Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i am new to having hermit crabs and at the moment i only have 1. my little brother won him at the fair and then didnt want to take care of him so i took him. i just got him on saturday and he is currently in a critter carrier. i think its a he. we named him Ernie. i am currently living in a hotel. will this cause any problems? i have about 2 inches of sand and a water and food dish but theres not much room. for one small hermie how big a tank should he have? and how do i make sure hes healthy because we did get him from a fair? as far as i can tell i think hes a tree climber. but apparently when he was chosen he was hanging upside down near the door to the tank the fair people had him in. they didnt provide any actual information about him/her. they just handed my little brother a piece of paper on tree crabs and some food. help!

p.s. sorry this is sooooo long....

Hi, and welcome to the board.

A critter keeper will work as a temp. home, but you will need to get it into at least a 5 gallon aquarium. The bigger the better. Make sure that you have a dechlorinator, or bottled water - tap water has harmful chemicals in it that need to be removed before giving it to your hermit crab.

A few more things you will need -
*Extra shells in different sizes - they like playing in them, but they also need to change shells occasionally.
*Thermometer & Humidity gage.
*A product called Instant Ocean is reccomended - hermits need access to fresh and salt water.
*Climbing toys, etc.

I hope this helps, and if you have any more questions feel free to ask. I hope you stick around. You'll definatly find out that Hermit Crabs can be addicting.
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PHStorme

thank you so much! ive read tons of sites and everything is diferent on all the sites i go to. i was super worried id stress my little crab out. i am using bottled water and paycheck clears tomorrow so we are going on a little crabby shopping spree.

one other question.... is it normal for them to burrow into a corner? he has one corner he likes and hes always in it. its by the water dish.... i dont know if he likes to be alone or just wants to be on display because its the main corner out in the open. he does move around but he mainly stays in that corner.

hpefully this works... this is the corner he burrowed into. he dug it out completely last night and he has been sitting in that corner since before he dug it out...
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ok try again...
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Yes, it's definatly normal for them to bury themselves, and hide out.

Alot of times they will hide, until they are comfortable.

They will tend to completely bury themselves when they are molting
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PHStorme

thank you. he had me worried. i got up in the middle of the night last night and i saw him moving around so im not so worried now. im just glad theres a forum like this to help people like me.

i am happy to report that once ernie got a new home, he got right in and started exploring. hes got a 10 gallon tank and a food and water shell w sponges and a climbing stick. once he finishes molting we are thinking about getting him a friend. still havent figured out if he is really a him. but he did change shells right before he moved to his new tank. hes out of the painted shell and into a natural shell.

Thanks for the report. Congratulations Ernie. Keep up the good work.
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Phishie

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."