Live2Ride Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 (edited) Wait for the poll... Oh blast, I forgot the optional 'Other', lol. We did the beach gift shop purchase some years ago...had a little guy. He did not too long after. Unfortunately we were most uneducated about them. Recently went to the beach again. Kids 'had' to get a hermit crab and asked before we left. They are older and more responsible now. They also had their own money. Kind of hard to say no. I told them to research it. Turns out they require a good bit of things to keep them going properly. They surely don't educate you on that at the beach. Of course if they did, no parent in their right mind would probably buy one for their kid knowing what was actually involved. I took them to a few shops. Some we left right after walking in the door and seeing their dead crabs in the cages...it was sad. We went back to the first shop and saw how well she was trying to care for them. They were all friendly and active. The kids picked out two rather large ones and off we went. Got home and got their habitat set up. DD's crab decided it was molting time a few days later, dug himself down, and hasn't been seen since. It could be up to two months before we see him again. I felt bad for Ds's crab as they are rather communal creatures. I 'had' to get a little pal for him :lol:. I am now the proud owner of Herman...he's a little quarter sized PP (Purple Pincher) crab. I'm now a late night reader of a new Hermit Crab message board I found, lol. I want to get a bigger tank and a Strawberry Crab. Those are cute....I think my kids have created a monster :D Anyone else keep these little critters? Edited October 14, 2011 by CountryGirl2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer3141 Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 We LOVE our hermit crabs. We've been keeping them since DS was 2. For a long, long time I dragged "Mama Crab" to OT with DS because we could easily distract him from a meltdown by saying, "Where's Mama Crab?" and he'd get so obsessed with finding her that he would stop tantruming. :) I cannot say enough good about them as pets but you're right. They are HUGELY mistreated in most pet stores and then likely in most homes. Have you found the natural hermit crab store online yet? Strawberry crabs... we had them for awhile and they were gorgeous but they sure seemed to me to be fussier than the purple guys. Ours only made it about 6 months before they died. :( And they were HUGE compared to our other guys. Have you given your crabs popcorn yet?? They LOVE it! Saltwater baths happen here in the lasagna pans. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen500 Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 We LOVE our hermit crabs. We've been keeping them since DS was 2. For a long, long time I dragged "Mama Crab" to OT with DS because we could easily distract him from a meltdown by saying, "Where's Mama Crab?" and he'd get so obsessed with finding her that he would stop tantruming. :) I cannot say enough good about them as pets but you're right. They are HUGELY mistreated in most pet stores and then likely in most homes. Have you found the natural hermit crab store online yet? Strawberry crabs... we had them for awhile and they were gorgeous but they sure seemed to me to be fussier than the purple guys. Ours only made it about 6 months before they died. :( And they were HUGE compared to our other guys. Have you given your crabs popcorn yet?? They LOVE it! Saltwater baths happen here in the lasagna pans. :) Clearly we are not having enough fun with our crabs!! I don't know what kind we have, but they have been our easiest pet as far as care. Ours like banana--that's the only time we can actually witness them eating.We'll have to try popcorn! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 i had four, who now live with Jann in TX. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parker Martin Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 I had one when I was a kid. I kept it in a birdcage. It lived for years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KristinaBreece Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 We had them as kids. I had a friend in college who used to let his roam freely around his apartment. I was never sure if that was okay for the crabs... but it worked for them, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daffodil Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 I've had them before (as a kid) and would consider getting some again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 My sister brought the kids back a hermit crab each when she went to Myrtle Beach. She bought them at one of those little tourist stands. I'm not sure what you mean when you say they are difficult to care for.....ours lived for about a year and were the easiest animals we've ever had. I cleaned their cage once every few months. If I saw something that needed cleaning before that, I'd scoop it out with a small plastic spoon. I never fed them....I just left a bowl of food in there and they are so small that I only emptied and refilled it about once a month. I checked their water each night....soaked their sponge and refilled their small pool. But that's it. We just put both of them together in a 10 gallon aquarium and put it in the playroom so the kids could see them. They were so easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 We've had our two hermit crabs for about a year and a half and we're enjoying them. One of them just spent two weeks underground molting. He came up and we saw him walking around naked (!) right before he chose a new shell. It was fascinating and science replaced spelling that day. Our second crab was hiding in the hut, so I picked him up and he fell out...or that's what I thought at first. He had just molted and his exoskeleton fell out, but I could still see him in the shell. Now he's been eating the exoskeleton