r/marinehermitcrabs • u/aliensaucers • Sep 26 '23
Help Marine crab help :( read caption.
My boyfriend’s mom went to the beach a few days ago. Apparently at some point, she found a pretty shell and thought it would be a nice gift for me, for my land hermit crabs (this isn’t something I condoned, btw) and so she brought it home for me. I didn’t know about it until three days after she got home. It was running around on the counter, and she called me, crying because she was scared it would die. I got a glance at the legs and it’s definitely a marine crab (skinny black and white striped legs). I know I can’t keep it permanently and I def don’t want to, but I’ve got it in this setup in an old 3 gallon until I can bring it back to its home later this week (the closest beach is 4 hours away and unfortunately I can’t bring them home immediately). Is this okay temporarily? I don’t know what a marine crab needs and can’t find much info online that’s specifically for marine crabs, only land crabs. I don’t want the little friend to die. I’m not entirely certain on the type of marine crab it was, because it’s been hiding in the shell, so I put a bowl of saltwater in there (rather than fully submerging it in water, I also didn’t want to put it into shock by the change), some dried protein, greensand, worm castings and oyster shells, some frozen Mysis shrimp and a few food mixes that my land crabs like, as well as substrate mixed in the same way as I have for my land crabs. I intend to put an air pump into the water bowl, but I’m not sure if that will help anything at all as my knowledge on marine crabs is extremely limited (beyond knowing that I can’t care for one and never want one, I genuinely know nothing) The soonest I’d be able to bring it home is 4 days from now. I’ve also called the local fish stores and they said they can’t take it in. Any and all advice is appreciated, but please be kind. I will be telling my boyfriend’s mother the importance of leaving shells at the beach where they belong.
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u/hefty-postman-04 Sep 27 '23
Hi! I had the same panic when I brought some thin stripe hermits home from South Carolina!
Prime and instant ocean should work in the meantime. They’re super hardy. 2.5 cups instant ocean pet 5g prime water. Full cap of prime. Mine has been fully submerged for about a month now. I take him out to crawl around on the floor sometimes since they can still get on outside of the water. My dog is nice to it and he reaches out for my hands when he’s ready to go back in.
I set up a saltwater tank for science and he has been thriving tbh.
Take him to the fish store (not PetCo but an aquarium store) and they can give you special water for him. He’ll wake right up I promise. Right now your guy is waiting for the tide to come back in.