CtryLuv's Crabbie Cove Blog

update for 7-09-06

2006-07-09T16:09:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!!! Sorry its been so long since my last update, but its been very hectic around here!! I have a new job that is working lots of overtime, plus the youngest daughter is back in Memphis Elite, so her practices are keeping everyone hopping!! Heres whats happened since the last update.

Right now we are up to 22 hermies. We have purchased 2 new straws, 5 new Es and 1 new PP. We have lost one E and my jumbo PP Frankie. Our jumbo Frankie molted successfully and then about 1 month later passed. We cannot figure out what caused it except for old age. He was between 25-30 years old. I have also lost one E, but have no idea what happened to him either. We did a deep clean on the E tank today and came up short one crabbie. All I can figure is he dug down and died, and either decomposed or was eaten by the others :(

As far as the new guys go, here are pics and a little background on them.

First up is Red Eye. He is our 3rd straw. He was named Red Eye because of his red eyestalks and because the husband had just seen the movie red eye the night before we purchased him, lol. Right now he is dug down in the 55 and has been for a couple of weeks. He hasnt molted yet but I get the feeling its coming. Everyone please wish Red Eye lots of healthy molting vibes!!!

Next up is Ticky. Ticky is a tiny straw we were lucky enough to run across at Petco. He has molted once for us and came through it just fine! The daughter named him Ticky but we call him Little Red. He has since changed out of the painted shell into a cancellaria. Yay Ticky!!

This is Copper. He is one or our two new larger Es. The hubby stopped by Petco and seen his buddy Limey and fell in love with their size and Limeys green color so they came home with us. Hes a good crabbie :)

Next up is Limey, Coppers buddy. This is the one that the hubby fell in love with his color, hence his name. When doing the deep clean today we found limey with 2 legs and a large pincher (exo) beside him, looking pretty orange, so he has been moved to ISO to finish up his exo in peace. Hes going to be gorgeous when hes done!!

The next 2 are the little micro Es. The picture above gives you an idea of their size.

This little guy is named Spunky because hes just all over the place!! After the deep clean I caught him changing out of the above shell into a nerite, but havent checked to see if hes stayed in it or not. Hes a cutie!!

This little guy is named Shybaby because hes so shy. You cant get him to come out of his shell when you are holding him. He will be one that noone is going to be able to mess with. He is the smallest and can put back into his shell so far you can barely see him.

Last but not least, this is Frankie Jr. We got him to replace our baby Frankie. He seems to be a very friendly crabbie but appears like hes going to molt. I hope he comes through it ok!!!

Thats about it for the update. Everyone basically seems to be doing well. I hope to add some more crab care items to the blog soon, if work hours cooperate with him. Have a great day everyone!!!

Controlling the Temp in your Tat

2006-04-08T09:39:00.000-05:00

Depending on the climate you live in, you could see temp variations from extremely hot to extremely cold. The crabitat must be kept at a pretty constant temp for the crabbies as temp fluctuations are not good for them and can cause stress and death. With summer upon us, I figured it was time to post this. Below are a few ways to control the temps in the tat during extremes.

My tank is too cold, what do I do?

There are a few different ways to heat your crabitat. You can use just one or combine them. I personally use both lights and UTHs on my tank.

Under Tank Heaters - A UTH (Under Tank Heater) is more or less a heating pad that you put on the bottom outside of your tank to heat the substrate. They were created to keep the substrate warm for reptiles that need warm sand, ect. There are a couple different ways to use them. You can put them on the bottom of the tat, or you can put them on the side. I personally believe that under the tank is best as heat rises, so the heat goes up into the substrate, and into the tank. On the side I would think that the heat would rise, therefore not warming the inside of the tat sufficiently. UTHs will bring the temp of your tat up by about 5 degrees or so. You will need to buy one that is the right size for your tank. Do not buy one that is too large as you want to have a warm side and a cool side to the tat. If you buy one that is too large, it may cover the whole bottom of the tank, thus not providing the cool section.

It is my general belief that if you are going to use a UTH, it needs to be left on at all times. The main fear with turning them off and on is that you will have a crabbie bury down when its off, molt, and then be too weak to get away from the heat of the UTH when it is turned back on. A UTH will also help with keeping the humidity up where it needs to be. Just put the crabbies fresh water pool over the UTH and this will help with the humidity. Also misting the substrate over the UTH will help.

