Hermit Crab Molting
Just like snakes, hermit crabs grow new and better skin by shedding their old skin. Hermit crab molting is a process that occurs every eighteen months in the most natural manner. With age, the number of molts reduces. If the crab has lost any limbs due to various reasons, they grow them during the molting process.
In order to ensure protection from the weather elements, hermit crabs molt underground. They dig tunnels in the sand and enjoy privacy during the process. If you own a hermit crab as a pet and are looking to create ideal conditions for hermit crab molting, then provide them with a special place.
Molting tanks are available in pet stores. You can buy one and make a forest or sand bedding of six inches height. Ensure that the bedding is moist. Test for the right moistness by making a mound out of the substrate. If the mound stays put like when you build a sand castle, it is ideal for hermit crab molting.
Do not go near your pets during the molting process. Leave them alone and just squirt a little water through the squirting tunnel to keep them moist and happy. Just after molting, the crabs are not yet hardened. They will come out through the tunnel and it is highly recommended to leave them alone during the hardening process too.
After hermit crab molting, you will be surprised to find the crabs a little smaller in size. As the hardening process gets underway, he will start regaining back his normal size and shape. Do not be overtly anxious during your hermit crab molting process. This is a perfectly natural process and your crab will get back to shape after molting and hardening in a few days time.
Before they start molting you can notice a few significant signs and changes in their behaviour-
• They change a little in appearance
• They become sluggish in their movements
• Their eyes become foggy and hazy
• Their antennae will come to a standstill and will look different and funny.
• Your pet crabs will tell you that they are ready for molting by digging a tunnel.
However this may be a little misleading as crabs dig when they are not too comfortable too. For instance, if the humidity level is low or high or if the temperature is not ideal, they tend to dig tunnels. So, it is important before assuming that your pets are ready to molt, to check these aspects.
If the temperature, humidity is just ideal, then there are chances that he is getting ready to molt. You can smooth the tunnel he has dug a bit at night without disturbing him and see if he has come out to eat or drink in the morning. If there is a fresh hole that shows that he has surfaced for food or water, then you can be sure he is not going to start the molting process.
If on the other hand, you find that he has not surfaced, then it is time to move him into the molting tank to aid in the hermit crab molting process.
Feeding a Hermit Crab
Many people around the world enjoy having hermit crabs as pets. These crabs are omnivore’s creatures that live on a variety of foods such as grasses, plants, decaying wood, leaf litter and fruits. For good health, it is essential feeding a hermit crab with foods rich in carotene and calcium. It is also highly recommended to feed them with vegetables and fruits that are organically produced and free of preservatives.
Hermit crabs have a big appetite and they eat just about anything. Pet hermit crabs require a completely different kind of diet as compared to those that are left in the wild. In the wild they eat plants, rotting fruits, decaying meat and wood. In captivity, it is not really possible to recreate the natural environment. So the crabs adapt themselves to tamer food.
Choice of food for your pet
Feeding your hermit crab is a task that requires a lot of attention. Choose healthy foods that contain enough essential nutrients for their healthy growth. Check with your vet before you feed them with hermit crab foods found in pet stores. Go through the labels with care to see that they do not contain harmful pesticides such as copper sulphate and ethoxyquin.
To make their diet more interesting, it is essential feeding them types of food in rotation. It is also necessary to keep them well hydrated by including a lot of water in their diet. There are many hermit crab recipes you can find online using ingredients such as peanut butter, potatoes, crackers, cereals, spinach and grapes.
Occasionally you can treat them to sweet food including baby food that is fruit flavoured. Some of the sweets they enjoy eating include bananas, apples, kiwi, mango, fruit medley, sweet corn, papaya and guava.
Methods of feeding a hermit crab
Food and water can be fed for crabs in seashells that are shallow. The shell is a great source of calcium that gets absorbed by the water and food. Water must be de-chlorinated before it is offered to your pet. Choose shells of the right size to make it easy for the crabs to enter and exit.
With a little practice, you can even handfeed them. Handfeeding hermit crabs require a lot of patience. First of all, get familiar with them over a period of time. Take a small fruit or vegetable piece and hold it in your hand, preferably your left hand. Gently coax the crab with your right hand to come out of its shell and place the food under its pinchers.
It is interesting to see how they taste the food with the help of their antennae. If the food is tasty enough, your pet will then use his claw to break the food. The food is then passed on to the mouth through the maxillipeds.
If on the other hand, the crab does not like the food or is not hungry, it will just play around with it and not actually eat it.
Hermit crabs are excellent pets to own and make a difference in the lives of people by spreading cheer. It is essential taking good care of them and feeding your hermit crabs with patience and in a hygienic manner to ensure their good health.
Pet Land Hermit Crabs
Hermit crabs are one of the most unusual and exotic pets owned by many around the world today. Ever since it was discovered that they survive even up to twenty five years in captivity, they have been sought after as pets by many.
