It is important that the hermit crabs are in good health when you buy them,as it is often very difficult to undo past damage, especially poor hygiene which leads to bacteria, fungus. Try to purchase hermit crabs from a pet store which has a range of hermit crab accessories, or at least from a pet shop that will get items in for you on request. If the store keeps their hermit crabs in wood shavings or other unsuitable substrate, then I would either try and recommend a more suitable one (sand, coral sand, playsand, etc) or find another pet store which will provide you with healthy hermit crabs that start off on the right foot. . Studies have shown that poor conditions and bad hygiene have led to bacteria contamination, which can cause limbs to drop off, mould and fungus, leaving them stressed and in many cases, they will not make it through a moult. . To learn about good pet stores within your area, or if you know of a pet store that is doing a wonderful job with their hermit crab display and well-stocked range, why not visit

Pet Store Report at The Crab Street Journal

http://www.crabstreetjournal.com/petstores

To keep your hermit crabs healthy and happy their environment should be kept in optimum temperature and humidity levels. If you are not able to keep the environment stable then your crabs will weaken and become stressed.

Below is an email on StressCoat from Crablover Don, Don Drenning, also known as CLD. This is another from an archive of messages Don sent me back in 1999 that I will be sharing with you all. Don was the first person to use StressCoat with hermit crabs and I feel it was a breakthrough in hermit crab health care. I offer it here with Don's blessing and it can also be found at a site dedicated to his wealth of hermie knowledge, at http://geocities.com/CLD_on