Captive Breeding Hermit Crabs || Days Two and Three | By Crab Central Station

[@HAMBURGER-s1l]

If this is a successful captive breeding...this YT channel should be on every broadcasted news channel out there. Great news...keep rockin

[@CrabCentralStation]

Thank you so much! We worked really hard and we are so excited and honored to be a part of this amazing accomplishment. We have successfully brought to land Purple pinchers (3 times) and Lila babies (2 times)!

[@The_Bible_Girl7]

I didn’t know purple pinchers were more nocturnal!! I learn something new every time I watch you all!! Thank you so much!

[@CrabCentralStation]

We only have a couple PP's that come out during the day. But at night, holy moly!!! it's a PP party! LOL!

[@heidilo5589]

So loving your youtube videos... I feel like I have gained mast amounts of knowledge from you to let my babies live the best and greatest life.

[@CrabCentralStation]

Awesome! Thank you for taking the time to comment! We appreciate it! Keep up the good work!

[@jilliansamul8322]

Have you noticed that any of the crab 🦀 species like to reproduce during certain weather patterns? Like, many of my North American colubrid snakes get frisky surrounding rainstorms in the spring or early summer. Just curious! Also, 👏 yes- great observation! The tapetum lucidum is a specialized layer of the eye which reflects visible light, so that the animal can see better in low light circumstances. Kind of like dialing up the exposure on a photo. It is amazing that you can see this on the zoeae! I thought only vertebrates have one, but maybe it’s a similar structure? Very cool. So much dedication & a labor of love for sure… 🙏 thank you! 💗

[@CrabCentralStation]

Hi Jillian 👋 we haven't noticed mating behavior relating to weather but we have noticed the moon cycle plays a role. I'm assuming it has to do with spawning during high tide. I didn't know the name of the eye structure, thank you for sharing! This is what I love about people coming together for a greater good! We all learn from each other! I'm going to do some research on this. Thanks for supporting our channel and encouraging us!

[@TaleRavenTarot]

Wow, this is such an involved process! It's a wonder any ever survive breeding in the wild!

[@sallytaylor1004]

i love that you are passionate about your animals and you are some of the few people that want to help people who own hermit crabs you inspire me to be a better animal owner keep doing what you are doing love your video's

[@CrabCentralStation]

AWE, Sally Taylor - this is such a sweet comment! Thank you for taking the time to write us! We sure appreciate your support of our channel and family. We absolutely do love our hermies and we just want to share with as many people as we can! Spread the Crabby Love! LOL 😍

[@4BananaBreads]

I am loving these videos! Thank you for the updates, please keep them coming! So cool!

[@CrabCentralStation]

Great! We're so glad you like them! Thanks for watching, encouraging, and supporting us!

[@darlenewatts4408]

You guys are doing a great job! Thank you for all you do for the crabby world. However it goes, we are there for you!

[@CrabCentralStation]

Thank you so much for your encouragement and support! We love our CCS #CrabCrew!

[@heatherb2762]

Congrats on the Ecuadorian and strawberry eggs! I hope all three projects are successful! I was just reading about eye shine and identifying animals by the color. My understanding was nocturnal eye shine happens because there is a reflective membrane behind the light receptors to magnify light helping the animal see better in the dark. Diurnal animals don’t need the light magnification so they tend to not have as much eye shine, but still may have some. Crepuscular animals will have some eye shine, but not as much as nocturnal. It is so interesting that you can see this in the crabs!

[@CrabCentralStation]

Right! Yes, this discovery has been so interesting to us. We are definitely looking into why this might be different between species.

[@lillyg9660]

I love y’all’s channel. The captive breeding is so interesting. Also, I bought 2 crabs at the the beach two weeks ago and y’all’s care videos really helped me figure out how to set up their tank. I wish I would have adopted instead, but I didn’t know. Thank you for making all your videos. :)

[@CrabCentralStation]

Hi Lilly 👋 Welcome to the CCS #CrabCrew! We're glad you are here at Crab Central Station! We started the same way, buying on vacation from a beach shop. We didn't know either. The good news is that now we can do the best for our crabbies and look to adoptions in the future. Thanks for watching our channel and supporting our family.

