The Official HSB Community Blog - The Experimental Zone ~ Create a Crabitat!

Home — View my profile — Archives — Email Me — My Blog's RSS

Click here to check out the latest contests on the HSB Company Porch!!

The Experimental Zone ~ Create a Crabitat!

1:28 AM, Aug. 16, 2006

Before we even left for our beach vacation this summer, my daugheter was asking, "Can we get another hermit crab, pleeeeeeeease?"

If you've ever had a hermit crab as a pet, you know that many times they do not live long once they are under your roof. I've had several friends say, "Oh, yes, we've done the hermit crab thing. They just don't survive very long."

And, this is can be very true. However, they are easy pets. They don't need to be walked. Rarely visit the vet and can easily be left alone for a few days while the family is away!

Before we purchased this year's crab, we decided we were going to improve its habitat to help prolong its life span. After much research, my husband and daughter decided "Hermie" would need a bigger, better home than the plastic carrier provided by the beachfront novelty store.

In fact, we learned quite a bit and have been able to provide our new pet with a "crabitat" that seems to have made him very happy!

Here are some tips for a homey "crabitat":

- Hermit crabs like to move around and need room. This aquarium is a good size and

has a variety of rocks for climbing. At first we thought these rocks would be too big,

but this baby crab can make the climb quite adeptly!

- They need to be able to burrow. When a hermit crab is getting ready to molt, they

often will burrow in the sand. If you have access to the beach, gather 4-8 cups of

beach sand. Or, use plaground sand found at most home improvement stores. On

two occassions we thought our cat had lifted the screen and somehow laid his paws

on Hermie. But, when we moved away the sand, we found him deeply burrowed.

- Every 2 days, pour water on the sand to dampen and provide humidity. Hermit crabs

need humidity.

- Place food inside a plastic milk cap. Put food out two nights a week (We do Sunday

and Wednesday.) Leave it in the crabitat overnight. In the morning, remove the food.

This prevents the crab from overeating.

- Provide a very shallow dish filled with water. Hermit crabs need to sit in water at least

once a week for 5 minutes. Ours doesn't necessarily use the shell we have filled with

water. We remove Hermie two times an week, put a few tablespoons of water in a very

small bowl, then place Hermie in the water for 5 minutes.

- Place an empty shell that can be used as a new home.

- A beach umbrella is not necessary...as long as the crabitat is not placed in direct

sun to avoid creating a solar oven..of sorts. Note: Our crab was burrowing all the

time when we first placed him in his crabitat. We moved him away from the air vent

and in a location where he'd receive lots of indirect light. Now, he doesn't burrow quite

as much.

Hermit crabs enjoy having at least one other hermit crab with them. So, we are working on aquiring a best friend for Hermie. You may want to consider purchasing two hermit crabs.

Here are a few links and books of interest.

- Hermit-crabs.com

- Hermitcrab.org

- Hermit crab research sheet

- Some ideas to go along with Eric Carle's "A House for Hermit Crab"

- Coloring page from the Monterey Bay Aquarium

- A quick and easy hermit crab craft

- Craft stick puppet templates for "A House for Hermit Crab"

Books:

Carle, E. (1988). A House for Hermit Crab. NY: Simon & Schuster.

Glaser, M. (1983). Does Anyone Know Where a Hermit Crab Goes? NY: Knickerbocker

Publishing Co.

MacDonald, M. (1993). Is This a House for Hermit Crab? Illus. by S.D. Schindler. NY:

Orchard Books.

Nash, P.J. (1976). Land Hermit Crabs. NY: Tfh Publications.

Pronek, N. (1989). Hermit Crabs. NY: Tfh Publications.

Visit us often on the Front Porch!

Michelle

Posted in The Experimental Zone, 6 comments, Link
Leave a Comment

Comments
Untitled Comment

1:52 AM, Aug. 16, 2006, posted by hiplvmom2

Awesome Information!!!! Thank You I never knew so much went into owning a crab *smile*

We enjoy them!

8:11 AM, Aug. 16, 2006, posted by soaringwings

We love our hermit crabs and are reading Holling C Holling's book Pagoo about the life of a hermit crab and all he sees and does in a tidal pool. I also want to recommend the website http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/index.php. This is a message board that is a wonderful source of information and also help for when you have questions. One suggestion I have for your new crabitat is to add a solid cover which will help you control the humidity better. They are only about $10 at the pet store. It does have a plastic piece that fits on one side so you a light can be added (not for hermit crab use) and it allows plenty of air inside, but keeps it humid.

Untitled Comment

12:30 PM, Aug. 16, 2006, posted by maggieraye

I absolutely love having "unusual" pets about. We've had hermit crabs and I absolutely LOVE them!!! Their quieter and cleaner than the guinea pigs. It's easier to leave them and go on vacation than it is the cats. And most of all they are fun to take out and play with when you have homeschooling friends stop by for a play date.

