Fiddler crabs

[Luvmyzoocrew]

My sons school had pets that they were learning about their habitats, so when they are done they get to adopt them. I immediately veto'ed the Milipedes,lol, so he said he wanted the fiddler crabs. I told him that he needed to pay lots attention to what he was learning and that i wanted him to tell me all about them. I have asked questions about thier habitat, what they eat, what they do, how they eat , what he si going ot have to do to take care of his "own" animal. So here we are adoption time, i thought it was going to be the end of the year, they gave us an adoption form, and a list of what they need, and how to take care of thier basic needs. I have been on the internet and have to say that there isnt a whole heck of alot out there about these lil guys so i would love to knwo anyone elses experience with these guys. We have a ten gallon tank with screen lid that we will be using, and i have a list of things that i will be getting this weekend, such as salt, water/swimming dish, food, sand and fake grass, but am i missing anything? This will be my sons pet that he will have to do everything for, of course i have control issues so it will be under my supervision,lol. But ultimately we are telling him that it is his pet, getting him started in learning about overall care and cost of animals that he wants.



So where are all our fiddler crab people???????

 

[Becca]

Is this one:

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

yes and wow it really looks big, i was thinking they were alot smaller,lol

 

[Becca]

LOL - It's quite freaky :yuck

 

[Bo B Bunny]

We had one fiddler crab - Creepie. She was adorable but none of us wanted to touch her... freaked us out watching her walk sideways.....

She smelled really bad..... more her food than her...... it's a nasty, fishy smell.....

They are cool...... I'd rather have rats

 

[Becca]

Errrr :?

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

Bo was yours big, or are they little. I am thinking smaller then a hermit crab? If it is big like a crab my hubby catches he might cook it and eat it,lol!!!!!! just kidding.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

They are small..... like a hermit would be hamster size and a fiddler would be mousy size .... make sense? lol

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

crazy enough that does make sense,lol.

 

[JadeIcing]

I am more confused. Though not hard to believe when it comes to me.

 

[LadyBug]

I had one a few years ago. they are not big and scary, she was very cute:biggrin2:.she was a impulse buy and lived in my 2 1/2 gallon tank for some fish. she was forever trying to get out the back of it. her name was Kate. she died after a few months. i looked into another one and come to find out that they need brackish water(mildly salty)and land, neither of which she had. I was very sad that i didn't take the right care of her, she was so much fun to watch. she was about the size of a quarter.

check out these web sites-

Fiddler crab info

Wet Web Media(a bit more than half way down the page there's a ton of links)

and this and this

let me know how is goes! oh, and i'm not sure, but they might have salmonella, so you might want to check that, esp. since your pregnant

 

[NorthernAutumn]

I understand that you're supposed to give them baths in luke-warm water to get rid of debris...
Not supposed to be submerged in water: give a paddle pool, I think... I knew a few frat boys who had a crab that got in arguments with beer bottles:?...

 

[Bo B Bunny]

LOL Creepie got into arguments with EVERYTHING! She was funny!

We didn't know enough about her, but she lived about a year I think...

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

Thanks for the sites Ladybug i will check them out, i never tho ught about the samonella, but i have a beardie so i am use to sanitizing her stuff, and washing hands and such so i should be good with that. I am kind of excited, we washed the tank today and later on will go set it up, i have a big lizard dish that we will use as a pool, and i bought the sand, and the food. Well they didnt have dried plankton so i bought hermit crab food flakes which i did read that they could eat that. Once we get the tank set up i will have to take pics.



There are two alternatives with the tank you can either put something in there f or them to sit in, or you slope the sand and fill the tank up with some water so that the lowered side has a few inches of water. I think for right now we will go with just something for them to water themselves in as to not have a stagnent smell of wet sand and water, t his way we can just change out the water ,lol.

 

[NorthernAutumn]

FOr my turtle tank (similar needs re water), I got a strip of tough plastic, and siliconed it in (with aquarium silicon) so that I could split the tank at a low level without having all the sand and gravel pile up in the water. Perhaps that would work?

Gotta make a ramp they can climb up out of the water. I would go with another piece of plastic; spread silicon glue all over it, and roll in sand so that your wee crabbie can get up out of the water on the ramp...

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

Northernautum, that sounds like a good idea i will keep that in mind if i decide to put water in the tank, for right now we are using a tupperwear dish

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

well they come today, i have to pick my son up from school, i still dont know how many we are getting but i am kind of excited about getting them i think it will be neat. I emailed the teacher to find out what kind of container to bring to get them, cause my son was saying that he thought i had to lug the tank :shock:. So i emailed the teacher to ask and to tell her that i would nt be bringing the tank as i am 8 months pregnant and can barely stand upright!!!!! :biggrin2: so she said she would put them in a cup for us,lol.



I will post a pic in the next few days of the tank it is nothing spectacular but it is cute, white sand a bowl, some fake grass, and two lil fishtank ornaments the kids put in.

 

[LadyBug]

Luvmyzoocrew wrote:

Well they didnt have dried plankton so i bought hermit crab food flakes which i did read that they could eat that. Once we get the tank set up i will have to take pics.

they can also have shrimp pellets(on the fish food isle, i got mine at petsmart), that's what Kate ate. and maybe algae tabs...my fish love those, LOL:biggrin2:

 

[Luvmyzoocrew]

ladybug, the algae tabs are they the ones that are flat waffers that you feed sucker fish? my mom has those, do you put them in the water ?



They are here, and i have changed the water dish for the third time already i was afraid it was too deep and they couldnt get out, so now i am using a reptile food dish and it looks fine. He got one large female and two smaller males , now lets see how long we can keep them alive,lol.

 

[LadyBug]

Luvmyzoocrew wrote:

ladybug, the algae tabs are they the ones that are flat waffers that you feed sucker fish? my mom has those, do you put them in the water?



They are here, and i have changed the water dish for the third time already i was afraid it was too deep and they couldnt get out, so now i am using a reptile food dish and it looks fine. He got one large female and two smaller males , now lets see how long we can keep them alive,lol.

yup, just drop them in(the shrimp pellets and the algea tabs)


how big is the bowl? you could get a small aquarium plant and put thatin the bowl, then when they want to get out they can, nice and easy. here's a few things that would work.
this, this, this and this. the last one is my fave, what little boy wouldn't love that? plus, you could put in the water right up by the side and it would work like a dream.