a new isolation tank, because my Strawberry is molting and he is too large for the kritter keeper I have for that. Anyhow, I bought a new 2 1/2 gallon glass aquarium for him to molt in and he is doing his thing quite well right now. More pictures of him will be shown after his molt.

Anyhow, I picked up some new food that I am going to try out on my crabs.

Hermit Crab Yummies

Ingredients

Yummies up close

As you can see it is a moist food. After I put this in the tank last night, it took no longer than 15 minutes for Sarge to start pigging out, then Darth joined him. So, I know two of them love it. It smells a little like peanut butter which is probably why they were drawn to it so quickly.

Hermit Crab Vacation Food

I'm trying this out a week before my trip to Boston. If it is agreeable, I'll use it for my crabs while I am gone. Anyhow it is supposed to feed 3 crabs for 5 days. We will see. It looks really gross, then again Hermit Crabs eat a lot of things I wouldn't eat.

Sebastian

2005-04-30T00:20:00.001-07:00

My big beautiful boy and gentle giant, Sebastian. Named after the lovable, singing crab from The Little Mermaid. He is also part of the local tank trashing gang. Although he trashes the tank nightly, he is rather sweet to all the other crabs around him. Rarely does he step on them, but steps lightly around them. Such a good boy, he doesn't start fights and everything remains pretty peaceful. As you can see, he changed out of his shell to the Xmas shell. I also think he is on the verge of a molt. He is kind of inactive lately and his exo-skeleton looks like it is weak at his joints. You can't depend on cloudy eyes with a Strawberry to tell if they are going to molt soon, because their eyes resemble Hemetite. Which is a silver stone that looks kinda like cloudy crab eyes.

Rigby

2005-04-30T00:20:00.000-07:00

Good ol' Rigby. Rigby went through his first molt with me about 2 months ago. Now he is doing well, is quite the socialite of the crabitat. He likes to hang with Sebastian and start shit in the crabitat. They are my tank trashers together. Sometimes, just for the fun of it, Sarge steps in and adds his own artistical touch to the tank trashing.

Pepper

2005-04-30T00:19:00.000-07:00

Newly Molted Pepper, yes, he just molted this week. Isn't he pink? Looks all pink, clean and new! My little baby Pepper. Since September, Pepper has been through three molts. I think he has hit a growth spurt. He looks bigger and he has officially moved out of his original spotted shell. Anyhow, he is doing quite well in isolation right now. He needs time to recuperate, before getting social again.

Darth

2005-04-30T00:18:00.000-07:00

Darth...readers, readers...Darth. Darth is my newest addition, he earned his name from his extremely dark color and the fact that he kinda resembles...Darth Vadar. I'm in the Star Wars mood since the next George Lucas installment is coming out. Anyhow, I bought Darth about three weeks ago. He survived his two week isolation and is thriving in the colony pretty well. I think he likes his new digs. As you can see, he is a Rugosus Hermit Crab, not to be mistaken with the Ecudorian (they have more brown colors and blue colors on their legs).

Sarge

2005-04-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is Sarge. Sarge...readers, readers...Sarge. Now that everyone knows one another, I got Sarge a couple of months ago and hadn't gotten the time to post pics of him. Anyhow, he is a Purple Pincher and he went thru a molt about a week ago. Doesn't he look good? He didn't even lose any color from the new diet. I guess my Hikari Cichlid food is doing the trick. I added that to their diet when I got Sebastian, so he wouldn't lose his red color.

Say No to Crab in a Cup

2005-04-27T00:15:00.000-07:00

Crabtastic!

2005-04-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

So, last week, I got my roommate hooked on Hermit crabs when we took a trip to Pet Co to buy supplies for our pets. She is a Beta fish lover and I dig the crabs, and now she does too. Anyhow, while we were there, I ended up buying a Rugosus Hermit Crab. I needed a new species to add to my colony. So, the Hermit Crab count is 5. I think I need to get one more Strawberry and one more Rugosus. Then I need to get 2 Ecuadorians and I'll have my colony. I also may have to get another Purple Pincher, because I like even numbers and I have 3 Purple Pinchers right now.

Pictures of the new member of my crab family will be posted later this week. Oh yeah, my roommate started off with a Purple Pincher and he is kind of a big guy, not a jumbo, but close.

Coronado Beach Sea Life

2005-03-08T00:31:00.000-08:00

I went to Coronado Beach over the weekend. I visited the little tidepools and found a Line Shore Crab, but I didn't find any Marine Hermit Crabs like I would have liked to. Anyhow, enjoy my crab pictures.

Relatives of our beloved Hermit Crabs.

