Hermit Crabs

I have 6 hermits. Once they decide to change shells, they do it very quickly. They are vunerable without the protection of their shell. I have 7 hermits. I have seen 4 of them change.It would probobly take about 10 seconds.

Crayfish are omnivorous, meaning that they can (and will) eat pretty much anything that sits still long enough to be eaten. They may also grab and eat anything that is small and unwary enough to cross their path too closely. They are happy to scavenge, and will certainly not waste the opportunity to feast upon carcasses. Mature crayfish most actively feed at night.

Not necessarily. Hermit crab do spend some time sitting to destress or simply take a nap. If a hermit crab is completely unresponsive it may be a number of problems but first check your humidity and temperature as they can be early culprits of inactivity.

A hermit crab grows out of it's shell and looks for a new discarded snail's shell. Snails produce the shells and once the snails die the shells become homes for hermit crabs. Hermit crabs molt their exoskeleton Large Jumbo crabs molt about once a month and smaller crabs molt a few times a month. They collect water and food into their shell and burrow deep into the sand where they shed their old skeleton and eat it. They eat their old skeleton to regain nutrients that they lost during the molting process. If a hermit crab looses it's legs (which doesn't usually happen during the molting process) they will regenerate.

"You can't tell the age of them. But the older they are, the bigger they are." Depending on their shells and if they have room or not is how you tell. You cannot tell the exact age - you just guess.

you should keep a little of both in your tank because some crabs like fresh water and some like salt water But, NEVER EVER give your hermit crab table salt!!!! Also NEVER EVER give it water that has chlorine in it. thanks because i found 3 in the water so pis off.

regards

cabe446

They have 2 eyes, and 10 legs. They use the back 8 legs to move, and THEIR left (bigger) claw for fighting and climbing. They use their right one for eating mainly. They also have a shell, which is their home. They will move to a slightly bigger shell once they are have got grown alittle, or they have molted.

The best diet for a land hermit crab is basically what you feed yourself (with the exclusion of highly-processed foods and sugary snacks, of course). Land hermit crabs are omnivorous and therefore eat just about anything. You can feed them meat, fish, vegetables and fruit (yes even citrus fruit!). Crabs also like tannin-rich foods, such as oak leaves and tree bark. Before giving your crabs these things as food, make sure they are thoroughly cleaned by washing in water (no soap) and allowed to dry -- crabs like their leaves crunchy. Hermit crabs love try different foods. In fact a study found that they prefer to have a different food each time they eat. Of course, this isn't always possible, but you should offer your crab a variety of foods. Some other foods your crab should enjoy are: • Fruit, especially tropical fruits such as the crabs would find in their native habitat: mangoes, coconuts and papayas. Just be careful they don't get ahold of any fruit "pits." • Vegetables of all kinds • Meat. Make sure it is well-cooked and that there is no sauce or butter on the meat that could cause them problems. In particular, hermit crabs like to pick meat off of bones. They also enjoy steamed shrimp tails and any sort of dead crustacean. Yes, they are cannibals, it is a studied and proven fact. It is recommended that meat be put into the crabitat at night and removed in the morning to discourage flies and other, unwanted scavengers from visiting the crabitat. • Nuts, applesauce, raisins, trail mix, peanut butter, honey, cooked egg, cereal, crackers, washed grass, and popcorn are some of the miscellaneous favorites people have reported their crabs enjoying. • Dairy foods may be given to the crabs in small amounts and not too often.

Some people notice their crabs are partial to 'junk food' such a corn chips, sugary cereals and pretzels. Though they may like these foods, they should of course be limited to occasional treats. Glad I could be of help!!!

wow nice yu got this all off of HERMITCRABS.com

by their jaws because when they pick up the food they put the food in their jaws which is really their mouth

then get them! in fact, PLEASE do!! they love company and will become depressed if they don't have any. make sure to have a 10-gallon tank for two crabs though~

Yes, they are called mites, if you dont change your food or they some how get in they can pester your hermies to a point where they leave their shells and die. so to get rid of them please follow the link below.

Um... Yea, I've got a sand crab... They didn't sell crab food in the pet store anymore cause the sold all their sand crabs to the other pet store... So I decided to see if it'll eat fish food instead & yea it ate all of it until it was satisfied but I feed it while it was underwater cause I fed it goldfish food (flakes)

It will grow back during the next molting period. (Pretty cool!)

More information: Actually, it is a sign that your hermit crab is very stressed. If he survives, the leg will grow back during the next molting period. If you've had him a while, you need to check yoru tank conditions and think about whether he's been dealing with a lot of extra stressors lately, such as being roughly handled, or if his living conditions are not as he needs them to be. Hermit crabs are wild caught animals, so the stress of being taken from their home environment and shipped to pet stores is stressful. Also, many pet stores do not keep their own crabs in proper environments with regulated temperature and humidity, and are often in enclosures where people can actually reach in and pick them up and touch them and they are often not careful with the poor things, causing more stress. You didnt say how long you've had your crab.

