My hermit crab has mites/fleas ( i just cleaned his cage out) are these bugs harmful to my household & 3yr kid

Question

My hermit crab has mites/fleas ( i just cleaned his cage out) are these bugs harmful to my household & 3yr kid

Answer 1

um yah if you kid were to get a flea in his mouth *somehow* he would get worms

and fleas will get in your hair and bite you

so mabey you should get ride of the thing

Answer 2

I wouldn't use stress coat. The product stresscoat is made for fish which hermit crabs are not. Mites are a huge issue for crabs and is very stressful. Having to isolate and give your crabs three days worth of baths is bad enough as is. You don't want to make things worse on them by adding unnessasary chemicals to the water.

chlorine free safe salt water is fine for bathing.

Everything you use to clean should be natural.

Mites don't like high amounts of salt, oil, or sunlight

You will need two or three containers to isolate your crabs in. Line the bottom with a towl or paper towel. Anything that goes in the tank must be disposible.

Boil all shells and scrub all other things.

Throw out the substrate and if you can take your tank outside and hose it down. Once that is done scrub it out in hot salt water. baking soda and vinigar are natural cleaners you can use. I used a little vegetable oil along the  corrners to smother any eggs. let it sit for an hour or so outside then wash it out again. Leave it in the sun to dry out.

Bathe the crabs for three days and put them in a new isolation unit each time.  Check each day for any adult mites. Mites have a three day cycle.

On the fourth day bathe them again. Bake all the new substrate ( 400f for 10-15 minutes seems to work for me) wash over everything again re set up the tank and once the sand is dry return the crabs.

I'm sorry you have mites. It's really hard to get rid of them. I lost a crab to mites and it was a pain to rid the tank of them best of luck

As far as I know they will not harm anyone but there are many sprays you can buy commercially to clean the house and destory them if you are worried. Just make sure you don't spray anywhere near the crabs. Hermit crabs and mites are distant genetic relations. Any product that will kill a mite will kill a crab.

Forest bark is nortorious for carrying mites.

Answer 3

Your hermit crab tank is an ideal place for mites to infest because it is dark, warm, and humid and it has food, water, and animals inside of it. Regular cleaning of the tank, bathing of your hemit crabs, keeping the bedding substrate dry, changing food and water regularly, keeping things that attract bugs out of the tank (like cardboard, strong smelling foods, and stuff from outside in nature which may already have bugs on it), and keeping the area around the tank clean and dustless (don't grow plants around the tank, mites are attracted to plants).

You must empty your whole tank and either replace or clean and disinfect (by boiling and baking) your substrate. Also boil and/or bake and/or replace anything else in the cage (except your hermit crabs of course and don't boil sponges, nuke 'em in microwave). Clean the tank very well with vinegar and water squishing any bugs you see with the paper towel pressed firmly against the tank (especially in the corners where they hide) and rinsing the tank out very good. Leave everything in the sun for awhile (except your hermit crabs), because mites hate sunlight and will most likely leave the tank if their still in there. Leave the tank upside down in the sun so the mites can easily run off.

The only way to do this is by repeatedly (about 1 or 2 times a day) bathing them in Stresscoat laced water really well. Dechloronated water will work too but you're better off with stresscoat laced. Turn the crab upside down and get ALL the air bubbles out. Then pour the water off the crab. The mites will float to the top of the water and drain out with it. Remove all of the mites from the water by pouring them out, and repeat bathing them. Drain them down the sink, not in the garbage, and rinse out the sink and it's pipes very good afterwards with hot water and soap. Pour the water out before taking your crabs out so that any mites floating on the top don't latch back on to your crabs. Do this a few times until you are sure ALL of the mites are off the crab and out of the shell. You can leave the crab under water for a minute or so, it won't drown and the mites might release themselves. Just be careful and don't leave it under water for several minutes or it will probably drown. You can also use a paper towel and gently squish the bugs on the crab, do this gently though so you don't hurt the crabs or stress them any further.

Sharks unlimited gives advice to bathe the in a Clorox bleach solution. Don't do this, it will hurt your crabs and won't solve the mites problem. Clorox bleach has an extremely high amount of chlorine in it which will blister gills (check water section) and it as other chemicals in it. Also, don't use any mite or bug sprays, hermit crabs are related to spiders and insects. Mite spray will hurt or kill the hermit crabs too.

You may want to only feed your crabs dry food for awhile because strong smelling foods or fresh foods may bring the mites back. Replace the food and water every day. Pay extra attention to keeping the bedding substrate clean by scooping out any p**p or buried food and nuke the natural sponges regularly in the microwave.

Mites have a fast reproductive cycle...midges (their babies) hatch and become mites within 3 days...you need to bathe your infected crabs twice a day with a combination of ocean salt water (twice the normal ratio you use for drinking), and then in dechlorinated water with 1 TBSP of stresscoat to 1/4 cup of water... the time you keep them in each solution should be at least 3 minutes, sometimes shorter if they come out of their shell and thus allowing you to flush the water throughout their shell; if they stay retracted, put them upside down (opening up) so water will seep into shell...it is really important that the solution gets into the shell, but if the crab is stuborn or frightened, just note which crab, and try again next time...the salt makes the mites release as they try to avoid salt, and the stress coat has an oily coating which suffocates them.

You need to do this for 3 consecutive days...also, once they have been bathed, give the crabs an opportunity to come out of their shell and see if you can see any mites...these you can try to remove with a q-tip...cleaning your tank is good, but if your crabs still have mites on them, it will end up infested again...I would keep them in a seperate tank from the main one...limit what is in there to things that are not organic (use resin or plastic) Once you have completed the 3 day regiment, observe your crabs closely for at least 3 more days...

If there are no mites present after giving them a regular bath, then all should be okay to return them to the main tank...if there are more mites present, then you will have to repeat the process...It can be hard on the crabs, but it depends on what state of health they are in. You have to use your discretion, as you know your crabs best

Answer 4

I doubt they are "mites" or "fleas".  Even if they were, they would be aquatic. So, assuming the hermit crab is in a cage and not wandering the house, it's hard to imagine there is much chance of getting a disease from a hermit crab flea.

Head lice, for example, have legs so short they can't jump or even walk very well.  Maybe crab mites are similar?

If you are honestly worried, why are you asking a bunch of strangers on an internet discussion devoted to *birds*?  I hope your children never face some genuine health menace.  The people in the "hippopotamus" section might not be able to help.

Answer 5

it is very odd for a hermit crab to have mites or fleas, so.. you mite want to make sure that is what they are, but if it is they can be harmful to you and your child

Answer 6

they can be

and how in the world does a HERMIT CRAB have mites and fleas?