One Up for the Hermit Crab

2005-03-03T17:46:00.000-08:00

I went to the Block in Orange a couple of weeks ago and went to make my routine stop at the abusive Hermit Crab Kiosk. The one with mites that were very visible. To my surprise and delight, it is closed. No longer is that kiosk open. I am so glad, I can't tell you how glad I am! No more dying and unhealthy Hermies being subjected to substandard living at that kiosk! So, that's one up for the Hermit Crab.

UTH and Thermostat Talk

2005-02-04T11:27:00.000-08:00

We all know that a UTH is one of those "essentials" that one should have in their crabitat, so that the crabbies don't get a cold spot in their home. However, how do you know if you are baking your crabs or not? I was very worried about this and I knew that a rheostat just wouldn't be enough security for me, so in December I went out and started looking for a thermostat for the crabitat. The only thing that came close was this zoomed 500 one that didn't really look like it would be sufficient, because there were no printed temperature settings that were in numbers, they simply said "low, med and high." Getting discouraged, I started searching online without any real sucess, so I tried eBay and found exactly what I was looking for. Its called the Alife 1000 Watt, 3 Outlet Reptile Remote Sensor Temperature Controller. Comes complete with a probe that you can stick in the sand over the UTH. Anyhow, I bought it and it works very well. I set it at 72 Farenheight and everything works very well and I do not have to rely on the temperature gauge in the tank to tell me that it is set right. So, I can sleep soundly knowing my babies aren't being baked alive.

Kazabee.com sells them for $24.95, a deal compared to the $50 I was going to spend on the substandard zoomed one. So, if you want one, I recommend it highly.

Pepper Molted!

2005-01-27T10:23:00.000-08:00

So, the last time I cleaned my crabitat, about 2 weeks ago, Pepper burrowed down in the forest bedding. I thought he was just chilling out or something, because none of the other crabs were going into the bedding. Usually when a crab begins to molt, the other crabs can smell it and will try to dig up the crab and eat their exoskeleton. That is why molting crabs should be isolated. However, I did not think he was molting, because he showed little signs of an impending molt. Anyhow, I kept checking on him every night, putting my finger over the soil that he was under and I was getting him pushing back, so I didn't worry about it. I was just letting him do his thing. I thought he might have been a little stressed from the tank cleaning.

Well, yesterday night when I got home from work, I saw a hole where he was and left over crab legs from either a molt or a hostile engagement with the other crabs. I looked all over the tank and couldn't spot him out. So, I sat down to my computer to rest my eyes, cause those crabs are pretty good at camouflage. Then I turned my head and I saw him sitting on the centerpiece. The forest bedding had stained his shell brown and so he totally blended in with the centerpiece. He is still very pink, but his color before the molt was a pretty light pink too. Pepper is my little Purple Pincher. He is quite a strong and healthy little guy and quite the speed demon when let out of the tank to roam. Anyhow, he is fine and everyone is good. So that counts three molts that I have been through within the past 8 months. Two with Crabby in which the molts were a month apart (but he was regenerating a pincher claw for the second molt) and one with Pepper.

Speaking of Crabby, I have seen no sign of him and my roommates and I have continuously searched for him. One of my roommates thinks that she might have kicked him outside by accident. This may have happened a day before I noticed he was missing. She saw a shell near the edge of the front door and she said that she thought it was a garden snail, but didn't look closely, so she just swooped it out the door with her foot. Where she was pointing to on the door jam seemed like it was the outside part of the door jam. So, if she kicked a snail shell from there, then it was probably a snail and not crabby. Well, we will see.

As for the newer Purple Pincher, I still have not come up with a name for him. I'm still observing his behavior to come up with a name. Rigby likes to hangout with him though, actually since I got the two new crabs, Rigby has gotten a lot more social and has really interacted with both of them. Before the new kids moved in, he used to seclude himself from the other crabs. Strange. Oh well, at least he has friends now and isn't a social outcast of the crabitat.

Sebastian and the New Purple Pincher

2005-01-18T01:14:00.000-08:00

Sebastian on top and the new yet to be named purple pincher on the bottom in his new green turbo shell.

Close up of Sebastian

Close up of the new Purple Pincher

Ok, everyone has pictures up now, no crab has been left out.