Tank lights - Tank lights, such as moon glow or day glow lights are great for providing needed heat for the crabitat. The only thing to watch for when using lights is to make sure they dont lower your humidity. As long as you have a decent lid, or hood, this should not be a problem. Right now I have 2 aquarium hoods on my 55 gallon which I run day bulbs during the day and replace each night with the night lights. I have not had any problems so far with keeping the humidity up.

I will be purchasing a Flukers tri-light combo for the 75 gallon in the near future and have read that these lights are great for heating and lighting. They contain a place for both your day and night bulbs, extra outlets so that you can plug in a UTH if needed, and switches so that you can turn on whichever set of lights you prefer without having to switch out the bulbs. The hood holds 4 incandescent bulbs and 1 fluorescent.

My tank is too hot, what do I do?

This is probably one of the hardest things to control during the hot summer months but it can be done. First of all, realize the crabbies come from tropical conditions and a temperature spike of up to around 89-90 degrees for short periods of time will not hurt them as long as your humidity is up where it needs to be. The largest danger of heat is high heat and low humidity. Below are a few ways you can cool down the tat.

Frozen water bottles - Fill bottles most of the way full (pop bottles, water bottles, ect) 16 oz to 1 liter with water and freeze them. Put them in your tank or on top of your tank. This seems to help keep the tank cool. It seems to mess with the humidity and lower it, so you will have to keep an eye on it and may have to mist more frequently. Also the bottle will have condensation which will drip into the tank, regardless of which location you put it, and can wet the sand considerably, so this needs to be watched. One thing you can do is set the bottle in a small lid to help catch the condensation. If you put it on the inside of the tank you will also have to watch to make sure your crabbies stay away from it.

Wet towels and fans

Wrap cold wet towels around the tank and have a fan blow on them.

Have a cold wet towel hang inside the tank. Have a fan blow on it.

Wet a towel with cold water, drape over the tank, and have a fan blow on it.

Fans blowing directly on the tank will lower humidity, so you will have to keep an eye on your humidy levels.

Ice Cubes - Put dechlorinated ice cubes in water dishes.

Homemade Mini Air Conditioner - We had had some issues with our central air unit and at times the inside of the house would hit 100 degrees, with the crabbie tank crawling into the 90s. My hubby, bless his heart, made the crabbies a little homemade AC unit for the tat.

What he did was take a butter bowl, cut 3 windows into it, cut a hole in the lid and tied down a small computer cpu fan onto this. He hooked the fan up to an adapter to give it power, and covered the fan with the plastic mesh you find at walmart. We made sure it was totally secure and that no crabbie could get anywhere near the workings of the fan.

You will notice in the pics below that the windows in the bowl are uncovered. We have since covered these with the same plastic mesh so that a crabbie could not crawl into it.

Once he had it made, we filled the bowl to the bottom of the windows with dechlorinated ice cubes and plugged in the fan. The fan blew down onto the ice and forced the cool air out of the windows into the crabitat. As the ice melted, this also put humidity back into the tank, so we had no humidity issues to contend with.

I have also since added the plastic mesh around the wire leading to the fan to keep the crabbies away from the wire. This little unit worked wonders with keeping the conditions where they needed to be. However, that being said, I will not run it if noone is home to keep an eye on it. Of course, the ice needs to be changed out as it melts also. It is also a good idea to put down a lid or something underneath it to catch the condensation.

There is a picture of the unit below to give you an idea of what he did.

The fiddlers are named!!

2006-04-02T16:44:00.000-05:00

Ok, it took me awhile, but I finally named my fiddler babies. The large male is named Fiddle Faddle (yes, I know, very original, hehehehe), the small male is Babycakes, the large female is Sweetie Pie, and the small female is Tweak :) So glad I finally came up with them! The husband got an awesome video of Fiddle Faddle dancing last night and as soon as he tweaks it so its not so large, Ill be putting it up. Fiddle Faddle is such a funny crabbie, lol!

Fiddler Crab Care

2006-03-18T14:23:00.000-06:00

The basics I am listing here will be things I have learned from other fiddler crab owners (Thanks NarNar!), websites, and forums. If anyone sees anything that they know to be incorrect, please, email me immediately!!

