"You're using coconuts!"

Pet talk. I have hermit crabs. Of all the pets we currently have, I have had the hermit crabs the longest. And considering the way the majority of pet enthusiasts treat hermies, that's saying something. Most people will toss one or two in a little carrier with some food, substrate, and water and be done with it. Ergo, they don't last very long. Throw-away pets.

People think they are boring. I guess they don't really pay attention to them, or they have completely unrealistic expectations. It's pretty cool watching them change shells, or have feeler fights. And you would never expect me to say that they are one of the louder pets we have, but they sure can cause a racket clanking around their cage. Oh how I wish everyone would do research before buying a pet.

Here are some of the basics about hermit crab care:

• Substrate: Hermit crabs need to be able to dig in the substrate in order to molt. They need enough depth to be submerged by several inches, and the required depth increases depending on the size of the hermit crab. The substrate has to be something that can hold form so they can create little caves. Sand is good. Coconut fiber is good, especially if you mix some calci-sand into it (they need the calcium to help replenish their exo-skeletons). Gravel is right out.
• Water: A shallow pool of water that is free from all the chemical additives we put in our water is needed. Shallow enough that the hermies can sit in it to help moisten their gills without drowning. A sea-sponge added to the dish will help retain moisture and up the humidity in the tank. If you can have a second pool with salt water in it also, even better.
• Humidity/Temperature: Hermies need a certain amount of moisture to be able to breathe. They are from very warm, beachy areas, and the better you can replicate that environment, the better off they will be. It's especially hard in the winter-time, so I hook up a small under-tank heater to the side of the tank to help with the heat, and keep a lid that has just enough ventilation. This combined with the shallow and spongy water dish is usually enough to keep it in the right range.
• Food: A variety of food is nice, though given too much variety mine have now rejected all powdered hermit crab foods aside from a fruit and flower mixture. They also like dried fruit and fresh veggies.
• Shells: The comfort of your hermit crab will largely depend on the shell he is in. Different breeds tend to prefer different shaped openings, and their needs to be a wide variety of appropriately sized shells for each hermit crab to choose from. Each time they molt they are likely to want to switch shells, and even a few times in between. Sometimes they just like changing clothes. The painted shells are awful though. Tacky and often toxic once the paint starts chipping off.
• Climbing areas: Hermies love to explore! Mine love climbing up grape vines in the terrarium, and shredding cork bark, and getting into all sorts of mischief. They like the security of having places to hide in, and the room to stretch their legs both horizontally and vertically.
• Friends: Despite the name, hermit crabs are not hermits. They like companionship, and you will often find all of them piled on top of each other or sitting side by side on branches.

Now that I've said all of that, here are the issues I'm having with my hermies right now, and my possible thoughts on what the problem is. I started with five hermit crabs in this terrarium. I have had all of them for a while, ranging from four years to one year. When I moved up here I had them in a ten gallon tank with sand substrate. As soon as they all finally reemerged from hiding and molting below the surface, I switched the substrate to a coconut fiber base with some calci-sand mixed in. This has several advantages, one being that it doesn't show all the mess that i'm not able to clean up due to them burying themselves for a month at a time, and another being that coconut fiber is much much cheaper than good sand. I've been wanting to get a larger enclosure for them for a while, I am at my limit for a ten-gallon tank, but when I upgrade I want it to be a major upgrade that will last, and that hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, the hermies I have keep growing, and I think they are starting to feel more and more crowded. I'm pretty sure one of the hermit crabs was eaten by the others during it's vulnerable molt time, and now i'm worried about one of the others too. They are starting to make a huge mess of the coconut fiber, and spending a lot of extra time buried for the day too. I'm not sure what to make of it, or what my next course of action should be. I can't dig up the crabs and redo their entire tank set-up because they might be molting and I could accidently kill them. I think I may be stuck for a while until I can get a larger tank and start to slowly move them over to it as they reemerge.

Thoughts anyone? Especially you, Allison, oh fellow keeper of hermit crabs?