CtryLuv's Crabbie Cove Bathing Care
Bathing in the hermie community is being highly debated at this time. Most people, including myself believe that bathing crabbies creates undue stress for them. However that being said, I do bath mine on rare occasions. It was once believed that bathing your crabbies once a week or once every two weeks was acceptable and needed. It is now general consensus that bathing crabbies can put undue stress on them, and misting them will also do this. Crabbies should have pools, both fresh and salt dechlorinated water, deep enough to fully submerge in. If you have larger crabbies, make sure to put gravel or rocks into the pool at a grade so that the smaller hermies can climb out. Hermies can and will drown if they cant get out of the water. You can also drape plants or netting into the pools giving them a way to climb out. The only time I bathe my crabbies is when they first come home from the store, and when I do my deep cleans, which is once every 2-3 months. First they get a bath in stress coat dechlorinated water, then a bath in dechlorinated salt water, aquarium salt, not table salt. I do it this way for a few reasons. I do believe that the stress coat helps heal and moisture their gills should they have any gill damage. Then I do a salt water dip to make sure that the stress coat is out of their shells. Once they get in the tat they can bathe themselves in their pools to get their shell water at the salinity they prefer.
Stress Coat- There is also a large debate going on about Stress Coat. Stress coat is used to help fish with their slime coat, which hermies do not have. Therefore there really isnt a reason to use it on hermies. However, I believe that the aloe in the stress coat can help condition a hermies gills if they are damaged or sensitive for some reason. I do use it, again, rarely when I bathe my crabbies for this reason, and have had no problems with it so far. This is an instance where it is purely personal preference to the individual crabber and their beliefs, at least until more is learned and documented on the use, pros and cons of using stress coat.
If you choose to bathe your crabbies, this is how I do it. I put them in the bath water upside down and wait for them to come out and start walking around. This lets the water flush out whatever is currently in their shells. Then I repeat the same step in the salt water bath. If the hermies stay upside down for more than 3 minutes, I go ahead and pull them out of the bath.
There are also other reasons to give your hermies baths when it is a last resort such as wounds, infections, and mites. These are covered under other sections of the website.
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