General Care - Fiddlers need a half water half land environment. They need sand to burrow in, but they must have water to live in also. Their humidity needs to be like hermits, between 70-80, and they prefer the higher end temps between 78-85. They like having things to hid in and things to climb on. The best tanks for them would range from a 5 gallon to maybe a 20 gallon, probably a long. To set it up you pour about 4-5 inches of sand into the aquarium and smooth it out, then start adding your water. When you have added the amount of water you want, (I believe it should be at least a few inches deep, maybe a bit more, then start sloping your sand up so that half of the tank has a beach. This is were you can put their fresh water dish, a hidey hut, or whatever you dont want under the water. Crabbies like to climb and bask, so have a climbing rock in the water where they can crawl out and sit. Make sure you have a lid on your tank! These little guys can figure out how to escape, and if they do, at least judging from mine, once they are loose, there will be no catching them. Mine can move probably 50 miles an hour, lol.

Molting - Fiddlers molt just like hermies, but they do it differently. They always molt underwater, and then they are off and running. The dont seem to require the resting period our hermies do. They might eat the exo, or they might not, I guess it just depends on the crab. If its still in there in 2 weeks, I would remove it. UPDATE: Not sure about them always molting under water now. When I was removing excess sand from my tank, I found the exo of my large female. It was about 3-4 inches under the sand. I also found the large female, so I know it was an exo. Now either she molted under the sand, or she buried her exo. I will be doing more research on this!!

Food and Water - The fiddlers need brackish water for their main source. This is a weak salt water. Ive read a few different things about their water. Of course, first of all, it needs to be dechlorinated. As far as the salinity, Ive seen 2 different things. One site says to have the salinity at 1.005 - 1.010. Another one Ive found says to keep it around 1.020. Right now I have mine at 1.09 and will probably bring it up a bit. The PH should be right around 8, so if you get a ph tester, you need to get one for higher end aquariums. You must also have a small dish of fresh dechlorinated water for them. As far as food goes, fiddlers root around in the sand and get microscopic organisms and such from the sand. The also like algae, so I make sure I always have an algae wafer in there for them. I also feed things such as bloodworms, shrimp, freeze dried shrimp, raw fish, and Ive even tried oranges. Im still working on their diet.

Tank Cycling - Your tank will need to be cycled. Cycling is getting rid of all of the bad bacteria and replacing it with good. You can buy little testers that suction cup onto the side of the tank that will tell you where you tank is as far as cycling. In ideal circumstances, you tank should be cycled before adding the fiddlers. The bad thing about that is it is extremely hard and takes extremely long to cycle a tank that doesnt have anything live in it. You can add live sand or live rock, but you will have to have the salinity up to where a reef tank would need to be. Brackish water is not sufficient to sustain live rock or sand and it will die. However, salinity at those levels would not hurt the fiddlers either. You just mix the aquarium salt according to the directions on the package. Now whether live rock or sand needs other things a reef tank does, Im not sure, but I will try to find out when I go to our oceans environment store this weekend.

Breeding - Although it is not unheard of for fiddlers to mate in captivity, the young will not survive. The female must lay the eggs in the ocean, and they hatch and survive there. We cannot reproduce the tidal flows and such that the female needs to lay the eggs, and the tiny water life the babies need to survive after they hatch.

Hands on or hands off - This I am still learning about. I have yet to handle my fiddlers, first because I want to know how to do it without hurting them, and second because if they decide to run, Im scared they would be gone, lol. They are fast little buggers!!! I will be doing more research on this, and adding my own experiences also. UPDATE: I got to handle one of my fiddlers. I was removing some sand and water because it was really too deep in my tank. After I did that, I sat in the kitchen and slowly and carefully went through the sand again to make sure that I didnt miss a crabbie and I found my large female. She sat in my hand ever so quietly as I got up and walked to the living room and put my hand in the tank. When I laid my hand down, she looked around, decided she was home, and walked off my hand. Still very nervous about holding them because I know how fast they can move, but the first experiment was successful :)

Update for 3-1-06

2006-03-01T07:41:00.000-06:00

Wow, well, its been awhile since Ive done an update. Ill try to cover everything in this one. Right now I am at 15 hermies. Unfortunately I lost both of my Straws during molts. I do plan on getting more, they just havent had any in. I added a large UTH to the main tank and am hoping that will help the new ones make it through thier molts. I also added a bigger salt water pool. My hermies right now sit at 7 PPs, Frankie, Mr. Pinchy, Fred, Bob, Cherokee, Baby and Wiggles. 4 ruggies, Tweety, Plum, Zebra, and Blackie, and 4 Es, Speedy G, Chippy, Bippy, and Boo. All of the crabbies except for the Es are in the main 55 gallon tank. The little Es have the 20 gallon long to themselves.