[@suebrown4443]

C. varabilis eyes are silver and really shine in the light.

[@CrabCentralStation]

Isn't it so fascinating how different the species are even in larval stages?!

[@Clover_knows_pets]

I'm excited to learn about for the captive-bred babies I hope it's successful this year

[@CrabCentralStation]

Thanks for watching, encouraging us, and supporting us!

[@wendyacker245]

I of course went to the beach and brought home 2crabs. Trying to be patient with not getting to see them much. I’m glad I came across your channel. I’ve got them in a bigger tank ,both kinds of water, . I can see definite signs of them being around the water and calcium powder but no eating yet. Except on some moss I put in there. Humidity is up and tank is warming up. I guess I need not to expect too much.

[@CrabCentralStation]

Hi Wendy! Welcome to Crab Central Station and the "crabby life"! 🤣 Check out our video on PPS, that will help explain why your crabs might be inactive. Trust the process and they will get better. We have a ton of videos on all aspects of care, Check them out as you have time. Let us know if you have questions, we love to help!

[@michellemiesen4390]

I love when you do unboxing

[@CrabCentralStation]

Me too! It's so fun getting new stuff!

[@littlemidwestrebornsdolls]

Day 3 comments. I am so excited for you. How wonderful to have PP's and E's!! I think the difference in their eyes may have more to do with where they live??? That's my guess. I so hope that the Strawberries made eggs too!! My dream is to have 3PP's and 3Strawberries in my own crab home. I'm saving my money so I can buy what I need to set everything up just right. Then I want to adopt crabs. It is such fun learning about them! Looking forward to Crab Con.

[@CrabCentralStation]

Gina, I LOVE that you are taking your time to research and get your tank set up just right for your new crabbies! I LOVE LOVE LOVE that you are planning on adopting! Great job! Thank you for watching and supporting our channel! We sure do appreciate your encouragement!

[@dog8958]

This is awesome! I would love it if you released each type of hermit crab you own because it sounds like a lot.

[@CrabCentralStation]

Hi Dog... I think I answered this question above, but in case I didn't... we have six species of hermit crabs; Purple pincher, Ecuadorian, Strawberry, Viola, Lila, and Brevi.

[@jacksonbland8979]

To make changing water easier, do you think its possible to place a very thin mesh at the bottom of the tank that can pull out of the tank? Unsure how fragile the zoeoa are but we should look into ways to make this easier and commercially applicable. From last video I think you guys are using the pipette, the mesh might kill zoeoa more often but maybe next batch you could experiment with it. I'd like to see the results!

[@CrabCentralStation]

Hmmmm... very interesting though Jackson! I'm going to think more on this idea and ask some of the others who have attempted captive breeding! Thanks for sharing! This is how a community comes together to make a difference!

[@Erki750]

❤️

[@CrabCentralStation]

Thanks for watching and loving our video, Erika!

[@yeetlelydeet7276]

I'm so excited to see how they grow! Sounds very labor intensive though. Also, how do you guys heat your tanks? It's Australian winter now and I'm struggling to keep my crabs warm

[@CrabCentralStation]

We heat our tanks with the heater in this link! they work great and are by far our favorites! They got us through the great Texas winter storm this year! Bean Farm heat mat: beanfarm.com/collections/heating/undertank-heaters

[@yeetlelydeet7276]

@@CrabCentralStation I'll look into that! If these mats can get you through that snowstorm, then they'll probably work for our much warmer winters. Thank you!

[@laurajoanjones]

How do you get them to breed in captivity I have been trying for so long😢

[@carolynderricks3226]

Great work ladies! Are you having to mix giant batches of saltwater to keep handy for water changes? Also how do you see the eggs on the mom, and know whether they’re fertilized? TIA!

[@CrabCentralStation]

Hello! We have a 10 Gallon tank that we have filled with pre mixed saltwater at all times. It sits in this heated "holding tank" to replace the dirty kriesel water as needed. We check for eggs on our mamas regularly! Especially this time of year, when we notice mating behaviors. We know they are fertilized when they turn orange and begin to grey as they mature. (look out for this question in our next update!)