When you bring home a hermit crab, he needs a terrarium type cage with a regulated temperature between 70 degress minimum and 85 degrees max. More importantly, the humidity needs to be kept near 70%. Hermit crabs breathe through modified gills, which need moisture to work properly. Too dry for too long and their gills dry out and eventually they suffocate over time. Your hermit crab will be sluggish and slow moving because he's not getting enough air.

He also needs to be left alone for about 2 weeks when you bring him home, so he can de-stress. Picking him up a lot after bringing him home can add more stress after the ride home, and he can lose legs or die. As long as you have enough substrate for him to burrow into and mellow out, hopefully he will be okay.

Sand and coconut shavings for the ground, artificial plants or disinfected real plants, a food dish, and two water dishes, one for salt water and one for delchorinated water, sponges to put in the dishes, hiding places for the crab, that you can buy at the pet shop, and climbing utencils, such as sticks. To build the tank itself, i guess glass for the sides, and wood for the bootom, and hot glue or super glue to glue them together.

It is important to note that, as a scavenger that is harvested out of the wild, hermit crabs can very easily be toxic, and certainly unpleasant to eat, much like seagulls or pigeons. Anything a scavenger eats, you eat too, if you eat the scavenger. And scavengers are far less picky then humans, and far more hardy against disease and toxins. Scavengers also often have parasites that, while relativly harmless to them, could be dangerous to other species.

Hermit crabs have almost no "meat." If you have ever seen a lobster being eaten, you can see how little can be consumed. And the Chitin that makes up the hard outer skin of the crab is, by design, immensely tough and therefor inedible.

So, in theory, while a Hermit Crab could be consumed, it would be a disgusting and potentially dangerous meal that provides no nutritional value. This is not including the fact that the process of preparing the crab to be eaten would be immensely cruel to the crab.

while they are in the old shells they will start crawling to the new,and bigger shell, and try to crawl inside while they are still in the old shell, when they are ready they will slowly crawl out of the old and smaller shell and into the new and bigger shell and push the old shell out of the way, then they will be living in the new shell

Hope this helps!!

The most common "illness" (not including lack of proper care) is called Post-Purchase Stress (PPS). Hermit Crabs are very very very difficult, almost impossible, to breed in captivity, so all hermit crabs found in pet stores are wild caught. The stress of being plucked from a beach, forced into a deadly painted shell, being shipped off to a pet store where they are poked at by children, and trying to adjust to a plastic cage full of pink sand and wet sponges (this, sadly, is the most common, though very incorrect, set-up I have seen) kills many.

When hermit crabs are under stress or sick they may lose legs or claws. An example of this is also when a predator catches a crab by a limb the crab will release the said limp to escape danger. Some crabs may lose a leg or claw when molting. Tyson in Tampa.

my sons hermit crab just lost all of its legs .we accidently left him all night in the sink and apparently he was so stressed he lost all legs trying to climb up i tought he was dead and was getting ready to throw him in the garbage when i saw it move hes still alive but wont come out of his shell im hoping it wont die .

Do not kill a hermit crab! They always die because of stress because people never take care of them right. They need distilled water, sea salt water, humidity, temp, and so much more. If u kill one on purpose thats called animal abuse.

A hermit crab uses the old shell of another sea animal (ex. snail). I true crab uses its own natural shell. A hermit crab makes its home in a snail shell or anything really. It has a soft abdomen that is very vulnerable to the outside and can be smooshed easily almost like a caterpillars skin. So it hides its back end in a protective covering. A regular crab already has its own exoskeleton that is hard and durable so they don't need a shell to protect them. Also, regular crabs live in the water a majority of the time and a hermit crab can either be completely dependent on water, these are called saltwater hermit crabs who live like a fish at the bottomof the ocean, or you have a typical land hermit crab that lives on the beaches and sometimes even a mile off shore. They do not need a large amount of water or food to survive. These are the crabs you find in the pet store in the fancy painted shells.

All crabs lay clusters of eggs. So the babies are born when the eggs hatch whether it was on the sand or in the water.

What they do is simple. They eat, drink, sleep, and play! (They go to the bathroom, too, of course!) They climb all over wood and fun play toys found in a local pet store. They love to dig, too, and can bury themselves. I recommend not disturbing the animal while underground, for they may be molting. That's when they shed their outer layer of "skin," known as the exoskeleton, which is actually the outer skeleton of the crab. Without toys, hermit crabs like to hide, or sleep. Providing a dark, hiding spot is important. They like to hide away in small areas to rest. Some hermit crabs spend all day picking at water droplets on the side of the aquarium tank, which you should have. The tank and hermit crabs must be misted with water at least once a day. Without 80% humidity, the crabs may dry out and die.

hermit crabs are not scary. but some people might think they look scary. but hermit crabs make good pets for most people. people might think they look scary because their big claws but they wont hurt you. but if you hurt it it might hurt you.

Yes they can survive without their large claw, however I would isolate the crab for a day or so to make sure he does not drop anymore legs. He will regrow the claw the next time he molts. It might take a few molts to get it back up to size though.

Yes land hermit crabs do lay eggs if you suppose to have a sot of digged up spot in the tank check for a egg but watch out if you touch the egg the mother will not sense that the egg is hers and hermit crabs carry a disease called salmonella so do not touch 