and digging down a little to finish his molt. They really are interesting creatures and it's so sad that beach shops keep them in inappropriate containers without humidity and sand. They can't breathe without humidity! Then people think you just keep them in a container and throw in some food and water and kill them with poor treatment.:sad: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 I hope you treated the water before giving it to the crabs! Chlorine can burn their gills. Also, they need both salt water *and* fresh water, so one bowl of water isn't enough. We also spend time EVERY DAY checking their temperature and humidity levels. They need high humidity to breathe. With proper care, hermit crabs should live much longer than one year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 I used to sell them when I worked in a tourist gift shop in Ocean City. Did not like the pinchers on the big ones!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewellsmommy Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Sorry, no hermits here, but we love our aquatic snails! It's like "where's Waldo?" whenever we pass by the tank. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer3141 Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Clearly we are not having enough fun with our crabs!!I don't know what kind we have, but they have been our easiest pet as far as care. Ours like banana--that's the only time we can actually witness them eating.We'll have to try popcorn! I need to clarify, hermit crabs love salted popcorn. I get the microwave kind and the crabs get it for a treat. We've also given them pomegranates, coconut, apples, and bananas. I love going in the kids' playroom at night seeing all the crabs I NEVER see during the day. Once it frosts here for a couple of days, I'll head to the beach and refresh the sand I keep in the cage for them. I think we're going to move them from our 10 gallon tank to a 50 gallon reptile tank this winter. That way they can have a permanent saltwater pool at one end an a freshwater pool at the other. We realized that Mama Crab has now been with us for over 4 YEARS now. We've been kicking aorund the idea of taking the crabs on our next road trip and setting them free. They've more than served their time! And then we can start all over with another batch. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Okay, I have to ask: do they stink? They sound fascinating, and I'm sure we'd enjoy them, but I don't want any creature that stinks! We have a parakeet, and she's not smelly as long as we change the paper in the bottom of her cage regularly. We almost got talked into guinea pigs one time, but we visited friends who had two, and I was glad that we found out in time how much they STINK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolamum Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 We have had them before, but they aren't quite the simplistic creatures people expect. They do take a bit of upkeep and care if you don't want them to die in a short period of time. For one thing, hermit crabs have gills so they need water deep enough to fully submerge into! They need access to fresh and salt water. They like warm and humid climates so the best environment is a glass aquarium with a heat bad under it or a hot lamp above it and a little bit of misting with a spray bottle to keep the environment moist. If a pet store tells you differently, they shouldn't be selling hermit crabs! ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer3141 Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 A good hermit crab cage smells like, well... the BEACH. I've seen pet stores use wet moss that stinks to heaven but hermit crabs need sand - real sand, not that crazy colored stuff that is as fine as dust. Now a dead hermit crab is pretty stinky but those get buried at our house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 No, they don't smell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Hermit crabs don't survive in the desert climate in which we live. When they get stressed out they leave their shell and walk around "naked" then die. We couldn't keep the tank humid enough for them. Sad. But no more crabs for us. We have firebellied toads and mice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Live2Ride Posted October 15, 2011 Author Share Posted October 15, 2011 Here's a great site for anyone interested in getting one: http://www.hermit-crabs.com/care.html . Most stores sell Purple Pincher Crabs. They are the easiest to keep from what I've been reading. Giving them water that is chlorinated from your tap causes their gills to form blisters which eventually suffocate them. Distilled water is good and of course some salt water (but not with table salt-it needs to be oceanic type salt for salt water aquariums). I've got a few sites bookmarked already and have already ordered and received a large order from The Hermit Crab Patch. They loved the worm castings, :001_huh: ew, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 I was just reading about worm castings a few days ago and wondering if I should get some. Our crabs love peanut butter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 We had some for a while, We didn't realise that they need a heater in their enclosure, and they died in the cooler weather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annlaura Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 If the boys ever ask for them, I will cheerfully get them some. My younger siblings had a couple, and they really enjoyed them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Live2Ride Posted October 15, 2011 Author Share Posted October 15, 2011 I was just reading about worm castings a few days ago and wondering if I should get some. Our crabs love peanut butter! you should! mine tore into them right away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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