Any Hermit Crab owners?

[Josiegirl]

One of my former dcgs came last night with her mom. And they've recently acquired 3 hermit crabs and the more they talked about them, the more psyched up I got about getting one(or 2) for dc.
Does anyone here have them and can you tell me about them? She said they're pretty low maintenance as far as pets go.
Thanks for any info you'd like to share. I'm hoping maybe I can find a fish tank on freecycle or CL.

[Thriftylady]

We have had them twice. They are not nearly as easy to take care of as people say. I always struggled with keeping their humidity right, and if it isn't right they will die. If you can manage that, they aren't to hard. I even had water bowls with air bubblers in them to keep moisture in the tank and not even that worked

[e.j.]

We have had them twice. They are not nearly as easy to take care of as people say. I always struggled with keeping their humidity right, and if it isn't right they will die. If you can manage that, they aren't to hard. I even had water bowls with air bubblers in them to keep moisture in the tank and not even that worked

I agree. My kids had some when they were younger and I didn't think they were easy to take of either. We had the same trouble keeping the heat and humidity levels just right. We replaced them a few times before we stopped trying. They're interesting to see and my kids loved watching them when they poked out of their shells but I didn't feel right about taking them home only to have them die on us. You also have to be careful if you let the kids handle them because they can give a pretty painful pinch. I never felt it myself but my dd got pinched a couple of times. No lasting injury but it hurts until you can get them to let go!

[permanentvacation]

I've had hermit crabs a couple of times. They actually are a bit of work to keep alive. For me, keeping their temperature and humidity at the right levels were difficult. They are also fairly boring and the kids lose interest quickly. If you have multiple crabs, they move around a bit more, but if you just have a couple of them, they just stay inside their shells a lot. If they pinch the child, it does hurt them and then you have to deal with the parent being upset that their child got hurt.

Personally, I decided that it wasn't worth it to have hermit crabs for the daycare.

[snbauser]

I agree with the others. They aren't as easy as you would think. Plus they are nocturnal so they are pretty boring for the kids to watch during the day.

[e.j.]

Plus they are nocturnal so they are pretty boring for the kids to watch during the day.

I forgot about that! Ours would sometimes move around a little during the day but, for the most part, they stayed in their shells during the day.

[Josiegirl]

Well dang, you all are discouraging.
I've been reading up on them a lot more and they do sound trickier than what she led me to believe. Or maybe I'm just thinking of all the things that could go wrong cause that's just the way I am. Eternal pessimist that I am.
I don't want pets that I'll end up killing. Lord knows I have enough in my life already to feel guilty about.
She did say the trickiest thing is keeping their humidity at the right level. Maybe I'll make a trip to her house and see how she has it set up and visit the pet store too.
Thanks everybody for your input! I do appreciate it.

[e.j.]

Out of curiosity, I went back and reread your first post. It says the girl and her mother "recently" acquired their hermit crabs so they're still at that point where care for their hermit crabs seems easy. Give them another couple of months or so and then check back with them to see how it's going. They may have a whole different take on the level of maintenance required to keep the crabs alive at that point. If the crabs are still alive by then, they might actually have some good advice for you!

[KiddieCahoots]

Guess I'm the only one who didn't have a problem with the humidity. Actually, I didn't have to do much of anything to get it right. :confused:................
We had two little hermit crabs for yrs. The only thing we learned the hard way....if you don't provide them with larger shells that they like, and they like their friend's shell better....... they may just take their friend's shell instead. Apparently they don't give up their shells easily......so, one crab killed the other, and then began to eat him.
That's probably not what you wanted to hear Josie, sorry.......::....

[Josiegirl]

Guess I'm the only one who didn't have a problem with the humidity. Actually, I didn't have to do much of anything to get it right. :confused:................
We had two little hermit crabs for yrs. The only thing we learned the hard way....if you don't provide them with larger shells that they like, and they like their friend's shell better....... they may just take their friend's shell instead. Apparently they don't give up their shells easily......so, one crab killed the other, and then began to eat him.
That's probably not what you wanted to hear Josie, sorry.......::....

Well, that also could be a learning experience for the kids....I guess.
I did read where that can happen. And I already have tons of shells.

