The tank as I received it

Three rescue hermit crabs

October 6, 2017 I picked up three small C. clypeatus from a cold garage.  I don’t need more crabs, I have too many as is, but these were no longer wanted and I plan to adopt them out once they are rehabbed and healthy. I have a friend who is willing to foster until a home becomes available.

I brought them home and started them in on the PPS reduction method after dumping out the calci sand and cypress bark. They had a typical all wrong pet store set up.

Last week I brought home four tiny C. compressus. I lost one of mine and I am hoping for a boy to live with my girls. I also have a friend who also studies coenobita species who is in need of some photos of a male. These four are also in the PPS tank with the rescues. They had just arrived at Petco so likely aren’t as bad off as the PPs were. One of them escaped the box on the way home and spent a night alone in my truck!

Today we are just one day shy of the 3 week mark and the PPs are still very sluggish and showing very little interest in food. The smallest one is the worst. I’ve never actually seen it move. Eating well is critical to recovery so this is not good news.  I did offer a small amount of greensand and it was well eaten this morning but likely by the two Es who are the most active.

For comparison:

My 150 gallon and 75 gallon tank are my office. The rescue tank is in my bedroom. At night I sometimes hear the crabs in the office banging around. I rarely hear anything from the rescue tank.

Maybe I’m wrong and they will come around when they move to a 20 gallon and have more room.

Update: November 5, 2017
The two bigger rescue crabs have surface molted in the isolation tank! Their new tank is nearly stable so I hope to transfer all three over to Matt’s house soon!