New Purple Pincher has Changed Shells

2005-01-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

It seems like my Purple Pinchers like those green turbo shells that I found at WalMart, because they keep changing in and out of them. When I came home last night, the new crab that I bought a couple of weeks ago changed shells into one of them and claimed it as his own. Since he changed shells he seems to be a bit more active than the previous week that I had him. I still have no name for him. I decided to name my Strawberry Crab, Sebastian, cause he reminds me of that crab from The Little Mermaid. He certainly likes to trash up the crabitat fast. I did a deep cleaning of it on Saturday morning and when I came home last night he had trashed it and dragged stuff here and there. Well at least he is having fun at my expense. Silly crabs. I still haven't found my little escape artist yet. I'm starting to get worried about him. I keep checking crevices around the apartment for him and I keep listening for chirping, cause he has been known to chirp when he is distressed. He chirps really loud too, so you can hear him over the TV or the radio. I just hope he doesn't wander too far or in an unsafe place, which there are many in our apartment. I heard that they eventually end up in the bathroom or the kitchen in search for water, food and humidity. So, I keep checking these places as well. AH! I don't know why I didn't crab proof the crabitat better. I honestly didn't think that he could climb up far enough to get out. The tank is very high and the only way he could have climbed up was to climb up the wire from the probe for the UTH thermostat, but I didn't think the wire was stable enough to hold a hermit crab, I thought they would end up falling down, but I was wrong. So, I moved the probe wire so it is under the glass top, that way the crab can't sneak thru the gap in the glass. UGH! Oh well, if I don't see him in a month, I'll be sure to smell him soon after. Yeah, sometimes it takes a month to find them when they get lost in your house. You think about it, they are very small and easy to miss if you aren't really looking for them. Plus Crabby is a fast little bugger, being that he is an Ecuadorian, he is a little speedy Gonzales when he senses a time for escape.

Crabby the Escape Artist

2005-01-15T21:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, thats right, he escaped. I have no idea where he went to, but when I find him, his new name is going to be Houdinni. He is off galavanting around my apartment, I searched for him for about 3 or 4 hours today and found that he was not in my room or my closet or in the kitchen or bathrooms that I could see. So, I left a note for each of my roommates to keep an eye out for my baby. Hopefully, he will get desperate for food or water and I will find him in the bathroom or kitchen. What a pain! So, I rearranged my crabitat so that it is more escape proof. Crazy crab. Pray that I find him soon and cross your fingers for him cause he is going to need it.

New Crab

2005-01-12T19:57:00.000-08:00

My new Strawberry Hermit Crab needs a name. Here he is. I found out that these hermit crabs need carotene in their diet to maintain their color. This can be found in the following foods: sun-dried baby shrimp, dried plankton, and color-enhancing fish food. These kinds of crabs also need lots of salt water.

Make Up Your Mind, Silly Crab!

2004-12-18T12:24:00.000-08:00

Last night when I got home, I saw Rigby back in his original shell. I am just happy he was in a shell. Anyhow, it seems he is just not sure which one he should go with. Whatever, he is going to stay in isolation for a couple weeks, just so that I can have peace of mind that he had time to destress from whatever was bothering him.

On another note, I went Xmas shopping for my Hermit Crabs last night...and at Pet Co, they had either a dead hermit crab in the tank or a molting hermit crab in the the tank, I couldn't tell. It looked dead to me, but I was hoping that it was just molting.

Anyhow, I bought my Hermit Crabs some treats, Freeze dried Brine Shrimp and this Fruit Treat stuff from T-Rex. I haven't had much luck with my Hermit Crabs liking any T-Rex stuff, but I am hoping that the fruity smell gets them to eat something different. It seems that the only thing they will eat is the Jurassi Diet pellets (crushed up of course), peanut butter and apples. Which is good, but they should have some more variety. So, I am trying out the brine shrimp and fruity stuff. I figure I can give the brine shrimp to molters if it is a success. Molters that I have had aren't too fond of eating crushed cuttlebone, so I am hoping that the brine shrimp will help with that.

I also went to Pet's Mart to check out the Zoo Med Thermostat R500, because it is $40 online and the picture of it is not good enough to tell anything. I really don't feel like blowing $40 on a thermostat to find that it is not up to my standards. However, this is something I am just going to have to do, because it was not on the shelf! UGH! I guess while I am at it, I'll order some of the FMR food, cause the hermit crab group on yahoo swears by it. Unfortunately, you cannot buy that stuff at Pet Co or Pet's Mart, or any other pet store I have set foot in around this area, so online purchase it is!

The frustrating part, is that I go to Pet Co and Pets Mart and I see the stuff that they sell for Hermit Crabs and either the stuff is unnecessary, bad quality (meaning the Hermit Crabs won't like the stuff), or they are lacking key things that they should be selling for them. The Care sheets that they hand out are truly laughable. After spending almost over a year taking care of these little guys, I feel like I know what works and what doesn't, but I am still trying new things for them. However, I know enough to actually walk into Pet Co or Pet's Mart and tell them what they should and should not be selling, and what advice they should and should not be telling their customers.

I like how they say that when you feed the Hermit Crabs you are supposed to put the crab on top of the food dish and see if it eats. How many times is that going to happen? If the crab isn't hungry, it will not eat and you could stare for hours. Then it says if the crab doesn't eat, mist the crab and the food and then put the crab back on the food. Why? I don't know. Sounds like bogus and pointless directions to me. Not to mention, if you mist their food, you are going to create mold issues, especially if you are a kid who forgets to change their food everyday and forgets to spot clean the tank daily. Hermit Crabs have a keen sense of smell, they know where the food is and they will eat it if they are hungry.

