How can you tell if a hermit crab is healthy?

Question

i have recently bought 2 hermit crabs, and i was wondering if there were any signs of sickness. Thanks:)

Answer 1

A healthy crab can be sluggish when he is moulting. He will come out of his shell and look for another shell that will fit his new body better. You may think he's sick, but he's not. Give them a stick that they can climb on. They love to climb. And I mentioned too that they love to bury deep into the sand, so if you have an inch or so of sand, they will love it. We kept ours in an aquarium with no water. I had an inch and a half of sand in the bottom, and a piece of tree and a rock or two for climbing, and several assorted sizes of shells for them to try on. One of our crabs changed shells every day.  

Answer 2

Chiming in to agree that the Petco caresheet is full of bad advice! Don't listen to them.

I've provided you below with a bunch of links to websites with good hermit crab care information that will let you keep them alive, healthy and comfortable. If you care about the health of your new pets I truly hope you will check out at least the first couple of these links. I can almost 100% guarantee you that whatever they told you at the pet store was wrong and terrible advice. Most people, including employees of pet stores, just have no idea how to take care of land hermit crabs properly.

To address your actual question, how to tell if a land hermit crab is healthy, the second respondant has solid guidelines for you. A healthy hermit crab will be alert, moving his antennae, antennules and eye stalks; will move around exploring his environment at night (they are nocturnal) and perhaps sometimes during the day; will enjoy climbing, digging and tunneling; will have all four walking legs and both pinchers.

You say you have recently purchased your crabs-- the stress of a rapidly changing environment, such as moving from the pet store to your home, is a shock to their delicate systems. To help your crab survive the physical stress of the transition, you should make sure to keep their tank at 75 - 80 degrees F, the humidity inside their tank at 75% - 80%, and the bedding (sand or shredded coconut fiber are the best ones) moist and twice as deep as your biggest crab, so they can bury themselves in it. Don't forget to provide both de-chlorinated fresh and de-chlorinated salt water made from a marine aquarium salt in separate dishes. "Post-purchase stress" may last for a month or two. It helps to not handle them or bathe them during this time. The crabs will probably be sluggish while they adjust to their new enclosure. They may bury themselves for days or weeks, or sit in their hiding cave all day, or stop eating, or eat and drink a lot. Keep their conditions stable within the proper ranges and they have a good chance of pulling through.

Answer 3

Don't listen to the person above me, Petco doesn't know diddly dik about hermit crabs.

Hermit crabs that are healthy will move their antennae in a "healthy looking" fashion. They also feed well and are about and active often. Hermit crabs that are limp sluggish and partially out of their shell are usually ill.

Answer 4

Go to this website and scroll downwards for the health part of it. It's a hermit crab care guide so if you have any other questions, you can look at this for reference :)

http://www.petco.com/caresheets/inverteb...