A  full month has come and gone, I thought I would have 30 posts, but that did not happen. At least there is still new content coming out however. Onward and upward! One of the reasons for the break, Hurricane Florence, we had to evacuate and when we came back, we had no power! Yay! We were lucky enough to only have down power, a few shingles missing from our roof, and branches all over our yard.  No damage or flooding, some mold damage in my bathroom but I think that is more humidity seeping into an already existing problem… ANYWAY, before the hurricane I managed to put together my crab tank! I saw all five of my babies so no one was molting and it was safe to rearrange!

So the plastic bin was the very temporary new home, it only took about 30 minutes to set up the tank, I left my big guy in the moss pit as he was comfy, and I put in the amazing new layout. So far no one has climbed on it, but it looks great and they are exploring the parts that touch the substrate. I am very happy with it!

As far as my fish tank goes, I had to restart my cycling, the power being off turned off my filter and completely stopped the cycle… 😦 So two or three more weeks and I will have fish :p

I am not getting lazy with this blog even though it doesn’t have any readers yet! I posted daily and then I got busy. I made the new crab climb thing, I cannot install in into the tank until I see the crab that is probably molting. ^-^ Anyway, here is a preview

Here are some crab pictures! It is only Tamatoa and Kirby, I would have to stay up til 12-1 am for Turkleton and Beetle Juice pictures, maybe this weekend! Still haven’t seen Ghost, I thought I had, but it was just Beetle Juice in a new shell :p Everyone has been shell jumping and I am getting the little ones mixed up!

I wonder if other Hermit crabs are as picky as Tamatoa… Guys, he switched shells last night. I got 4 new shells yesterday and he went, one by one, inspecting and turning each shell over and over. He picked one, finally, spent an hour and a half turning it and testing the climb over getting everything just right for his move, got into his new shell, did a lap around the tank, AND IMMEDIATELY SWITCHED BACK.

He spends so much time looking for a new shell that I end up getting new shells for him to try, BECAUSE HE CLEARLY WANTS A NEW ONE… JUST TO BE REJECTED. 

Hehe, peek-a-boo 

Side note, finally saw the 4th new crab, decided to name him Ghost, cause he is grey, and I thought he might be dead 🙂 (or molting) 

I need a better camera and some photography lessons…

So, I don’t see much of my Hermit crabs, mostly because they are nocturnal, and I am not. I did get a few glimpses of beetle juice yesterday 

Turkleton and Kirby are hiding in the log thing, I couldn’t get a picture of them though. I have not seen the unnamed hermit crab (he might be molting now that he has the proper enclosure to do so, he is small so they do it more frequently), and Tamatoa also went MIA for two nights and a day now. I put some apple slices in the food bowl and a piece was dragged out? He may have made an appearance while I was asleep but that’s only conjecture.

The only real clue I have to the puzzle of Tamatoa 

I had these shells (about 15 shells) in a pile, and they are all kicked around. I know Tamatoa is shell shopping, it’s clear that he hasn’t picked a new one… I have different ones coming in in a few days, but there is no way my little ones moves all the shells this much.

It isn’t much of an update, but it is all I have so far 🙂

Who knew that getting a fish was so difficult! I am looking for a fish, some fish to add to my 10 gallon tank. Looking for a pet for me means looking into YouTube, fish forums, and pet care websites to find the right fish.

Isn’t it just putting a fish in a tank? Why would that be hard? 

No, it’s a little more complex then picking one that looks nice and dumping it in a tank. Guys, some fish need low flow filters, some fish need heat, some fish need hard water, some fish need soft water, some fish need live food, some fish will eat anything, some fish need plants and lots of places to hide, other fish can go bare tank.

On top of that, you have some different ways to set up a tank. Tanks need to go through a process called cycling, where Ammonia (toxic) becomes Nitrite and Nitrite becomes Nitrate (not toxic). Do you do it with fish? Or without fish? You can do it either way, but it takes time. A lot of resources say “go to your local fish store and they will help guide you through the process” blah blah. So I went to my local fish store, I love them so much, but a newer girl who works there tried to talk me into 10 mollies before cycling for a 10 gallon tank. First of all, Mollies should have at least 20 gallons, they can be meanies, secondly 10 fish BEFORE  a cycle, even doing a fish cycle, will spike the ammonia and kill them all. Bad advice fish store, I am disappointed in you.

So here I am, all day with my nose deep in google, a few emails out to a few different people. We will see where this takes us 🙂 I will keep you posted!

Update part 1. So a not so quick tank update. I have the new tank set up with the things I could do for it for now. Two paint dishes serve as pools, they have 4 cups of salt water and 4 cups of fresh water, 6-8″ of substrate depending on where they are in the tank, a hide, a rock, some shells, and a food dish. Don’t worry, I have big big plans for this tank! 

“you need more shells for your crabs!” 🙂 “I know, they are coming via mail, I ordered a 12 pack and it will be here 8/28” 

Some things I am going to do/get in the near-ish future, I need a bigger side heater, I need a piece of glass or something to lay on top of the screen lid (right now I am using plastic wrap and am searching craigslist for good deals), I need to get a cuttlebone too… I also have a pretty great build to add a second layer into my tank!