My former dcm evidently bought 1 crab this summer when they were at the Cape. So it has been awhile, then they bought 2 more later in the summer cause she read how social they are and they need company. So even though I did say recently I should have said over the summer.
They're having better luck with these than they did with the 2 hamsters they bought and were guaranteed they had 2 of the same sex. Yep, pretty soon they had 6 baby hamsters and had to buy more cages to protect them all. They had quite the hamster city set up at one time.

I'm still excited about getting some but I'm going to do more research on them. I don't want the poor things to become like the lil goldfish we'd get as kids and have to make a monthly funeral procession into the bathroom.

[KiddieCahoots]

Well, that also could be a learning experience for the kids....I guess.
I did read where that can happen. And I already have tons of shells.

My former dcm evidently bought 1 crab this summer when they were at the Cape. So it has been awhile, then they bought 2 more later in the summer cause she read how social they are and they need company. So even though I did say recently I should have said over the summer.
They're having better luck with these than they did with the 2 hamsters they bought and were guaranteed they had 2 of the same sex. Yep, pretty soon they had 6 baby hamsters and had to buy more cages to protect them all. They had quite the hamster city set up at one time.

I'm still excited about getting some but I'm going to do more research on them. I don't want the poor things to become like the lil goldfish we'd get as kids and have to make a monthly funeral procession into the bathroom.

Absolutely! Survival of the fittest! Lol!

My kids had that experience too, although we put a little bit of a positive twist on it. Whenever that would happen, it'd give us a good reason to go off to the pet store and try with another one.
We have some pretty fun family memories......at the expense of a fishy funeral. ....::.....

[Thriftylady]

Well, that also could be a learning experience for the kids....I guess.
I did read where that can happen. And I already have tons of shells.

My former dcm evidently bought 1 crab this summer when they were at the Cape. So it has been awhile, then they bought 2 more later in the summer cause she read how social they are and they need company. So even though I did say recently I should have said over the summer.
They're having better luck with these than they did with the 2 hamsters they bought and were guaranteed they had 2 of the same sex. Yep, pretty soon they had 6 baby hamsters and had to buy more cages to protect them all. They had quite the hamster city set up at one time.

I'm still excited about getting some but I'm going to do more research on them. I don't want the poor things to become like the lil goldfish we'd get as kids and have to make a monthly funeral procession into the bathroom. :rolleyes:

Actually I have raised a lot of goldfish. I have five right now. But they need to be in a tank with a filter at the very least and have frequent 20% water changes. Goldfish are "dirty" fish and foul water fast and should NEVER be kept in a little bowl. Many actually live to be 25 or older!

[Josiegirl]

Actually I have raised a lot of goldfish. I have five right now. But they need to be in a tank with a filter at the very least and have frequent 20% water changes. Goldfish are "dirty" fish and foul water fast and should NEVER be kept in a little bowl. Many actually live to be 25 or older!

My parents allowed us to have pets but none of us really knew how to care for them properly, we just thought we were doing what was right for them. And yeah, we had those cute little circular bowls. I think we even used tap water with no filters or anything like that. Poor lil fishies. One of my older sisters used to love animals so would bring home or beg for everything she could. Geez, my parents were good sports about it.

I remember renting this trailer at someone's house and she had a goldfish pond. Huge fish! We'd feed them pancakes. They were pretty cool actually.
Now that I think about it I wonder why Hermit Crabs were never on my sister's list of 'Mom, we gotta get....'

[Thriftylady]

My parents allowed us to have pets but none of us really knew how to care for them properly, we just thought we were doing what was right for them. And yeah, we had those cute little circular bowls. I think we even used tap water with no filters or anything like that. Poor lil fishies. One of my older sisters used to love animals so would bring home or beg for everything she could. Geez, my parents were good sports about it.

I remember renting this trailer at someone's house and she had a goldfish pond. Huge fish! We'd feed them pancakes. They were pretty cool actually.
Now that I think about it I wonder why Hermit Crabs were never on my sister's list of 'Mom, we gotta get....'

Yeah goldfish will eat about anything. Many Koi (the big goldfish you see in ponds and such) owners feed them dog food. That is part of the reason their water gets so dirty, they eat any and everything. The tap water is a killer for sure though due to the chlorine.