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A place where you can learn about Tree crabs, otherwise known as Hermit crabs, and learn how to care for them as pets!
         
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Hermit Crab Care

Newbie intro! - Jennifer Martinez - 3/11/2006
My name is Jennifer ..I am 31 years old, married mother of one. We live in Florida and would love to adopt Hermit crabs. We just adopted one in fact today who flew all the way from Arkansas to be with us.. his owner knew we were the right people for him. It was a complete success too!

A bit about us.. we have had Hermies since January.. started with 5 then went to 8 and then got to 13... now we are at 14 and are looking forward to growing our family. They are all Purple Pinchers.. we recently had our first Moult which was a success as well.We have 5 rather small ones..one of those is confirmed female, her name is Rosie... All of the others are medium.. ping-pong ball to golf ball sized.

We have a 30 gal main crabitat and a 10 gallon Iso tank. The temp is sustained at 80 and the humidity is about the same..but there are drier areas. We have been working hard on ideal conditions for them.. and they are all responding well with the current conditions. We have both fresh and salt water available to them...containers large enough for them to submerge if they want but there are places where they can just dip their pinchers in so even the smallest are safe.

We offer both fresh and dry foods.. no commercial foods are being offered. They get fresh fruit and veggies..meat and fish. We alternate nights and dishes/recipes as so they do not get board and always have something new to try.
Everything we offer them is all natural and organic.. I have been researching on all of the Hermit Crab friendly and safe foods.. and have found many items to keep on hand.

Their main Crabitat is 1/3 water..1/3 sterilized play sand and 1/3 coco-fiber(moist) They have been mixing the coco-fiber and sand to their liking. They have many climbing areas..levels and things to snack on throughout their home. Cuttlebone..sand-dollars.. cork bark.. moss and hidden fruits on some days as a treat. At the moment they have 5 levels and that doesnt include two coconut hidies that we made them. Also we have a nice collection of extra shells that we rotate often to keep their selection new.

The ISO tank is kind of plain so we can keep an eye on someone if they need to be in there. There are both waters and foods..a hidie and climbing area as well. just all smaller scale. We have both natural light... sunlight lamps and moonlight lamps... I spot clean most everyday.. change the water every two days since the containers are quite big..but if they are icky looking I change them however often I need to. I clean their food dishes everyday.. keeping food available for them to eat throughout the day.

We do excersize them when I need to deep clean and sometimes we will just pick one or two to play with..they seem to love the attention. We have no one who is aggressive and no one is sick. I am including a link to some of our pictures so you can see what we have... http://photobucket.com/albums/f279/jenniferm2203/

We are going to be getting another large tank and possibly bigger than what we already have. Our dream is to be a rescue and take in all unwanted Hermit crabs.... We all love them so much and will do whatever it takes to give them a long, healthy happy life.

So if there is anyone out there that has a Hermit crab(s) whatever breed and however number we will be glad to take them in.

Thank you!

Jennifer