OK, enough ranting about mediocre pet stores. Really, only specialty pet stores should be selling them. Oh yeah, it also seems Pet Co has caught on that Strawberry Hermit Crabs are exotic, so now they are charging $10.99 for the jumbo ones, which are the only Strawberries that they are selling. The really disturbing thing is, that they cram about 15 of these jumbo Strawberries into an exhibit tank that they would put one Tarantula in. They don't have enough room to move around! The Strawberries should be in a bigger tank like the rest of the Hermit Crabs. I also saw other non-Strawberry ones in a similar small exhibit tank under similar conditions. Makes me want to write a letter. Strawberries are harder to take care of as well, so you would think that they would take better precautions as to their environment.

My first two crabs were a Strawberry and a Rugosus Crab (I thought he was an Ecuadorian one, but I was wrong...that was Crabby). I had no idea that they were different species much less how to take care of them. Even though I did the best I could from looking online and learning about how to take care of them, the Strawberry Crab had a couple of lost legs when I (unknowingly) bought it and it was stressed, so in about a month it had died. So sad! Anyhow, I know how hard they are to take care of and seeing them like that at Pet Co seemed cruel.

OK really, enough of my ranting, I am off.

A Little Bit of Naked Rigby

2004-12-17T01:54:00.000-08:00

Here is Rigby back in the new shell. I came home tonight to find him pathetically naked in the main tank. So, using the glass cup trick, I was able to get him back into a shell and now I have isolated him in case he is stressed.

The Glass Trick: For Naked Hermies
Take the naked hermit crab and give him as well as his old and new shell a stress coat bath. Then put the hermit crab with the two shells or one shell in a glass cup. Put the glass cup in the isolation tank and wait it out for the Hermit crab to go back in his shell. If this takes longer than an hour, mist the crab with stresscoat water or dechlorinated water, so it doesn't dry out. Make sure that the iso tank is in a dark and quiet area. The reasoning behind the little space, is that it saves the Hermit crab's energy. Naked crabs tend to panic and run naked all over the tank and expend all their energy. In addition, the crab is not going anywhere and no one is coming in and it realizes it is better to be in the shell, plus it feels more secure about claiming its shell. Anyhow, I got this off of http://www.hermit-crabs.com/FAQ.html and it worked for me, so I thought I would pass the tip along. Plus there is a lot of other helpful things you can find in that webpage.

Pepper is a Copy Cat!

2004-12-17T01:53:00.000-08:00

It must be a full moon, the Purple Pinchers are changing shells like they are going to a party! Here is Pepper in a newly acquired shell (green shell) chilling in the fresh water bowl next to Crabby. This is soooo funny, because I have had these guys (Pepper and Rigby) for about 6 months or more and they didn't give the other shells the time of day until this week. Pretty hilarious! I hope this isn't a sign that they will be molting simutaneously or something. Well, if I find Pepper naked tomorrow night, I will really be worried, cause my iso tanks will be booked!

Musical Shells

2004-12-16T10:28:00.000-08:00

Well, I was going to take a picture of Rigby in his new shell this morning, but it seems that he switched back to the old one before I could get a chance. Oh well, if he is in a shell switching mood, he could very well go back and forth between the two shells until he finally settles down with one of them. I've heard of little hermits doing this quite frequently when they are iffy about their shells. We will just have to wait and see. If he does it again, I will jump on that camera fast cause who knows when Rigby will change again.

Other thoughts, I am thinking about purchasing them some friends. I mean their crib is just sooo accommodating to have more roommates, plus they like a little colony, so some Hermit Crab pet store or kiosk rescues may be in order during the holiday season. I say the less little kids who can't take care them get their hands on them, the better. So, I may buy a couple more. I think I could accommodate 2 more in one ISO tank and then a 3rd in my second ISO tank, but I don't like putting a Hermit crab alone (they get less active and start to look depressed and lonely) plus that 3rd ISO tank has no temp and humidity dials on it, so I can't control the environment (although this can easily be changed with a couple of bucks). We will just have to see.

Shell Changing

2004-12-15T11:13:00.000-08:00

Updates! Pepper or Rigby changed shells last night. Whichever one it was chose a turquoise turbo shell. It looks pretty. Anyhow, I will have to take a picture and show them off. I think it was Rigby though, cause the shell was quite big. But I could be wrong. Sometimes little hermit crabs will take on a big shell for fun. Other than that, all my crabbies are doing great!

I know I haven't written in here much, but I will. I have been too busy to make many updates, but everyone has been doing well and I haven't had any molts since Crabby's last molt.

