Am I taking care of my hermit crab correctly?

Question

Ok so I have a hermit crab and he is about maybe a month or 3 weeks old. I have sand in his cage, shells, food bowl, and a sponge. I usually ket him out to walk 1 or 2 times a day. But I have noticed that his legs are turning orange?? Sounds strange to me! If you have any advice please let me know. Btw, do they like to be in water? Thanks!!

Answer 1

Yes, you are taking very good hermit crab and it probably is enjoying it's life

what you can also do is mist it's habitat and maybe get a heat lamp to put over the cage.

mine used to have like... an inch-deep pool of water and a sponge to drink from in the middle!

also, they change color when they moly, so don't worry!

Answer 2

Are you saying that you've had him for three weeks? Just trying to clarify, because he's certainly not three weeks old. :)

How much sand? You need to have a layer that is twice as tall as he is, so that he can completely bury. Don't use calci-sand or reptile sand- use regular playsand, it's much better and costs about $3.50 per 50lbs bag. It should be wet, about 'sandcastle' consistency. If you can make a hole without the sides caving in, you're good. And when he does (when they molt they WILL completely bury), don't disturb him. Just leave him be if he goes under the sand. Also, despite their name, they like to live in groups, so he will do MUCH better with a friend. He needs both dechlorinated, regular water and dechlorinated salt water. The salt should be aquarium salt, not regular salt. You can buy it in large boxes at in the fish section at pet stores or Wal-mart that last forever. You should have a humidity/temp guage as well, and the temp and humidity should both be about 75 or a little more, no more than 80 preferably.  I wouldn't worry about his color change.

They do like water. Many crabs like to soak themselves in their water dish. However, if you want to give him a bath or otherwise completely submerge him, don't put him in for more than FIVE minutes. Three is plenty. Make sure the water is dechlorinated and lukewarm- not freezing and not at all hot. About room temp or maybe a tad bit warmer.

Commercial food isn't great, I'll put a link to an excellent online store in my sources. They can eat just about any fruit or vegetable that's organic, pretty much anything that you'd eat. Eggshells (boiled in dechlor. water for a minute or two and then allowed to cool and dry) and cuttlebone (sold in the bird section of most any large store or pet store) are great for calcium, which they need in their diets.

You don't need to let him out that often. He needs to be in a very high humidity environment, so unless you live in Florida or Texas or somewhere else with humidity that's about 50% or more, I'd say fifteen minutes a day is PLENTY. Even in a high-humidity state, I wouldn't recommend more than a half hour. I'm sure they could last longer, but you want to keep them in optimum health.

That said, he simply CANNOT be kept in optimum health if you have him in a plastic critter carrier like they sell in mall kiosks. He needs at least a ten gallon glass aquarium and a friend, too. If you want more than two crabs (maybe three if they're small), you'll need a twenty gallon.

Sorry for the novel. :) May sound a little scary, but it's really not. Good luck with your new pet!

Answer 3

you r takeing are of it very well!

Answer 4

Hermit crabs colors change as they grow. DONT WORRY he may also be molting also not a big deal. Hermit crabs need to be in water. Buy a VERY less then a inch deep pool of water. Your local petstore can recomened one. Otherwise great job!

Answer 5

Yes. They like to be in water for at leat 6-10 mins and he's getting older, so his color changes a bit ( color goes back to original)

Answer 6

sounds like your doing perfect your giving your crab the love and care he deserves and yes they do like to be an water atleast an hour a day