Hermit Crabs
by Neal Pronek
This book is fairly old, published in 1981, and
the information and language used shows it. I personally found
the language and tone grating, but that may be how people actually
spoke in 1981 - I was far too young at the time to remember.
One thing that jumps out at me is that Pronek's
recommendations about heating a hermit crab tank are occasionally
a lot more work than necessary (rigging up submersible heaters,
as used in fish tanks, to work in a terrarium). An under tank
heater must not have been a commonly available tank accessory
at the time, for either hermit crabs or reptiles!
There have been a lot of changes in the pet trade
as far as hermit crabs go even in the last five years, so obviously
some of the statements Pronek makes about not being able to find
anything but Carribean Land Hermit Crabs are now patently false,
as is his advice about not housing different species together
since no one really knows how they react to each other. We now
know that different species of land hermit crabs get along with
each other just fine, though it is best for each hermit crab to
have at least one other "species buddy" available.
Pronek advocates daily bathing as a substitute for
providing appropriate substrate, which is not good for crabs at
all. Daily bathing will stress them out and will likely throw
off the ratio of fresh/salt water kept in their shells. Bathing
is recommended at MOST once every few weeks, and then only if
there are circumstances that require it (new crabs, mites or other
bugs, bringing a molter back into a main tank, or not keeping
deep water dishes available so that crabs can bathe themselves).
While he is right, dry sand or gravel is much neater than damp
sand or coconut fiber, it is important for hermit crabs to have
damp substrate that they can easily dig into. Gravel is hard for
hermit crabs to dig in, and is therefore an inappropriate main
substrate. Dry sand is also difficult for the hermit crabs to
dig and tunnel in, and dry coconut fiber will leach moisture FROM
the air, which will hurt the humidity in your tank. This is why
most enthusiasts keep their coconut fiber bedding damp, so it
adds to the humidity and is easily diggable, and their sand at
sand castle consistency so little hermit crab tunnels hold their
shape.
Pronek also gives instructions on the inhumane practice
of removing a hermit crab from its shell by cooling the crab until
it goes into a dormant state. Removing a crab from its shell by
any means is cruel and inhumane, and should never be attempted.
Any such attempt is incredibly stressful for the crab, and may
end in the crab going into stress shock and eventually dying,
just so you can get it into the shell of your choice.
Another bit of misinformation in this book is that
Pronek says it doesn't matter whether you use salt or fresh water
for your hermit crabs. It is very important for the health of
your crabs that they be given access to both fresh drinking water
and salt water to bathe in. They need both to enable them to regulate
the concentration of salt water kept in their shells. Some species
of hermit crabs may be able to live without salt water, but they
all need it to truly thrive.
Pronek mentions that cannibalism among hermit crabs
is an issue, especially if hermit crabs of greatly varying sizes
are kept together. However, unless hermit crabs are malnutritioned,
this behavior is highly unusual and is not a problem. In our tank,
the larger hermit crabs tend to ignore the smallest hermit crabs,
or at least they don't treat them any differently than they would
another hermit crab of similar size getting in their territory.
Feeding hermit crabs fresh meat and fish, and especially including
other crustaceans like shrimp and crayfish in their diet, will
virtually always prevent cannibalistic behaviors.
This book may be where the myth that a hermit crab
will leave its shell to molt originates. Because a hermit crab's
exoskeleton only covers the front part of its body, it does not
need to leave the shell to molt, it simply splits the old exoskeleton
and peels it off the front part of its body. Occasionally a crab
will change shells or temporarily leave its shell after molting,
but the vast majority of crabs never do.
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