2004-10-09T22:24:00.000-07:00

Here he is again with a wider view of the crabitat.

2004-10-09T22:23:00.001-07:00

Rigby chilling out behind the centerpiece.

2004-10-09T22:23:00.000-07:00

Action shot of Pepper and Crabby.

2004-10-09T22:22:00.001-07:00

Another close up of Pepper

2004-10-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

Close up of Pepper.

2004-10-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

Crabby kicking up his legs in the new crabitat.

2004-10-09T22:20:00.000-07:00

The Crabitat

Playbox Sand

2004-09-01T23:26:00.000-07:00

I just found out that the Playbox Sand brand is ok to use as a substrate for Hermit Crabs. Its costs about $4.95 a bag at Home Depot. Too cool, it totally saves my wallet for my new tank.

Crabby

2004-08-31T00:21:00.000-07:00

Here is the infamous Crabby.

Rigby

2004-08-31T00:17:00.000-07:00

Here is Rigby.

New crab pictures of Rigby, Pepper and Crabby

2004-08-31T00:14:00.000-07:00

Here is Pepper.

New Tank and Sand Issues

2004-08-25T11:04:00.000-07:00

I just got the cubed, 30 gallon tank for my hermits for my birthday and I was all excited to set it up. So, I went to PetCo to look for the right sand to put in it, since at $5.99 dollars a 2lb bag of CalsiSand gets expensive to fill a 30 gallon tank. Well I found Nature's Ocean White Marine Sand for $7.99 a 10lb bag, I thought what a deal. Not such a deal though, on average I would save about $3.00/10lbs and I found that the sand is mined silica. Silica is death to hermit crabs. So, I guess I am just going to go back and get the damn CalsiSand for them.

The tricky thing about this bag of sand is that it says it is 100% beach sand and there is no label saying that the sand consists soley of mined silica. Thank God I read my email from the Crabstreet Journal today, otherwise I would have set up my tank and brought on a slow death to my little crabbies. Sometimes the cheap alternative is not the right alternative.

Deep Cleaning Day

2004-07-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend I did my monthly deep cleaning and I ended up putting all three crabs in one tank. I figured that it was time for them to get acquainted with one another since I had a few hours to watch their behaviors. My PetCo crabs, Rigby and Pepper have been isolated for about a month from Crabby, just to make sure that they were healthy enough to be with him and because I haven't had a lot of time lately to let them interact in close quarters.

When I give them baths they interact in a big tub full of different shells, but they are more into the shells than eachother normally, so they hardly pay attention to one another and it is a much larger area that they roam in. It was a little different in the crabitat though. Crabby seemed more interested in them than they were interested in him, he was a little more aggressive about them moving in on him. Pepper seemed pretty interested in him as well, but Rigby got into the forrest bedding and decided to take a nap. For the past few days, Pepper and Crabby have been getting to know one another, doing the feeler fight thing and checking eachother out. So, far it has been friendly play and not hostile warfare between them, which is good, because they are around the same shell size, so I was really worried about potential shell disputes. Although they are two different species of hermit crab, so I really shouldn't have a problem. The difference in species usually means a different preference of shells, so I think they will be fine. That's all for now.

I think Crabby Molted!

2004-07-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday night I was checking him out, because he was being social and walking around his crabitat, not hiding, like he has been doing a lot lately. Well, I saw that he looked a little lighter in color than usual and that he had a new pincher claw! I think he pulled a fast own on me and molted by surprise. I figured it had to happen pretty fast if he was to regain his new claw. Also, I have been giving him more Ocean Water so that it would help with the nourishment in growing his new claw. I had heard that if you give them more ocean water, they tend to grow back their limbs faster, but I did not expect him to grow it back in 2 months! Crazy, but good for him. As soon as his normal color returns, I'll introduce him to the others. I left him in iso since his last molt, because he had no pincher claw and I didn't want to take any chances with him being defenseless against potential shell fights. My baby is ok now, Yeah!

Rigby and Pepper are doing good, just being themselves. They are great friends and follow each other everywhere. Pepper is Rigby's shadow at times and they crawl all over one another like two little peas in a pod.

Well that is all I have for now, I need to get new pics of them up, I just haven't had a lot of time to do so, I've been pretty busy lately.

Just a status report

2004-07-08T23:26:00.000-07:00

All my crabs are doing well, everybody's getting more social and less afraid of bath time. Crabby comes out of his burrow more often now and Pepper is about the most social little crab I have ever seen.

Oh, on Monday, I went to the Block and saw the crab kiosk over there. This time there were no mites crawling on the crabs and they were more active, the guy must have added more UTHs to the tank and OMG cleaned! Still no humidity or temperature gages though, however the substrate was not cold to the touch like it was previously. I saw some really exotic looking crabs that could not have been Purple Pinchers, Ecuadorians or Ruguosos, they were more of a blue color and I also saw a very purplely one as well. I was tempted to buy one, but that will have to wait for later on when I can accommodate another crab.

