# Hermit crab move completed & ball python is home!!



## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Okay, sorry guys, this is a copy/paste from my hermit crab forum!  Just wanted to post an update for those who knew I was bringing home the potentially injured BP yesterday (no injuries!!!) and moving my hermit crabs. I was very anxious about digging them up, but so far so good - one freshly molted & still very soft (Boromir), but my newest girl Shelob was done molting & hardened up, and Merry was just chilling underground. All three are in an isolation tank for now to keep them safe until they're ready to go back into the main tank. 

Yesterday I moved my hermit crabs to our new apartment, and moved them into a 55g tank (previously in a 40B). It was a long, tiring, stressful day, but everyone's alive & made the move well for now. And I say "them", but Eowyn's the only one in the 55 tank right now. Little warrior has it all to herself until tonight. :lol: The other three were all buried, so they're in the iso. But I'm bringing home three small crabs in an adoption today, so Eowyn will have some buddies soon.

Front view of the tank


Top view


The 12" width is more frustrating to work with than I expected.  I already want to upgrade to a 75g but will have to be patient. I don't want to move everyone again for at least a year, maybe longer. And my roommate might kill me if I bring home ANOTHER tank - we now a 55g (crabs), 40B (snake), 20L (snake's old tank, empty), 10g (iso), 5g (extra iso/empty for now), and 5g (isopods & soon springtails). Oh, and soon a 2g with the adoption. :lol:

Anyway, on the left wall is the moss pit, and the salt water pool under that. Have a feeling the moss pit may move so I can get that pool out easier (and it doesn't get full of moss). Back wall has all of the larger extra shells in a shower caddy. Mopani wood under that as Eowyn's quite attached to it now (though it looks like the moss pit may steal her attention, see below). The mass of pink flowers in the front middle is the flower/leaf dish that sits in a little wire planter holder. Above that, attached to the rope-covered vine is a shower soap caddy with the small shells. I think I'll need to get another shower caddy to hold more shells, especially with the three new crabs coming home. The back right corner has this cool multi-shelved thing I found half off at Petsmart yesterday, I need to try & remember to get a better picture of it whenever I get a chance. I'm not sure if Shelob can necessarily fit in all of the places, but it has lots of perching spots! And then the fresh water pool is on the far right.

I checked the tank just before leaving last night & quickly found Eowyn. She's glad we have a moss pit again!
\

And here's a shot of the iso tank. Shelob's on the left, Merry's in the middle, and Boromir is on the right.


And while this isn't crab related, I can't resist showing her off! I brought home our new ball python yesterday as well, as she hasn't been getting cared for well at all for a while & especially in the past couple days. Her previous owner is out of state for work & his mom has been visiting his apartment to check the snake & feed her. Well, on Friday she fed her a live rat even though the snake was about to shed. She didn't react as quickly as usual, the rat bit her, the humans ended up killing the rat, and the snake went ahead & ate the rat anyway. So the owner asked if I could pick her up yesterday (original plan was for next weekend so I only would have to deal with the crabs this weekend), and I immediately agreed.

Aaaaand I'm glad I did. No wounds from the rat, thank god. One tiny patch of blood on her body in one place, but I looked carefully & can't see any place it's coming from, so I'm fairly certain it's the rat's blood. But her conditions were pretty bad - tank too small (20L is so not big enough for a full-grown 4.5 foot female BP), no heating source, no lid (tank was covered with a few pieces of wood weighted down), no light, and only one hide + a water dish. After my friend & I got the 40B over to the apartment last night, I stayed until 12:30 to babysit her heating system as it warmed up. She quickly found her hot spot & spent quite a bit of time hanging out in it. She also pooped! A LOT! I wasn't expecting it. :lol: My friend held her while I got the tank all set up & she was a total sweetheart - she seemed really relaxed & curious, just exploring my friend, and then settling down to enjoy the warmth. No going into a ball, no aggression, nothing. We're both already completely in love.





My favorite picture - look at that cute face!! :love7:



Excuse the mess behind me. :roll:



Checking the new tank out




There are three hides, there's one behind the plant which is identical to the one on the right. I think they're too small though, so if she's not using them at all (or tries & fails to fit well), I'll probably try to get some new ones from the pet store in the next couple days. The half log one came with her. I left the heating pad for the crabs on the back of the tank to help keep up the ambient temperature, and there's a 100w (I think) CHE for the hot spot, plugged into a thermostat. I got the plant yesterday spur of the moment as it looked perfect and it is! Gives her a little more screening to move between hides if she wants to. I'll probably add more to the tank, but it was probably 10:30 or so by the time we got over there with the 40B and we were both exhausted. I do have a grapewood log coming with one of my online orders, and more fake plants I can add.

Edit: Oh, I can't believe I forgot! (Okay, I'm tired since my body decided 6 hours of sleep was enough, but still). Snake has a new name! She's been getting called Li'l Bit, and we're changing it tentatively to Charis, after a character from a book series. It may change if we go through the series again & find something we like a lot more, but for now she's Charis.