Here is the rough draft, I also found this cool coconut hanging bird toy thing with a bridge, I am gonna see if  I can hang it from the top of the tank and have the bridge connected to the climb tree for the crabs? I add the question mark because I need to do some research into safety and how they climb before I go totally nuts. I also want to make a fish net to hang against the back for free time climbing! This is one of those things where if I type all my ideas out, it would be a long post that no one would read.

I will say this, if I play my cards right, I can get a 3 tier set up with lots to explore for my Hermits!

Update part 2! The Hermits!

Here is the thing, there are lots of posts out there with people who are like “Don’t buy hermits, the industry is horrible, if you get them from PetSmart or a pet shop you’re keeping it going, it isn’t fair to the crabs!” I agree with half of this, and for a good reason.

Yes, how hermit crabs get to the stores is depressing and should be stopped.

I think if you do your homework and you are willing to do the things to give the hermit crabs in the stores a serious quality of life situation, I don’t see the harm is buying them. Technically you still are saving them from other people who will keep them in a critter keeper and feed them only pellets.

That being said, I got 4 new ones. My tank is just shy of 40 gallons and this wont be the last tank they ever get into, as the pet keeping grows, so will the tank. I probably won’t get any more hermit crabs, just as they grow, the tank will be bigger. I got two little ones, two not as little ones, and Tamatoa.

Tamatoa has 10 gallons, Kirby has 10 gallons, Turkleton has 10 gallons, Beetle juice and the other crab that has yet to receive a name are sharing 10 gallons, they are the smallest. The one who doesn’t have a name quickly buried himself in the tank yesterday and I haven’t seen him since.

Newbies

4 crabs, 1 rock

*Here is something you should know* You should not ever dig up a hermit crab. They dig for a number of reasons, and digging a hermit up can harm them! They dig to relieve stress, they dig to molt, and they dig to rest. It is best to just leave them.

Every time you research a new pet or a possible pet that you want, something you quickly learn about is the food and water needs. My hermit has one full cup of fresh water, one full cup of salt water so I only change that out every 2 days, but every single morning, I have to do the food. I do it in the mornings because while my hermit is not very active during the day, he still sometimes moves around for a snack, but typically he eats at night. Tamatoa likes to poop in his food dish for whatever reason, so I throw away his food from the previous day, rinse his dish, and set him up with new food. You will notice with most animals, the more variety you give them to mimic their natural diet, the more active they become. I  feed him fruits, veggies, nuts, and hermit food (not the pellet stuff). At night he wakes up, gets a drink, and goes right to his food to see whats on the menu. 

Today he has some strawberries, some spring mix, two different kinds of hermit food, and a small piece of banana. I leave his fruits in slightly bigger slices, I do this because he likes to drag fruit around his tank. Same with the spring mix.

*little note about Tamatoa, his absolute favorite food is green apple. I give him a piece of the peel, and a disk shape slice of apple*

I have this thing, where I get an idea and I hold onto it and twist it until there is nothing left except exactly what I wanted in the end result. There is this other thing, where I refuse to support my local pet shop, because they are awful… from the owner of the store, to the conditions the animals are kept in, to the products they sell for animals, to the associates. Now, I have the new tank, and the only place close to me that sells the substrate I use is that one pet shop…. I wont shop there, I wont support them, waiting on amazon for the substrate, which means there are 2 or 3 more days until I can move Tamatoa to his new tank…. impatiently being patient. I also am waiting on craigslist to see if I can get some new Hermies there, if you look into how hermit crabs are treated prior to being sold to pet shops, it shouldn’t be an industry.

Hermit crabs are insanely hard to breed in captivity, so 99.9% of crabs (if not all of them) sold in stores are wild caught. YouTube has depressing videos on how that works. Tamatoa is missing a leg, has been ever since I got him. Depressing. 

*Anyway* Here is the tank he is in, and the tank he is going to. I am super excited. He has room for 8″ of substrate, I am gonna make a saltwater pool eventually, plenty of tank wall for plants to be strung up for climbing, and try to set up a second floor. Lots of renovations for one little man! (or woman, I don’t actually know)

Lets get crabby! Some great news, I have found and will be picking up a bigger tank for Tamatoa! He will be going from a basic 10 gallon, to a 37 gallon, and that’s pretty stinking exciting.

“Why would that be exciting?” you ask. Aren’t they fine in those little plastic tubs they get sold with? The answer is… No. No they are not, Hermit crabs need lots of substrate to bury under, and a lively space to climb and crawl around. With his size, Tamatoa should have between 6 and 8 inches of substrate in his tank at all times. I say should because I had this climb thing in his tank that he just didn’t like and when I took it out, his dirt went to about half of what it should be. He isn’t a happy camper about it. After I get his new tank though, I will fill it to 8″, get him a buddy or two, and still have room to try to rig a second floor and some climbing things. Some other upgrades coming his way with the new tank, better lighting and a new water set up. He is currently sporting an aquarium lid light and a Tupperware dish that has two sides to it. 

This is his current tank, I can feel all the hermit crab owners cringe, it looks like poo because it is at an odd in between stage. I didn’t want to clean it or anything after I took the big climb thing out because he is getting a new one anyway. Believe me when I say, his living space is about to get a whole lot better!

-Side note, if you look at Tamatoa and you’re like, he needs much deeper substrate that 8″, he is not as big as he looks, the shell he is wearing is much too large, but he switched from his painted shell to that one and is currently rejecting the other 3 shells in his tank. He gets 8 new ones on tuesday, hopefully he likes those more!-