Party Crabs

2004-07-02T10:03:00.000-07:00

Last night when I got home, Crabby was walking around, outside of his burrow, so I took the opportunity to bathe him and let him wander in the shell tub. I wanted to see if he was interested in shell shopping, he wasn't too interested in them, but he was enjoying his wandering outside of his kritter kage.

Pepper and Rigby were throwing a party and I guess that every morning when my mom gets up, she sees them partying. So, they are quite the party crustaceans, I asked her if they had a keger, complete with strippers and nose candy. She said no and that they were partying straightedge, so they were having good clean fun.

Oops...

2004-06-29T22:53:00.000-07:00

I have decided to move my Hermit Crabs in a room with better air circulation than they were in, where the temperature is more stable and in doing so, I managed to bump Crabby's Kritter Kage against the desk ever so slightly and his burrow kinda caved in a bit. I was worried at first, because he has not been up in almost a week to eat or drink. He already molted in May though, so I do not think he would be due for another, especially since he started burrowing about two weeks after his molt. However, I thought what an opportunity to shine a dim flashlight into the now bigger hole to his burrow to see how he is doing. Sure enough, I could see his little antennae flicking back and forth, so he is ok. I'll leave him be and not disturb him any longer. He will come back up on his own time.

Rigby and Pepper are doing well in their little tank, bright eyed and active, often following eachother around. I may mist them tonight and let them run around in a big rubbermaid container looking at shells, they seem to like that a lot. Atleast, that is what they can do while I am bloggin' and taking care of the daily chores required in keeping up their little dwelling. Well, that is all for now.

Another Bath Day

2004-06-26T23:42:00.000-07:00

So, I bathed my crabbies today and Crabby is still burrowed, but he is eating, so I guess he is fine. I am a little worried about him, but I will put on my pacing slippers and not dig him up like I am tempted to do. I still have not gotten a new tank for them, but all in good time as they say. We need to make some room for it, because we are buying the stand for it as well, it can store all my Hermie supplies for them nicely and out of the way, because right now the supplies are very much in the way.

I recently bought new shells and my hermies looked more interested in them than they previously were, so I guess that is good. I also bought a Coconut Hut for them, for the new tank. See, this is getting bad, because I haven't even bought the tank yet, but I am already buying things to go into it for decoration and nice little hiding spots for them. Oh well, atleast I won't have to do all of that after I buy the tank, I'll just be ready to set it up and boom it will be done for the time being.

No more ocean smell

2004-06-19T03:56:00.000-07:00

I guess the smell came from the water getting mixed in their food, because the past couple of days the smell has been gone. So, I have no need to worry. Plus both crabs are pretty active, not lethargic like they can get when they are getting ready to molt.

Mr. Crabbykins has been hiding a lot, but he is eating and drinking because he has been leaving lots of evidence behind that there is some activity going on. Unfortunately, due to work, there are a lot of hours in the day that I am not watching his tank and seeing if he is coming up out of his burrow. He missed the bath day a couple of days ago, so I will bathe him before I get him into the new tank I am buying for them. Hopefully, I will get it this weekend and set it all up, but we will see.

Smelly?

2004-06-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

My crabs that are in the ISO tank smell like the ocean. I don't know what it is, at first I thought it was their food, but I changed their food and dug the left overs out of the substrate and put them back in and they smelled a little better, but still like the ocean. Its weird. I hope one of them is not on the verge of molting, because I have heard that they sometimes get this smell when they are about to molt. The problem is that I don't know which one it would be. I checked for the signs of premolting symptoms last night, but I saw none. Well, I guess I should just keep a close eye on them.

Crabby had been hiding

2004-06-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

He has been in his burrow for the past 2 days. He is so far in and so covered up that it looks like there is no crab in my tank. I'm surprised he didn't come out for feeding time like he normally does. I don't think he can possibly molt again, in a few days it will have been a month since he last molted. I don't think that they can molt again so quickly, but I could be wrong. He has been eating a lot more since he molted last and has been having parties in the water dishes every night, except for last night. Anyhow, I don't know what is up with him, but I did not try to dig him up, I left him alone like I am supposed to. Digging crabs out of their burrows causes them a lot of stress.

Rigby and Pepper are doing well, they are just about ready to be introduced to the main tank. However, I am going to buy the 30 gallon cube tank at Petsmart and set it up, then I will introduce all three crabs to a new home at once, that is if Crabby comes out of his burrow at all. So, that will be later this week sometime.