[@littlemidwestrebornsdolls]

Are you finding that the Purple pinchers are more hardy than the Eco's

[@CrabCentralStation]

It's hard to say at this point. I think we still had most of our E's on day 5. Day 7 was when things started turning south with the E's and by day 11 we had lost them all.

[@lakinleavins2794]

How do I clean the water with the babies if I don't have a vacuum fish cleaner thingy?

[@CrabCentralStation]

You can use a turkey battery to suck up the old water.

[@lakinleavins2794]

I really need some advice. I have no clue which one of my crabs was pregnant but I definitely have hundred's of eggs in the bottom of my salt water pool. I don't know what to do. How do I change the water? How long till they should hatch???

[@CrabCentralStation]

The eggs will hatch immediately when they hit the salt water. If they are in the fresh water, they will not hatch at all. To clean them out you will have to take everything out of the pool and empty the pool.

[@lakinleavins2794]

And what temp does the tank need to be and what kind of light do the babies need

[@CrabCentralStation]

Heat/humidity kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6nLl6xtYs96mpo LED lights are great to use. 12 hours on and 12 hours off.

[@pattiespetitetanks6181]

What was that fish food you used....reef something?

[@CrabCentralStation]

It's a coral food called Reef Roids.

[@margaritarodriguez1227]

Opinion on fidler crabs?

[@CrabCentralStation]

They seem like awesome animals but we haven’t ever owned any!

[@suebrown4443]

Are you giving day and night cycle?

[@CrabCentralStation]

Yes we are 😊

[@experement101coraldean3]

I was wondering if hermit crabs breed in captivity without special conditions, because I don’t want to have to kill the babies.

[@CrabCentralStation]

Hi there! Great question! If your tank conditions are correct, and your crabs are happy, there is the chance of your hermits breeding! It is a very difficult decision to have to make, but don't worry about it until the time comes!

[@CrabCentralStation]

Look out for this question in our next update!

[@experement101coraldean3]

Thank you for informing me. btw I love your channel, I got a lot of information from you guys.

[@CrabCentralStation]

That's great! We appreciate you supporting our channel and our family. We love hearing success stories!

[@user-bz8yg6pl6n]

my brother does lobstering and they catch hermit crabs all the time in their cages and they die from not being in the salt water and today he brought them home and one of them had eggs 😢 but i have shells from the dead ones now and what’s the best way to sanitize them..?

[@dog8958]

1. Boil the shells for 10 minutes or so but make sure there aren’t any crabs in there. 2. You should get a heat mat with a thermostat to make sure the temperatures are correct. I personally don’t know what temperature to keep them at but you can just look it up to find the best temperature for a pregnant crab. Hope you are successful.

[@user-bz8yg6pl6n]

@@dog8958 Thank you!! that helped a lot :)

[@dog8958]

@@user-bz8yg6pl6n np

[@user-bz8yg6pl6n]

@@dog8958 also I boiled the shells and they still smell like fish and the inside is dirty... idk if you know anything about that but is it fine after its boiled even if it smells like fish?

[@CrabCentralStation]

Yes, this is true.

[@Clover_knows_pets]

How long does it take from them to go from egg to land hermit crab?

[@CrabCentralStation]

About a month for purple pinchers. We aren't sure about a lot of the other species because it hasn't been done yet 😬.

[@Clover_knows_pets]

@@CrabCentralStation thanks

[@emmalewis9681]

I have a horrible fruit fly infestation and nothing is seeming to help, What should I do?

[@CrabCentralStation]

Hi Emma 👋 I have a couple suggestions that will hopefuls help: 1. Feed only dry foods for now. 2. Rub olive oil or coconut oil on a paper plate and wave it around in the tank to catch the flying ones. 3. Carefully remove the top 1/2 inch of substrate and discard it outside. Is your substrate Eco Earth?

[@emmalewis9681]

@@CrabCentralStation I don’t have enough to do only dry food.

[@emmalewis9681]

@@CrabCentralStation I just went to go take out the food and the fruit flies are so bad. If I pick up the plate they’ll all fly off

[@dog8958]

@@emmalewis9681 if it is that bad I would suggest taking the crabs out ASAP, boiling the decor, and replacing the substrate.

[@emmalewis9681]

@@dog8958 do you have hermit crabs?