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

Ok, when does bindi come home? I'm so glad to hear that Charis didn't her her butt whooped by the rat. My small torts have the same hide. Master Oogway took one on a walk.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Possibly this weekend! I'm going to take it easy tomorrow to recover from my weekend "off", and then will continue moving things to the apartment this week. I still need to buy coroplast & fleece so I can make Bindi's cage and some snuggle bags, so if I can get that done sometime this week, I'll be getting her this weekend.  Otherwise, probably next weekend as per the original plan.

I did get to visit her today though! Hung out with Jackie for a couple hours after picking up the 3 new hermit crabs. Bindi's remarkably patient with me once she's had a chance to wake up. I spent the last 15-20 minutes I had her out annoying her with nuzzles and kisses and tickling her sides. She kept half-heartedly huffing without bothering to actually quill up, and trying to tuck her head under her and then popping back out to glare at me. "Mooooooooom stooooooop I'm trying to SLEEP!!!" :lol: She's getting so big too! Granted, I have small hands, but she requires both of them now (Lily fit on one hand her whole life). She also received a new nickname tonight - potato.  I love my pokey little potato! She decided her best defense against my nuzzles & kisses was to just flat-out ignore me, curl up in a perfect little potato shape & pretend to sleep. She was so cute that I stopped bugging her and had Jackie take this picture. :lol:


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## twobytwopets (Feb 2, 2014)

Yes, she is big. The last pictures you posted she was much smaller. 
Speaking of pretending to sleep, my dog has started doing that when he tries to ignore me, snoring and all. He's a Boston terrier so he grunts anyway but he fakes snoring. But he is fully capable of snoring for real. 
I can't believe she is almost home with you!


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## FinnickHog (Dec 1, 2014)

Yay! All good news! The tanks look great and I'm so glad Charis wasn't injured. She's so cute! And Bindi is getting huge!

I'm glad everything went well!

I think the hide on Charis's left is probably an alright size for her. They really like to squeeze in and get comfy. If she gets in there and it lifts up around her and her coils stick out the sides, it's too small. The one on the right, if you dig down into the bark so there's a dip, and then put the hide on top, she might like it. It does seem a bit too short for her though.

The heated side is on the left? Seems like she likes it. 

And yes, they do poop a lot. Typically a healthy snake will poop two-three days after they've eaten. And it can be pretty rancid. :lol:

Let me know when you feed her next, and when the other crabbies all get switched!


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## Artemis (Nov 12, 2015)

I'm very glad your move went well, now try to relax! You deserve it


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Thanks Artemis!

Today was meant to be relaxation day. And then it turned into "let's spend 2 hours looking at fabric at Joann Fabrics" day instead. :lol: But I have fabric picked out for 4 flannel snuggle bags & 2 fleece snuggle bags, plus 2 fleece blankets for Bindi! Pics when they get done...need to see if I can remember how to sew!

:lol: at your dog, Twobytwo! Silly little guy. And I can't believe it either! I'm half-thinking I should put off the homecoming if I'm not done with moving stuff by this weekend because once she's home, I won't want to do anything but snuggle with her. We'll see how much I get done this week though.

Thank you, Ashley! I wanted to post this here especially to update you on Charis since we'd been chatting.  You're correct, the heated side is on the left & she stayed under the lamp from when I put her in on Saturday until last night. That's when I discovered the bulb was only 60w, not 100 like I thought! I switched it out with a 100w (very handy that I had these extras hanging around) last night & figured I'd check her today after work.

The tank was on the warm side now (hot spot 95F, cool side of the tank just over 80F, so I turned the thermostat down a bit) & I couldn't find her at first. Discovered her in the hide on the cool right side, packed in! It was lifted up a little bit after I moved it to see her, but before that, it was laying flat, so it might be alright...she did dig down into the bark a bit & she seemed pretty content when I checked. Still might end up getting a new hide at some point if I'm at the pet store & can't resist. :lol: I really expected these ones to be taller so it's a bit annoying, but if she likes them, I won't complain! I was pleased to find her using them as I was starting to get nervous that she was choosing heat over security, but figured that if she really was threatened or nervous, she would choose a hide over heat.

I'll keep you updated on everyone! I got the crab tank heating mats insulated today, so their temp was climbing when I left. Now my only annoyance is that I can't get the isolation crab tank as warm as I'd like and I'm not sure I have any other heating pads I can put on it (I do have a store-bought ZooMed one on it, but they suck). It's making me anxious & I'm considering using a heat lamp on it instead & using the heating pad on the 2g Critter Keeper I got with my crab adoption yesterday & putting Boromir in there. Merry has dug down and it's making me nervous because Boromir is so vulnerable. I'd feel a lot better if he was on his own, I just hate to disturb him again. Think I might go do this tonight to get it done with & try to have everyone warm. I just keep worrying about them! Once I have the iso tanks set, I'll be able to stop fretting about everyone (okay, mostly) and actually focus on moving more stuff.


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