subject: Hermit Crab Babies – Are You Up For A Challenge? [print this page] Hermit Crab Babies Are You Up For A Challenge?
Hermit crabs are amazing little creatures and the more you get to know them the cuter they become. Whilst many potential pet owners have an ultimate goal to breed their pets, in the case of pet hermies, this is really best avoided. You see, hermit crab babies stand a better chance of being successfully bred and reared in the wild. In order to even attempt to breed from a pair of hermies, you need to have a great deal of time and patience and be prepared to fail, time after time.
When it comes to breeding your own little hermie offspring the odds are heavily stacked against your success. In fact, there is a great deal of debate as to whether or not breeding can even be done in captivity. Hermies mate freely in the wild and the female crab carries around a mass of eggs attached to her abdomen. There can be hundreds of eggs but this largely depends on the size of the crab. During this period the eggs gradually change from a greyish color to a brick red color and when the time is right, the female makes her way to the ocean. She deposits her eggs onto rocks by literally flinging them with her pincers, and they are then washed over by the waves until they are ready to hatch. Their time spent in water is critical because they easily fall prey to fish that view them as a tasty titbit. Once they are big enough, any surviving hermie offspring make their way to the shore and begin the search for a shell in which to make their home.
Attempting to breed your own hermie offspring is a tricky business from start to finish. Not only can mating your pet hermies be a problem but then you have to try and recreate their natural breeding habitat and just how do you create the ocean in your own backyard? Well first of all you need to set up either a salt water tank or an outside pool. Then you need to create some waves. Fortunately this can be achieved with the help of a fairly inexpensive wave machine that can be purchased from any reputable pet store. Then to create a romantic ambience for the lovestruck couple you need to add some warmth and some moonlight, since hermies always breed at night. Again, this can be done with the aid of a heater and some moonlight bulbs which can purchased quite cheaply off the internet.
Make sure to keep the water salty and a steady 72-80 degrees, as just the tiniest drop in temperature can make the hermie weak and too ill to breed. You'll also need to keep them well fed and ensure they have sufficient calcium. Remember, only happy healthy crabs will breed and produce those coveted hermie offspring.
You also need to stock up with plenty of brine shrimp as this will be the staple diet of your baby crabs and also some tiny empty shells for them to move into. Once you have the perfect setting you can introduce your pair of crabs and then leave them to it. Sit back and let Mother Nature work her magic. It can take up to three weeks and apparently the crabs perform a sort of dance when they mate, which can be quite entertaining to watch.
If you are very lucky you may see some hermit crab babies in about a month or so but it is still an uphill struggle to ensure their survival. To be perfectly honest with you, I would recommend that you do yourself a favor and buy your babies from a pet store, it saves a hell of a lot of time and energy.