New Crabitat and some Lessons Learned

2004-06-14T16:58:00.000-07:00

I heard that they had square aquariums at Petsmart and so I took a little trip there this weekend and sure enough, they did. So, I am going to invest in one later this week for my little guys to have a bigger space. Its a little on the pricey side, but I think it will be a good thing to do, because they will be much more comfortable. It is in the shape of a cube, so it is high enough, so that I can also add a second level for them to climb up on.

In addition, I was checking out the ingredients on the hermit crab food I have for them compared to another brand and found I was spending more money on hermit crab food that was missing some key ingredients that they need to have in their diet. No wonder they don't eat that kind when I offer it. Terrafauna Hermit Crab meal and cakes is a complete rip off. I bought the Jurassi Diet hermit crab food and it was a dollar cheaper and had better stuff in it. Lesson learned, I am going to be checking on those labels more often. It makes sense though, I check labels on the food I buy for myself to make sure I am not eating empty calories and crap, so it should be the same for our animals too. They do have "junk food" for animals too.

So, I finally named them

2004-06-11T14:15:00.000-07:00

Here it goes, the bigger purple pincher's name will be Rigby and the smaller purple pincher's name will be Pepper. I figure they are neutral names, so if I find out their sex one day, I don't have to feel stupid over giving them a name of the opposite sex.

Today when I woke up Pepper and Rigby were sound asleep in the sand and to my surprise, right before I left for work, Crabby arose to greet me. He was all covered in forest bedding, he seems to enjoy his new burrow.

Yuck!

2004-06-10T23:01:00.000-07:00

When I was misting and feeding my crabs today and checking out their tanks, I found mold on Crabby's crawl wall. I don't think I will mist it anymore (like the package says to), it causes too many problems. So I took the wall out of his tank and the iso tank, just in case. None of the mold got on the substrate thank goodness. I keep his humidity level at 70% exactly to prevent mold from growing anywhere, but some just snuck by, I guess you can't prevent everything.

Still thinking of names for my Hermies, I played with the thought of naming them after Beatles songs. I could name them: Maxwell (from Maxwell's Silver Hammer), Lucy (from Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds), Eleanor Rigby or Eleanor or Rigby (actually I like those they are kinda cute names, Sgt. Pepper or Sgt. or Pepper, Rita (from Lovely Rita), Penny (from Penny Lane). So here is the final list of names to choose from:

Maxwell

Lucy

Eleanor

Rigby

Sergeant

Pepper

Rita

Penny

Crabby was just chillin

2004-06-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

He really was chillin like a villian, cause about 10 minutes after I wrote the last post, he comes out of his burrow and starts scooting around the crabitat, playing in the ocean water and kickin' up his chilepedes like a happy little crab. So, there was no need for any alarm, he was fine, just a late riser for his nocturnal day. The other kids were just sitting on the inside of the crawl wall still this morning. I'm not sure what has gotten into them, but we will just have to see. They didn't come down and eat at all last night, there were no little footprints in the sand that I smoothed out last night. I think they are just trying to relax in the new environment. I still need to come up with names for them, no Spongebob or Finding Nemo names though, people name their crabs after those characters too much. I want to be more creative. I'll have to think about it some more.

Crabby taking refuge

2004-06-09T23:46:00.000-07:00

It seems Crabby has decided to take refuge and burrow down in his forest bedding. He already molted a couple of weeks ago, so I know he cannot be doing that, maybe he is just relaxing, who knows, I will just let him be. He was just sitting in it, with his little feelers going. I couldn't see what he was doing in there, so I shone a mini flashlight on him, so I could see if he was just chillin or really burrowing. He was chillin like a villian.

As for the two new purple pinchers that are in the isolation tank, they have decided that it is more fun to sleep in the air hanging on to the crawl wall than it is to sleep in the sand. Strange little boogers. I smoothed out the sand to see if they move from their aerial positions while I am asleep at all. I want to put them in the main tank, but I know it isn't a good idea for the first two weeks, to make sure that they are not disease ridden guys.

Ok, that's all I have for today. Maybe some pics tomorrow, we will see.

Name ideas for new hermit crabs?

2004-06-09T00:09:00.000-07:00

Today, I misted my hermit crabs and to my surprise the Ecuadorian one I have, Crabby, chirped at me, so I let him down to wander in the big tub to dry off. My little ones don't get much exercise by wandering in the tub, so I am going to invest in a couple of minature sized hamster exercise balls, so that they can wander around the apartment or house and get more activity in.

So, I am presented with a new dilema for these kids, I need to come up with new names for the two new kids on the block. They are both Purple Pinchers and I haven't gotten to see much of their personalities, mostly because I have had them for only a few days. Any ideas, if so, leave me a comment.

More Hermit Crabs!

