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In the wild crabs eat a variety of foods, so it is best to offer as many foods as possible. Some crab owners don't use commercial crab food at all. You can do this but you must supply the right foods to give your crabs the nutrition they need. If you are going to use commercial crab food you must supply other foods as well.
Water is very important to your crab. You will need de-chlorinated fresh water and de-chlorinated salt water(no table salt). To de-chlorinate the water buy a dechlorinater for fish. For salt buy a salt mix for fish. Both of these can be found at most petstores.
To bathe or not to bathe. Crabs don't need to be bathed if they can bath themselves. In order for them to bathe themselves you need to provide water in the tank. They need to sumbmerge up to their eyeballs, but you also want to make sure you have a fake plant or piece of wood so smaller crabs to get out.
You need at least a ten gallon tank for your crabs. The hermit crab homes they sell don't work. Anything other than an aquarium won't work. I got my ten gallon at petsmart for $8. You might also be able to buy a bigger tank at goodwill, I got a 20 gallon there for $7 including a lid. If you live in colder regions you may want a tank heater(lid and heater explained below). You should have 2 tanks a main tank and an ISO for new crabs or crabs that are molting.
Since crabs have modified gills humidity is important. Ideal humidity is between 70% and 85%. You don't want to keep constant temp. humidity all year long, this post explains it(I'm addictid2hermitrabs). There are a few ways to raise humidity misting dechlorinated water with a plant mister, a sponge, or a damp towel over the top of the tank. The misting works the best though. You will also want to mist to keep the substrate moist. A lid is also very important in trapping humidity and keeping it in the tank. You can make a humidifyer the instructions are here.
If you live somewhere were the temp of your house falls below 60 you should get a heater for your crabitat(crab tank). There are two methods of heating lights and heaters. Lights are better for bigger tanks. You can't put any old light on top of the tank ethier, you have to buy speacil light bulbs. The heaters can sometimes warm up the substrate more than the air. If you buy a heater you can mount it on the side of the tank or on the bottom. Most crab owners mount the heaters on the side of the tank. If you mount the heater on the bottom it can burn molting crabs. The side is this best place.
As you probably guessed your crab will need a bigger shell. Crabs only grow when they molt. Painted shells aren't a good idea, they may look nice but they could kill your crab. The paint on the shell is non-toxic, but the coating on the paint is toxic. If your crab came in a painted shell that is fine, as soon as the crab changes shells you should remove the painted shell.
There are a few different substrates(sand) out there. Most crabbers use Eco-Earth(refered to as EE) and sand. I use sand(I will be getting Eco-Earth soon. If you get sand you should get play sand from toys r' us, home depot, or lowes. Don't get Calci-sand for substrate, it dosen't hold moisture and is really expensive. You could get calci-sand and feed it to your crabs.
This section is to explain anything that doesn't fit into another section. When you first get your crabs they are very stressed out, they will probably run around the tank alot for the first few days and then they will settle down. You shouldn't touch them for the first month. I know it is hard, but it is for the best of the crab.
When crabs molt they shed their old skin and grow new skin they also get larger. You may notice the crab eating more and if you notice pre-molting signs you should move them to your ISO. After the crab digs under it should not be disturbed. You may notice your other crabs digging trying to get to the molting crab, this is because they want to eat your crab. Yes, they are cannibals. That is why you should move your crab to an ISO when see pre-molting signs. The people at the petstore probably told you things that aren't true, the petstores misinform everyone because they only care about $$$$$ not crabs so most crab owners ignore what the petstore people say. If you have any further questions, comments, or concerns please fill out the form below and I will answer ASAP.
