Humidity is critical to hermit crab health, as moisture helps them breathe through their modified gills. A hygrometer will help you assure your levels are appropriate. Also, mist your crab regularly at least a few times a day with warm distilled water to moisten the gills on the sides of its body.
The hermit crab habitat needs to have an unwavering appropriate temperature, as well. The ideal range is between 72 degrees to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Maintaining this temperature will allow the substrate in your tank to hold a similar temperature gradient, keeping your crabs warm. To prevent fungal and bacteria infections, make sure your crab's environment has ample air flow, always feed it fresh food and remove any uneaten food before it grows mold, and clean and maintain both the substrate and the water regularly to prevent the growth of mold or algae.
What do I do? Land Hermit Crab Owners Society. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance.
Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Featured Video. Related Topics. Small Pets. If you suspect your pet is sick, call your vet immediately. For health-related questions, always consult your veterinarian, as they have examined your pet, know the pet's health history, and can make the best recommendations for your pet.
Article Sources. The Spruce Pets uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Raising daughter's hermit crabs, Shelder, Paras and Derek. Added 2 more of my own of course Pete and Stryper.
Former mommy to 2 guinea pigs and beloved cat, Nissi. If you fill in the Emergency Template, we can help trouble shoot a bit better. And the substrate is deep enough and I did moisten it with dechlorinated water. I use distilled water. And I use a salt that said was for hermit crabs soaking salt from all living things. The aquarium has Saran Wrap and I can tell is humid inside and I can feel the temperature difference when I stick my hand in to change food.
Post by Hermiesguardian » Sun Aug 18, pm Even though these are a hands off pet an unshelled hermit crab will die without a shell. He must be reshelled asap. Please don't re bury any crabs, they make their own caves down there.
They will suffocate if we try to bury them. Post by curlysister » Sun Aug 18, pm Do you mean un-bury the one that is under? Is the substrate still sandcastle consistency? Distilled water is not dechlorinated water. Better to use tap water and a proper dechlorinator such as Prime. Most products marketed for crabs aren't actually appropriate. That salt water is not correct. After dechlorinating, you need to then add a marine salt such as Instant Ocean. As HG said, a naked crab will die. He needs to be gently re-shelled ASAP and isolated from the other crabs.
Post by Nessiandnoah » Sun Aug 18, pm I meant unbury the other one and the substrate seems like the right consistency to me. Post by Nessiandnoah » Sun Aug 18, pm I tried having him back into a shell and he is tucking his abdomen in and he is so weak I feel a little helpless. I am going to figure out how to post a picture. He just laying on his side after the Reshell battle we had.
Post by Nessiandnoah » Sun Aug 18, pm This is what he looks like right now. The first method described is used for the situations in which a crab has left its shell for reasons other than molting. In the case of molting, the procedure is different and it will be described too. Before and after handling the crab and its shell, wash your hands thoroughly.
The best way to start is to rinse or boil the abandoned shell and shake it thoroughly, as mentioned before, so that anything that might not belong in there gets removed. Pour out most of the water from the shell and place it in a cup or a bowl, depending on the size of the crab. You can also mist the shell with the dechlorinated sea saltwater. The container in which you put the shell in should be just big enough for the crab and the shell, not bigger, and, of course, not too small either.
Add some dechlorinated sea salt water into the bowl to prevent the crab from drying out and dehydrating. Take the crab carefully from its enclosure by lightly holding it just behind the last pair of walking legs, or use a spoon to gently scoop it up. Put it for three seconds in a bath of lukewarm saltwater.
Examine its abdomen carefully for any signs of irritation or injury and be very careful that it does not try to escape, as it can injure itself a lot that way. Check it out for the molting symptoms too, such as the lifting of the old exoskeleton, transparent eyes, etc. Put the crab into the bowl next to the shell and cover the bowl and leave it somewhere dark, but with the appropriate humidity and temperature.
Note : You can put the bowl back into the enclosure, but make sure that other crabs cannot climb in it. You can make it dark in there by covering the bowl, but, of course, make sure it still has enough air available. You can use a washcloth or something similar. The darkness should help your crab relax and make it feel secure enough to get back into the shell. Quite often, an hour or so should be enough. Isolate Hermit Crab. Another thing you can do is keep the crab and its shell in the habitat, but make an isolation zone by cutting up a large soda bottle in half, and then putting it so it surrounds the crab and the shell, with an open hole on top so that, once again, the crab does not lack air.
If the crab takes longer to move into a shell, provide it with easy access to food and water too. Important : In the case of current or recent molting, handling the crab needs to be even more careful. If the other crabs seem to be a threat to the molting crab even after it is in the dome, you might have to remove it to a more secure container, such as a bowl with a lid but poke holes for air in the lid , inside of the habitat.
When you do it, make sure that there is at least six inches of the substrate so that the crab can burrow fully and complete the molt. The bowl should also be slightly larger than it is necessary for the non-molting crab. Note : If your Hermit crab is too big for the bottle method, you may have to separate it into a quarantine tank at once. When moving the crab into the isolation bowl, gently scoop it up with a spoon, but make sure you scoop the substrate below it too so that the crab is not touching the spoon.
Place the crab into a bowl carefully along with its most recent shell and a couple of similar ones. If the old exoskeleton is still available, be sure to put it in the bowl too. Add some water and different kinds of food for the crab.
Some of the options are scrambled eggs, honey, worm castings, or anything else you know the crab likes. The molting takes about a month, so you should be patient with the situation, and keep providing the crab with everything it needs. You can also give the crab multiple housing options to choose from. If you have noticed that it likes a particular shape or style of the house, place several of the similar shells around it, preferably a bit larger than the one it has been living in before.
Clean them before putting them in and mist them with dechlorinated sea saltwater. In case your Hermit crab still does not want to go into a shell, gently pick it up and try slipping its abdomen into a shell. If Hermit crab keeps getting out of the shell, place it back in the isolation tank. If the crab is slow to enter a new home, there is not much more than you can do than just wait.
Keep providing it with food and water and keep the correct heat and humidity for it. It should not take the crab a long time unless it is molting, but if it does, one trick you can try is removing a few shells for a day or two and then returning them until the crab finally chooses one. To make sure that the crab does not dry out, you can add a drop of dechlorinated water to its abdomen hourly.
In case of your crab leaving its shell, the main thing is not to panic or worry immediately. Sometimes it might be a sign of something bad, but most likely, it is either molting or is simply inconvenienced in some way. You can help it by following these steps.
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