2004-06-06T16:46:00.000-07:00

Now, I have three Hermit crabs. I have to isolate the two new guys for a couple of weeks to make sure that they are healhy enough to be in the same tank as Crabby. So far so good, they are active and have the full amount of legs. This summer I am going to build them a custom Hermit Crab tank, it will be my new project. How exciting is that? I think I might even make a multilevel one. Crabbing is such a fun hobby.

New Hermit crabs to add to the collection. This one is a small purple pincher, he just had a stress coat bath and now he is wandering around looking at shells for a couple of hours to see if he wants to switch.

Here is the other Purple Pincher I got from PetCo today. He is about twice the size of the other one and a little bigger than Crabby.

Here is the big one hiding out, being antisocial, he tried to pinch me at PetCo, but my palm was flat, so he couldn't pinch me if he tried.

Here is my little buddy, Crabby, he gets to look and pick a shell today too. Equal treatment for all the Hermies. I went to WalMart today cause I was tipped off that they had a lot of good seashells in the crafts department for 96 cents. About 10 of them came in a little basket. To think, I was going to order them online from sea shell city for 20 bucks for the same amount and assortment.

Here is the little purple pincher, getting used to the surroundings before he tries to look at shells, he's testing out the waters. I gotta come up with names for these little guys. The cute guy at PetCo who was helping me pick them out, said I should get one of the Jumbo Ones. I thought about it, but decided I would have to buy a bigger tank in order to do that.

News on Crabby's Condition

2004-06-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

Being concerned about Crabby's condition, I went to an online Hermit Crab community and asked about his lost claw. They said not to worry, just to make sure he can reach his food easily. The cause of the lost pincher claw was that the claw wasn't molting from the exoskeleton completely, so he had to drop it. If I feed him a good diet, he will start to grow a gel numb of a pincher claw and after a few molts he will be as good as new. So, when I start to see his gelly nub of a claw, I'll take a pic and post it, cause gel nub legs and claws look really gross and very interesting. See, its like a never ending science project, these critters get more and more interesting as the days wind on.

Crabby Lost his Pincher Claw!

2004-06-02T21:34:00.000-07:00

Here is Mr. Crabby as promised. He is still not quite himself, for some reason he did not come out of his molt with a big claw, but only the small one. He is going through some seperation anxiety over losing his lovely pincher claw. The good news is that his claw will grow back during the next molt. I am trying not to disturb him too much still, because he needs to recooperate from losing a pincher claw, he needs no more added stress to his life right now. Tomorrow is cleaning day, his crabitat will get new sand and he will get a long awaited bath, so I may try to sneak a picture in during that if I can.

If anyone out there knows why a crab wouldn't come out of a molt with a pincher claw, leave me a comment, I would love to know if there is any additional support I can give him so that he can be a happy crab. He seems to be doing ok without the Pincher claw, but I worry about him. Since Hermit Crabs are exotic animals and cannot reproduce in captivity, if we own one, we should take extra special care of them, because they paid a big price when they were being snatched away from the wild.

More about Hermit Crabs...I feel like an Encyclopedia...

2004-05-28T12:49:00.000-07:00

On Monday, my Hermit Crab will be done with his molting process. He is already poking his head out some more and starting to be a little more active than he was. He actually turned himself around to be facing in the oposite direction, but he is still in the corner of the tank. His exoskeleton is almost completely eaten too, its gross, his old legs are just lying there. I'm not actually sure if they eat their old legs or not, I guess I will find out soon, if they aren't gone in a couple of days. I'll post a new picture of him after he is all done molting and he is running around his crabitat. Sometimes crabs will change their color when they molt. It depends entirely on their diet. If they don't get enough calcium in their diet, their color will be faded after they molt. Which reminds me, I need to buy some new shells for him, cause he may have a tight squeeze in his old shell. Hermit crabs molt, in order to grow. See, their bodies grow behind the exoskeleton, and when their bodies are too big for the exoskeleton they molt and shed their exoskeleton to grow a new, bigger one.

Day 2 of Crabby's molt

2004-05-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

As you can see, he has begun eating his exoskeleton, there is less of it left. He will continue to eat his exoskeleton to regain the calcuim that he lost during the molt process, this will help his body produce Chitin, which hardens his new skin into a brand spanking new exoskeleton.

Pretty gross that he eats his body that is left over. However, what is really gross is that if he had buddies in his crabitat, they too would be trying to partake in his exoskeleton.

Molting Hermit Crab

2004-05-21T05:16:00.000-07:00

My Hermit crab just molted last night while I was sleeping! Isn't it gross! I think it looks cool. He looks really pink right now, when he comes out of his shell a little. This little guy needs extra TLC. He is in a critical state right now, this is the most vulnerable time for Hermit crabs, if not taken care of properly, they can die. So, I will be watching him closely for the next 10-14 days, until his new exoskeleton hardens. Pretty neat, huh?