I have aquired a 75 gallon off of Freecycle, and as soon as we get a stand and hoods for it, that will be the hermies main tank. It does have a couple hairline cracks in the bottom of it, so we have to make sure it can hold the weight of the sand, or support it somehow before we set it up. Then the 55 gallon will be turned into a reef tank for the hubby. He seen some at a store called Ocean Environments and caught the bug, lol. When he aquires his reef tank, I will be adding little marine crabbies to it also.

We have also added 4 new members to the crabbie family. We added 2 male and 2 female fiddler crabs to the crew. They have their own 10 gallon aquarium. I dont get to see much of them as they are still very shy and stay hidden alot, but I have been able to get a pic of the two males which I will post below.

As far as the hermies go, Ive only lost 2 besides the two straws. I lost little He-man, although Im not quite sure how. He just disappeared. I did a deep clean a few weeks ago, and searched and searched for him. He was nowhere to be found. I cant even say that his shell was still in the tank because before he went down, he went on a shell shopping frenzy and I dont know which one he finally picked. I also lost my last new PP, Timid. Other than that, the crabbies are all doing awesome!!

These little guys are awesome! They are quicker than lightning. If you startle them, they move so fast you cant even see them. They are the cutest little things and I cant wait until they get more comfy in their new home so that I can see them more. I havent named them yet as Im having some problems coming up with appropriate names.

Make sure to check out my website located here http://ctryluv.nbkillas.net as I have done a major update on the site and it now contains lots of new information on hermit crabs. I will be updating in the future to make sure I havent missed anything, and to add some care sheets and such on the fiddler crabs also. I have also started a hermit crab and fiddler crab forum at http://ctryluv.nbkillas.net/forum/. Please feel free to drop by and join!!

Cant think of anything else to update on. I think Ive covered everything. Ill try to keep up on the updates better in the future!!

Have a great day!!!!

Update for 9-17-05

2005-09-17T13:28:00.000-05:00

Ok, time for a much needed update!! Alot has happened the last month. I have lost 2 crabbies since I have last posted. I lost my baby Hermie, the crabbie pictured to the left, and Bashful. Hermie just started slowing down one day and then died. I thought she was gearing up for another molt, but nope. I sent off some swabs I took to a friend that is majoring in Marine Biology and she couldnt find anything wrong except that Hermies motabolism had started slowing down. She said this was caused by an organ failing. Which organ we dont know. All she could figure was that she was coming up on puberty age, and since she couldnt breed like she would have normally been able to, it was just too much for her.

We also found Bashful during a deep clean. It appears she just dug under one day and died.

I have had 3 successful molts. Tweety, Baby and Wiggles have molted. Tweety appeared to have had some kind of a problem and came up with a leg tip broken off and a deformed BP. I was able to see him underneath and it looks like he molted naked and then attempted to go back into a shell while he was still soft, causing the deformities. On the plus side, the BP functions fine, and he was the last of my hermies in a painted shell, so now everyone is natural. Tootie molted about a week and a half ago and is still underneath munching his exo. Bob and Fred have been under since 8/19 so I believe they are gearing up. The only one I can see from the bottom is Fred. It appears that Fred has shed his exo sometime over the last couple of days. Ill be checking on him again in a few days and will know more then. I expect him and Bob to take awhile as they are larger hermies. I also havent seen Zebra in a few days, so he might be gearing up again. Fruity is dug down some in the back corner of the tank and hasnt moved at all in 3 days. Im kind of worried about him, but hope he is getting ready to molt also. I just checked on him and his shell is moved, but Big Boy was around that area so I cant tell whether Fruity moved or Big Boy moved him. I will be keeping a close eye on him and Fred.

