by Kayla Griffin

Created on: January 20, 2009

The unusual becomes the usual in todays society, as pet owners turn to the hermit crab as their next pet of choice. With this sudden desire for people to purchase these crabs I feel it is important to offer resources for them to care for their pet properly and become informed about the creature that will now rely on them for survival. It is important to learn about hermit crabs and the proper care they need as most pet stores give you the belief they require little to live and this is not the case. I will cover important topics such as Habitat, food, and basic care.

Habitat, this is commonly know an Crabitat when referring to a hermit crab. This is a very important part of owning a crab it is just as important as feeding your crab! Your crabitat must be maintained at a temperature no lower then 72 F, with a humidity of at least 70%. This is because hermit crabs come from warm climates they can not survive in the water, but they do breathe with gills and require the moisture in the air of their crabitat the same as we require air. You can achieve this by buying a under tank heater and making sure there is water in their dish with a sea sponge and moisten the sand if your humidity is too low. The best way to start is having your crabitat ready before buying your crabs. The second most important aspect of a crabitat is substrate after all this is what they will spend most of their days and night sleeping and walking on. They sell hermit crab sand, however playground sand from your local hardware store is just as good! There are also other substrates such as coconut fiber which they love however it does need to be changed more often and is more expensive so this is a personal decision. However many crab owners have used a mixture of both sand and coconut fiber as well! Also the plastic aquariums they tell you are fine in pet stores are too small hermit crabs love to climb and run I would recommend a 10 gallon at least!

Most hermit crabs are not picky eaters and there is many types of food you may offer them. You can go to your local pet store and buy hermit crab food, and treats if you are looking for something easy however her hermit crabs would probably prefer something else. There are many things you can offer your grab other then pet store food such as fruits especially tropical, meat if well cooked with no sauces they love eating meat off of the bones. nuts, applesauce, raisins, eggs and much more! Water is important to survival of the hermit crabs. You should make sure the water you give them is chlorine free, and offer a dish of salt water as well as fresh water because the crabs need a small amount of salt water as well as fresh water and they can tell the difference and will accordingly go to the dish they need. You should make sure you have a sea sponge in their water dish as they can allow a smaller crab something to crab in case they are having trouble getting out of their water dish.

Hermit crabs are a great choice, once you initially get their crabitat set up they them become very inexpensive to own. However please do not buy one hermit crab they are very sociable creatures and in the wild usually travel in groups of 100 or more, so if you do want to own a hermit crab at least buy him 1 friend!

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