I'm really worried

[SquawksNibbles]

I just found out my older brother is getting hermit crabs for Christmas. I'm really happy for him, it's been a while since he's had a pet of his own, and I know he really missed it. But, at the same time, I'm really, really worried. I'm pretty sure he knows nothing about their care. I took some time to research up on it and they are not the low maintenance pets they're said to be!

To be honest, my family has never exactly been one to do a bunch of research on pets before getting them. So, I don't think he'll take the time to learn about their care. Meanwhile, knowing this, I'm trying to gather up as much information on the creatures that I can, in case I have to step in sometimes and give tips. Right now, I'm really wishing I could just step up and say I'll care for the poor things, as I know more about them right now.

The rest of my family don't even know that your supposed to give them several different shells to move into it. Apparently, my mom actually thought they were born with their shells and my dad thought that in order to change their shells, you had to pull the things out of their current shells and stuff them into a new one. So yeah, you can tell how bad the situation is.

And my family looks at me like I'm crazy and they usually don't believe me when I give tips on animal care.

I guess the only thing I can do at this point is gather information on the animals, and when my brother finds out what he's getting in to, encourage him to do his research and give the animals the best life possible. I'm going to be pretty upset if they're not given good care, as he's been asking for hermit crabs for nearly a year now.

 

[Monica]

I found out my grandmother had been feeding the dog walnuts... from her walnut shrimp meals... I told her he can't eat walnuts. I put up a sign on the fridge about what foods are safe or not safe to feed. I then found out she was feeding the cat raisins... I put up a freakin sign for you to read and you don't even bother? Why are you feeding them these things? And the answer? "Because they like it" She doesn't have time to read stuff - she can't read very well - or some other excuse. The cat's dead now... could be unrelated to the raisins, but then again he was being fed the Royal Canin Urinary S/O... (it's only $70 for a 17lb bag...) bloodwork didn't indicate what was wrong. X-rays didn't. (we know how he died, but not why he died - even if we could have figured out "why", there was no point in trying to make him better because the prognosis would have been bad regardless) She was very upset when he died.


So I can easily understand your frustration with family. I'm sorry you also have willfully ignorant relatives. Hang in there!

 

[Jas]

I didn't know anything about hermit crabs either and thought they're easy to care for, I was wrong! Still cute though.

Really good video about them.

 

[taxidermynerd]

I had hermies at one point, and this was before I was allowed to use the internet as I see fit (I was 10 or 11 at the time). They were 'free*" at the pet store (*of course, you had to buy the food and all that, so not really free). Over the course of 6 months, I went through 6. I had no clue how to care for them, I was given one in a tiny plastic critter carrier. Once I could use the internet as I wanted, I looked out of curiosity on how to care for them (this was several months after the last one passed) and I discovered I was doing it all wrong. I still feel so bad. And I operated solely on the advice of pet store people. If I had come across the opportunity now, with free access to the internet, I would have gone home and learned more, and I wouldn't have done it. I don't want to bring in any animals I won't be able to care for to the furthest extent.

So I guess, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink, y'know? And once they screw up and kill the poor thing, maybe they'll actually start to go "Hey, maybe we should listen to the one who actually knows things." One can hope.

 

[Lady Jane]

Sounds like impulse purchases.

 

[SquawksNibbles]

Right now, they're keeping them (they at least got two, thank God! Hermit crabs are social critters and do better with buddies) in a small tank, but that's only temporary. He's getting them in a few hours, so I'm not too worried about the small tank, as they are definitely being moved to a larger tank. But, I'm already seeing some bad signs.

In their temporary bowl, the crabs were given gravel as the substrate. They should be given nice, clean sand to burrow in. That'll be an easy fix, though. Their food bowl was filled with little pellet looking things, which was obviously pet store bought hermit crab food. They should be fed fruits and veggies, grains, meat, seeds, etc. I'll, of course, try to convince the others this pellet food is bad for them and to give them the foods listed above.

Well, I guess I'll just have to type him up a whole care guide and list of things he'll need. Just kidding, I'll just encourage him to do his research.

 

[Jas]

They should also have a cuttle fish for calcium and they molt as well. Least he got them in pairs, which is a start.

 

[SquawksNibbles]

Update:

Everything is actually going pretty good! It turns out, as for the substrate, they're using coconut fiber stuff, which is the second best recommended substrate to use, right behind safe sand. If the crabs were my pets, I would probably be using sand, to help create a more natural environment. But, I'm not going to sit here and criticize this, especially when nothing is wrong. The hermit crabs have successfully burrowed in the substrate, which is what matters.

My brother still needs to get some things for the crabs to climb on and he needs to give them more shells. I might suggest to him that he get them a small 7" by 7" seagrass mat as I climbing toy, as I've read hermit crabs love climbing and hanging out on these mats.

And as for drinking and bathing water, that's going great! While researching the care, I read hermit crabs need two bowls filled with water; one with saltwater and one with freshwater. Of course, I thought the rest of my family only had one bowl filled with freshwater only. So, it was a huge surprise when my father told me he had two bowls, one for freshwater and one for saltwater.

There's still the problem with the food pellets they got them, but I told my brother that the crabs also eat fruits, veggies, meat, grains, etc, and told him he should try it out (I didn't want to be too bossy and tell him him what to do). He agreed, which was also surprising.

And, in addition to all of this, I found out I'm not the only one who thinks he should learn more about the care of the critters. Apparently, my older sister texted my brother a care guide and encouraged him to read it. She also took the time to read it herself.

Still, despite the good start, this is definitely not the best home for these animals, at all. The best home would be back in their natural home and environment. Apparently, hermit crabs are rarely bred in captivity, and the majority that you see in pet stores have been captured and taken away from their home, to be shoved in aquariums that are nothing like their actual home. But, I don't have the heart to tell my brother the hermit crabs won't be happy here.

Trust me, I know my brother wouldn't have continued asking for them if he knew how they got in pet shops. He just didn't know, and he really does care about the critters.

My brother has already named them, though. Their names are Jorje and Newt. I know, they're strange names, but apparently my older sister and her husband suggested them. He plans to name his next crab, "Mervin."

 

[Monica]

They do that a lot with fish as well... many species that can't be bred within captivity, or are difficult to breed within captivity, are frequently captured in the wild and shipped in to be sold as pets. It's a sad fact of the hobby.


I also have a bird that has a high chance of being a wild caught import since she was imported May of 2013. If I could, I'd happily release her from where she came! But I can't...

 

[Jas]

Blue tangs (dory fish) are ones that ppl capture from the wild and the grow so big and ppl don't realise.