As far as new additions, I went to Petco last night and purchased 2 new Straws and 3 tiny PP micros. Pics are to follow. I have been debating for awhile whether to try Straws or not and since I just aquired a 20 Gallon long, I decided that if they stayed at Petco they would die, if they went home with someone who didnt know how to care for them, they would die, so I decided they stood a better chance with me than most other options, lol. The Straws are now resting comfortably in their 20 gallon long, and the micros are in iso until I add them to the main tank. I will be purchasing a 40 gallon breeder in the near future for the Straws. Ok, here are the pics.

First is Phoenix

Next is Fireball

Next is Munchkin

Next is He-man. I named him that because he moved out of the shell hes in in this picture to a much bigger silver band green turbo. He is so tiny in that big shell that you can barely see him way in the back, lol. After he is destressed, Ill get a current pic :)

And last is minimoo

I think thats it for now. I will try to update as soon as anything happens. On a personal note, I am now working a full time job, so I dont have as much time to play around on the puter and work on my stuff, but Ill do my best!!!

Update for 8-12-05

2005-08-12T08:02:00.000-05:00

Ok, time for another update, lol! I was able to get some pictures of Zebra so I am going to post one below. I also have another molter up!! Plum came up yesterday and is looking so very handsome! Hes got new pointy black toenails and lots of fuzz!! He also is darker than when he went down. I will post a picture of the new Plum as well.

This is Zebra with his pretty new pincher!

This is the new fuzzy Plum!!!

This is a habba tree I purchased for them at Petco. I think its one of the best investments Ive made so far. The hermies love it. In this photo you can see Hermie down low taking a nap, and Zebra up top checking things out. About 10 minutes later, Zebra had gotten comfy and went to sleep too :) One word of advice though, if you are going to have a habba tree, it has GOT to be misted every 2 days with double strength Instant Ocean, or marine salt water. Otherwise it WILL mold!!

Update for 8-8-05

2005-08-08T09:18:00.000-05:00

Ok, time for another update. Zebra and Wiggles have molted!! Wiggles is still buried and working on eating his exo, but everything seems to be going fine. Zebra is done and up!! He has beautiful black pointy toenails, lots of hair, and a brand new fully developed little pincher!!

It seems like lately alot of people have been having some mite issues so I got Hermie out this morning and checked her over real good. Nothing on her except sand and EE, so all is good there!! I will be taking pics of Zebra and his new pincher soon and will get it posted asap. Guess thats it for now. Will update again when something happens!!

Much needed update for 8-4-05

2005-08-04T11:35:00.000-05:00

Ok, its been really hectic around here, but I think I have a chance to do a much needed update!!
Hermie has been moved to the main tank to go back with her buddies and is doing awesome!! Her color is darker thanks to all the good dietary tips I have recieved and shes a happy little crabbie. I think she even moved out of her green turbo into a peth shell last night, but I need to verify that first. Ok, its verified, she is out getting a drink and it is her in a peth shell, lol.

The hermie family has grown by 6 since I last posted!! We now have 8 PP's and 5 ruggies. The new guys are Tootie (small ruggie), Fruity (small PP), Tweety (small ruggie), Mr. Pinchy (large PP), Cherokee (small PP) and Baby (micro PP). I will post the pictures I have at the bottom of the post. Tootie, Fruity, and Tweety were purchased about the middle of July and after their ISO time have now been moved to the main tank and are doing great! Mr. Pinchy, Cherokee, and Baby were purchased on the 28th of July and are still in ISO getting used to their new home.

I currently have 4, possibly 5 buried. 4 have been down since the beginning of July and so far all seems to be well with them. The 4 that are buried are Zebra, Wiggles, Plum and Bashful. Tweety might also be down but he might also be destressing, so Im not sure if he is down for a molt yet or not. Tweety is also the only one I havent got to change into a natural shell. He is in a painted shell and doesnt seem to want anything else, lol.

Ok, now for the pics, first up is Fruity, hes got gorgeous coloring!!

Next up is Tootie, Im pretty sure hes a rug, but not 100% positive yet.....

Next up is Tweety. This is the one that wont change out of the painted shell. Hes also been buried since I put him in the main. Im pretty sure he is a rug.

Next up is Mr. Pinchy. He got his name cause he pinched me the first time I picked him up, lol. Not hard, just enough to feel secure, lol.

Last but not least is Baby. He dug down the evening after I took the pic and I havent seen him since, lol.

