Member Article: Hermit Crabs and other pets

by Members of the Land Hermit Crab Owners Society

From: nightfallb2000

I have three kids, a dog(collie), and four cats. The kids love them but I don't them do anything but observe, the dog could care less, except for the first day they were here, she went nuts about the wierd sounds coming out of the box, and only one of the cats cares. Her name is Evil and she lays on the glass lid of the crabitat watching them at night, every night for two years she has been laying on the top of the crabitat. when I had the twenty long set up she could reach through part of the glass top that I would gap to adjust humidty, and she would wave her paw trying to catch them. If they are out of the crabitat the dog likes to sniff them and the cats just walk around them at a safe distance not knowing what to think
kim

From: KamreeKat

My dog is uninterested, the cats are very interested for a moment, but only for a moment. The only interesting experience is when we were babystittng a friend's schnauzer while she was out of town. I suppose Bella (the schnauzer), thought my largest (at the time) crab Sushi was a ball because she picked him up in her mouth. I was stunned for a moment because my dog and cats never bother the crabs, as I jumped to grab Bella she yelped and spit him out, I guess he pinched her inside her mouth. I picked him up and washed him off and he was fine, after that Bella didn't bother him. =)

From: angel32899

I live in a dorm and since I don't have an oven or a balcony to dry my substrate, I use a hair dryer. I just spread parts of the substrate out on a large garbage bag (if you buy a box of them, they last through alot of tank cleanings) and dry parts of it at a time. I have to do it on the weekend, b/c it can take a while depending on what kinda of hair dryer you use, but it works pretty well for me. I tried to use my microwave at first, but the parts you can dry were just too small to make it worth while.

I find that land hermit crabs work very well as pets for dorm rooms. I've had them for almost two years, the length of time that I've been at college. I've never had any problem with the resident assistants about having them (they stay in the crabitat unless the door is closed). But they are fun to have and watch and they hardly take up any space. After some initial set-up costs, which can be lessed by looking for a tank in garage sales or online (a tank that can't hold water b/c of a crack sells cheaply and is perfect for crabs), they barely cost anything to maintain. I have an extra shelf that I bought to hold my tv and sterio and use part of that for my crabs. The top two shelves hold my tv and sterio and the bottom two hold my 15 gal. long tank, my two KK ISO tanks and their food and water bottles. I have a shallow tupperware that they get bathed in and then they go into a bucket with a towel in the bottom to dry.

All in all, I love having my hermies. They're much more interactive then fish, and because they live in an "aquarium", I can get away with having a non-aquatic animal. I wouldn't trade them for any other pet.
Kim and her 10 PPs, 4 Rugs, and one tiny little E

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