Vacation Tips

CtryLuv's Crabbie Cove Vacation Tips

One of the dilemmas most caring crabbie owners face is what to do with your crabbies if you are going on vacation. Below is a few things you can do to have your hermies healthy and happy until you get back. It all depends on how long you are going to be gone. If its just a weekend trip your hermies should be fine if left with enough water and food to last for a few days. Make sure your conditions normally stay stable and they should be fine. If you are talking about a longer vacation here are a few things you need to do.

Pick someone whom you trust and whom will do exactly what you tell them needs to be done.

Make sure you leave enough dechlorinated fresh and salt water already prepared. Gallon jugs work well for this.

You can leave a menu stating what you want the crabbies to eat and on what days. To make it easier you can prepare it ahead of time and freeze it. State how long the food should be left in before being changed out.

Tell whomever you have caring for them that they are not to be taken out of their crabitat and played with while you are gone. Someone who is unfamiliar with this kind of pet could easily hurt them or accidently dig up a molting crab. If you have a crab or crabbies in ISO stress to them how important it is for them to be left alone.

Put EVERYTHING in writing!! This is very important so that the person who is caring for them knows exactly what needs to be done.

Quoted from Shelley Feltham, Crab Street Journal

I have had a horrible time with crab sitters (my brothers) it isn't that they mis treat my hermit crabs they just over feed them then leave the food in there for days. One day I came back after being away for three days and there was rotten food in every single shell in the tank as well as the dishes.

This is a real pet peeve of mine because when you come back any dry or prepared food is almost gone. in order to solve his problem I bought a weekly pill dispencer from the dollar store. It's a contaner with compartments for each day of the week. If I know i'm going away or will not be around for feedings I fill up the boxes with the amount of food I know my crabs will eat. I put in diffrent foods for each day of the week then put it in the fridge for the crab sitter.

I find the pill dispencers are great for preparing meal plans for hermit crabs as well. You can get ones for a whole week and leave them in the fridge.

My mother also inspired another food pepration method. When my brothers and i were little she used to make her own baby food and freeze it in ice cube blocks. It's really easy to do with fresh foods for hermies. then when you're ready to use take out a few cubes and warm it up in the microwave.

Thanks to Shelly for the great feeding tips!!!

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