I havent gotten a picture of Cherokee yet but hes out and about so as soon as I get one Ill get it posted.

I plan on adding alot to the blog over the next week or so pertaining to hermie care, ect. so wish me luck!!

I guess thats it for now. Ill update again on the hermies as soon as something new happens with them, lol

update for 6-27-05

2005-06-28T00:09:00.000-05:00

Heres a quick (well, maybe not, lol) update on my hermies. Hermie the molter has been moved to ISO as it was imparetive(sp?) I do a deep clean on the main tank plus she had came up night before last and then dug back down in a completely different place so I was worried she came up for water and couldnt find any. I am 99% sure she molted as she is a darker color than before and I am seeing little pointy black toenails on her feet. She is doing awesome so far. She got some drinks last night and sat in her cuttlebone dish for a few hours. This morning she changed into a little green turbo and then headed back to the moss pit.

I did the deep clean on the tank tonight. I paniced when I walked in and seen a fluff of sand getting bigger and bigger and discovered Plum the ruggie micro digging down, so I pulled all ofthem out and put them in a big bin with newly boiled shells. Then I started the deep clean. I am very cautiously trying out EE since Ang has had problems with it. I had to wait for my son to get home with it, which was 9 tonight, and then it took over an hour to get it ready. I soaked it in boiling IO water, then let it cool before I put it in the tank. Now my tank is half sand on one side and half EE on the other. So far only two of the hermies have tried it out, so we will see how it goes. If they seem to like it and I have no problems with mold or buggies, then Ill see about keeping it for them.

As a little suprise, the boy also brought me home a new ruggie!!! He is adorable. He is a micro like plum, and hes almost white!! He is missing his feeder claw, but seems very active. He is in a painted shell which is too big for him, so Im hoping he switches out of that tonight. He was the only ruggie there and the boy didnt notice he was missing his pincher. I told him that was fine as I would have picked him anyway had it been me. He is in the KK ISO for tonight, but will be switched to a 10 gallon tomorrow. Another surprise. Someone responsed to my freecycle ad and said they had two 10 gallons, one with a light hood, one with a mesh lid, shells, climbing toys and dishes from when they owned hermit crabs, so Ill be going to pick that stuff up tomorrow. One of my husbands friends from Ohio is also bringing down his two hermit crabs, their 10 gallon, uth, ect. because his daughter wont take care of them, so Ill be adopting them. Its too bad I couldnt trade all the10 gallons in for one big tank, lol, but can always use the extras ISOs. If Hermie continues to look good, and I see her start eating regular food, Ill probably give all the guys a bath and move her back to the main in a few days. I didnt give the other 5 baths today for that reason.

I will post another update as soon as I have something to update!!!

update for 6-21-05

2005-06-21T22:52:00.000-05:00

Sorry its been awhile since Ive posted. Its been hectic!!! We moved Wiggles into the main tank on June 13th after everyone had a bath. He seems to be doing very well!! Him and Plum are becoming the best of buddies. Hermie has finally molted!!! She shed her exo on June 18 and is still dug under eating at her exo. Im hoping she comes up soon!! Thats been about it since my last post. The tank is in need of a deep clean so as soon as Hermie comes up, they will be getting a clean and newly decorated tank. The temp is under control now as it was our AC that was not working correctly. It has now been fixed and the tat has stayed at a constant 76-78 degrees so thats a load off of my mind!! Thats it for now. I will post as soon as I have new news!!!

Heres Plum and Wiggles!!

2005-06-21T22:37:00.000-05:00

Finally got a few pictures of the new guys, all except for the little girl Bashful. I will post those as soon as I get some! Plum is my little micro ruggie , and he is a trip! Wiggles is between a small and medium PP. Here is Plum sitting on Wiggles back. I think they are becoming close buddies!! The 2nd is him hanging from the bottom of the 2nd level. Sooo......Introducing Plum and Wiggles!!!!