Pet land hermit crabs are popular pets and they have their own unique personalities. They are low in maintenance and spread joy with their curious and active nature. Hermit crabs have a soft abdomen that is vulnerable. In order to protect themselves from predators, hermit crabs borrow empty shells from other sea creatures and keep moving on to bigger shells as they outgrow their existing ones.
Pet land hermit crabs in the wild are omnivore’s creatures. In captivity, they are not fussy eaters and can be fed with almost anything we eat.
These crabs are available in all pet stores today. As you purchase a couple of them as pets, ensure checking to see if
• They have all three pairs of walking legs,
• They are not infested with parasites or bugs
• The shell covering their thorax and head is not damaged.
If you already own pet land hermit crabs, ensure you purchase crabs that are close to the sizes you have to avoid any fight among them.
Internet is one of the best resources where you can find a host of information on hermit crabs and their requirements as pets. These fascinating hermit crabs thrive well if provided with healthy food, clean environment and proper care.
Environmental cleanliness is important to ensure healthy pet land hermit crabs. Aspects you must take care of include –
• Tank and its accessories
• Temperature of the tank
• Humidity level in the tank
• Substrate
Choose the right type of tank depending on your budget. Tanks are available for hermit crabs in plastic and glass. If you have two hermit crabs of medium size, ideally you must purchase a ten gallon glass aquarium.
Most of the pet stores have the plastic tanks with a sealed lid. Ensure that the lid is solid as a perforated lid may allow the humidity to escape from the tank and it is vital to ensure good health of your pet land hermit crabs by maintaining the required humidity level.
Pick up good quality water and food dishes and of course ‘furniture’ to make them comfortable. Land hermit crabs are highly active and love to go on climbing adventures. Enhance your hermit crabs home with a variety of interesting accessories such as climbing toys, artificial plants and small logs.
You can further enhance your pet land hermit crabs comfort by providing a small cave structure, a sealed and hollowed coconut and other similar shelters to provide them with hiding spaces. It is also important choosing the right substrate for the habitat. Choose from a variety of substrate material available including the fine grained sand, coconut fiber and fine grained gravel. Take care to maintain the temperature and humidity and you have the most comfortable habitat for your favorite pet land hermit crabs.
Set Up The Proper Hermit Crab Habitat
Hermit crabs are increasingly becoming popular pet options. Today you can find a lot of people enjoying having them as pets and taking good care of them. These crabs belong to the family of crustaceans. In contrast to the normal crabs, hermit crabs have a vulnerable and soft abdomen. As a protective measure, they live in abandoned marine animal shells.
Hermit crabs take their house wherever they go to. If they outgrow the shell they are living in, they venture out looking for new homes. There is sometimes fierce competition among them for shells. If you have a hermit crab as a pet, it is important to ensure that you provide them with a good hermit crab habitat.
There are five hundred different species of hermit crabs. Some of them are terrestrial and some aquatic. Terrestrial crabs are predominantly found in the tropics and the aquatic crabs live in shallow waters.
When the popular myth that hermit crabs will not survive for long in captivity was broken, they were popularly sought after by people as pets. It is found that under proper hermit crab habitat conditions these crabs can live for even up to thirty years as pets.
As you purchase your pet hermit crabs and are looking to create an ideal habitat for them, there are a few aspects to be considered.
• Hermit crabs indulge in a lot of climbing and moving around and therefore need a lot of space.
• Avoid plastic enclosures and use aquarium tanks. Ideally a ten gallon aquarium tank is enough for two medium sized crabs.
• Make sure to keep the lid of the enclosure tightly sealed as these creatures are famed for their adventurous escapes.
• Maintain a warm temperature in the enclosure. It is highly recommended not to place the tank close to a window or under direct sunlight to avoid getting the enclosure too hot for them to handle.
Create the ideal substrate
Ideally, the substrate in the hermit crab habitat must be made of coconut fiber and sand. Remember to grind the fiber to a fine powder before filling the tank. This substrate enables your pets to burrow with ease and is also very easy to clean and maintain.
Alternately, you can also use crushed coral. Take care not to use wood chips or gravel as this could hurt the crabs.
Maintain the right levels of humidity
The hermit crab habitat must have the right humidity level at all times. Even on land, hermit crabs breathe with the help of modified gills. In order to ensure that they do not suffocate due to extra dry gills, it is essential to provide enough moisture for them to breathe comfortably. The most preferred relative humidity level is between 70 and 80 percent.
Temperature level in the hermit crab habitat
To ensure that your crab is healthy and happy, the temperature of its habitat must be maintained between 72 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Very high temperatures could damage your crab forever and continuous exposure to low temperatures will slow their metabolism rate making them weak and sluggish.
Taking care of the above aspects, create the ideal hermit crab habitat and ensure you provide a safe and comfortable home for your pets.