We had one we dubbed "Hudini" because we had them in an uncovered cage and he managed on several occassions to escape and we'd find him in the most unusual places -- one morning he was hanging on the screen door.

One thing we learned was that we could prolong the lives of the little creatures by adding aquarium salt to their water (makes sense, right?). Once we started doing that, we had much better luck. Also sand not aquarium rocks seems to make a huge difference in the length of time they live.

Thanks for sharing this.

Hermie!

5:30 PM, Aug. 16, 2006, posted by Sawickis

We also purchased a hermit crab for our 8 year old son because of all the reasons that you mentioned for Christmas last year. So far he has been the perfect pet for our son to care for Also our hermit crab's name is "Hermie" too!

*Kristie*

Untitled Comment

8:23 PM, Aug. 16, 2006, posted by iluvmy3chickiesandtheirdaddy2

Believe it or not our hermit crab lived for three years!!!! He died this summer. His name was Mr. Crabs!!

may want to update this

7:15 PM, Aug. 25, 2006, posted by Anonymous

The care info you have given is completly wrong I am sorry to say, they must have food all the time in their tank not just 2 days a week! They do not over eat. They must have both fresh and salt de-chlorinated water in large pools in their tank 24/7. Wetting the sand makes a soggy and bacteria infested environment. You must use lights and as soild cover as well.
PLease please go to some accurate sites like http://crabrescue.proboards102.com/index.cgi
or crabstreetjournrnal.com to get good care information. we have had our hermit crabs for over 15 years now, they live a very long time.

Curious about The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine but not quite ready to commit to a subscription without seeing it first? Check it out for FREE! We're so certain you'll love our publication that we'll gladly send a FREE sample to anyone new to The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine - we even cover the shipping!

... Click here for more information ...

{ Last Page } { Page 1808 of 2598 } { Next Page }

About This Blog

Welcome to the HSB announcement blogboard from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC. We hope you will enjoy the articles posted here by the Porch Team. Please feel free to leave comments!
~ Tia Linschied, Senior Editor of HSB

The Fall 2008 issue will be
available soon!
Click here to Subscribe !

To see the current cover up close, click here

Product of the Month

• Purposeful Planning - E-Book ($9.95)
This time-tested method of planning will give your family new direction for the future. Start today! Choose the dates for your planning weekend, read her book which has the entire “how to” included, and go for it!

Living Heritage UK

Homeschool Resources

Cosidering Homeschooling

Our HSB Blogger Babies!

HSB Baby Calendar

FREE e-News!

Our e-Newsletters give you wonderful, informative information about homeschooling, news bits, contests and PRIZES for homeschoolers, articles to encourage you, calls for writers, free unit studies and lesson plans, and just a lot of FUN. Bring the community to your inbox – and no worries, we never sell, trade or give your email or any other information out to anyone. Come join the homeschool party! The Homeschool Minute is our most popular newsletter, full of encouragement and support just for YOU! Subscribe to *FREE* newsletters offered by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

Visit the Porch Team Writers and Features

Tia Linschied, Senior Editor

Monday - Friday! Homeschool Tip of the Day by Christina

Monday

Learning from the Master Teacher

Craft Corner
by Dianna Maxwell

Going the Distance
by Amanda Suryan

Homeschool Nations Highlight
by Tia Linschied

Tuesday

Unit Study Adventures
by In The Hands of a Child

Taming the Chaos
by Dell

Kitchen Moments
by Jennifer Dewing

Wednesday

Home Where They Belong
by the HWTB Team

Languishing in Languages?
by Suzanne Gose

Homeschooling Through High School
by Lori Lane

Thursday

Homeschooling is Life
by Nancy Baetz

Communicatino Corner
by JoJo Tabares

Homeschool Hilarity!
by Tia Linschied

Friday

Homeschooling Only One
by Donna Conner

Notebooking on the Porch
by Lisa Golda

Blogger of the Week
by Tia Linschied

News Alerts

HSB Tech Help

What's Bloggin'

HSB News

TOS News

Contests

General Interest

Updates from Germany

Archived Features

Adoption Options

The Busy Woman

Classical Education

Education Through Imagination

The Experimental Zone

Geography Activities

Jamin's Internet Academy

Knitting

Special Words for Special Needs

Our New E-book ~
On Sale NOW!

Quick Links

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

HSB Military Blog

Growth of Blogs

Sifry's Alerts - the blog of the owner of Technorati

Homeschooling in the news
provided by HomeSchoolBuzz.com

Do you have the whole set of back issues from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine?

Click here to view all back issues and read the themes - you will want to collect the ones you've missed!!