update for 6-14-05

2005-06-14T14:04:00.000-05:00

Well, we are really fighting the temperature here!! Its gotten up close to 100 and the poor crabbies tank got up to 90 yesterday. Its doing better today. Only at 84 and Im getting it down. I put two pop bottles with frozen water into plastic glasses and set those inside the tank and they seem to be doing their job. So far the humidity is staying good with them in there, but Im keeping a close eye on it. Fred has now changed into Bobs old shell, the pretty white one he's wearing in the picture. Bob changed into a dark green turbo. It fits him much better. He can now go all the way into his shell. Plum is now in a small green turbo. They really seem to love the turbos! Bashful is still in the same shell as he had when we got him, but he was checking out some shells last night. Wiggles is still in Iso cause he hasnt come up in a few days, so Im not going to move him to the main until I see him come up. Hermie is still dug down and seems to be doing ok. Well, thats the update for today. If anyone has any other ideas on cooling down a large tank please let me know!! Summer has just begun so I know its just going to get hotter! Our AC just cant cool this place down enough.

update for 6-11-05

2005-06-11T23:45:00.000-05:00

Well, so far Hermie is doing ok. She is still dug down to the bottom of the tank. Wiggles has come back up in the ISO and is eating daily. If he is still up on Sunday I will be adding him to the main population. Plum aka Half Pint aka Little bit changed shells again and I believe has his head stuck in a bigger shell resting, lol. Bashful is doing better and is moving around the tank now. At the moment she is cuddled up beside Plum. Fred and Bob are just being Fred and Bob, lol. Bob did change out of his pretty white shell into a green turbo. His turbo is a little darker in color than Freds is, so I am still able to tell them apart. Thats all thats happened for now. Will update again soon!

Their home!

2005-06-07T13:45:00.000-05:00

Here is a photo of their 55 gallon and the ISO tank. The 55 gallon includes two bubble pools, one freshwater and one saltwater. They are ran by one airpump with gauges to regulate the amount of bubbles in the pools. They have netting, driftwood, coconut fiber, a hermie hammock and other various climbing toys. There are various hidey huts for them to hide in, and they have 2 second levels and one 3rd level. There are moss pits on the 2nd levels. Their diet consists of Crab Island Fruit and Flower food, and various fruits, veggies, meats, blossoms ect, to provide a varied and natural diet.

The new guys

2005-06-07T13:36:00.000-05:00

We have 3 new guys which we've had about a week and a half. Two ruggies and 1 PP. The PP chose to dig down to the bottom of the ISO about a week after we got him, but the other two were introduced to the main tank last night. One is a little micro named Plum. He is a boy. The other is a small female named Bashful. She is extremely bashful!! They both seem to be adjusting well. All 3 were in natural shells when we got them. Plum did decide to change shells last night however after he was moved to the main tank, but the other two have kept there old shells. We are keeping our fingers crossed that they all adjust well. No pics yet, but as they get more active, I will get some posted.

Here's Fred!!

2005-06-07T13:31:00.000-05:00

Next is Big Fred. We purchased him at the same time as Bob. He is a good crabbie, a little shyer than Bob. Him and Hermie were getting to be pretty good buddies while Bob was in ISO until Hermie decided to dig down. Here's Fred!!!!

Next up is Smilin Bob!!

2005-06-07T13:26:00.000-05:00

This is our hermie Smilin Bob. We have had him about 6 weeks. Bob is kind of a weird crabbie. He was digging down in the very small section of gravel, so we went ahead and moved him to the 10 gallon iso thinking he was going to pull a surface molt, as he has a nice dark molt sac. Well, after two weeks of being in ISO and being as active as ever, he was moved back to the main tank last night with the new guys. Guess what? He's right back over at the gravel, lol. We will just keep a close eye on him and see what he's planning. So.....here's Bob!!!!

Introducting my crabbies, first up, Hermie!!

2005-06-07T13:04:00.000-05:00

Ok, Im gonna start out by introducing my hermies, and give everyone a little background on each. The first one is Hermie!! We got Hermie exactly a year ago. My daughter brought her home from Florida. She is our baby, and we love her lots!! She dug down in the tank 4 days ago, and left us a little window to watch her through. Of course Im wearing out my pacing slippers!!
We isoed her in the main tank with a gallon milk jug around her. Im just hoping when she comes up she lets me know it as its hard to see through the jug!! so.......Here's Hermie!!!

Welcome to my daily blog!!

2005-06-07T12:13:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!! Welcome to my daily blog!!! I have created this blog in order to help me keep track of my hermies daily lives as well as hopefully being able to help others along the way. Welcome!!

Angela