Sartan and Chandra are from the only Petco in Fairbanks Alaska. This is before I worked there, and before they had a good CAL to provide better care.
They were being kept on calcium sand, which is toxic, and several of them had died already. Chandra and Sartan were the two biggest ones in the habitat, and they had both lost their large pinchers!
I explained to the worker that the crabs were likely to die without their pinchers, because they’re unable to protect themselves. She said that they weren’t allowed to sell sick pets, and that she needed to take them to the wellness room.
I explained to her that the wellness room has no protocols for hermit crabs, and he would die for sure if taken away from the heat source.
I offered to take them both and promised not to tell anyone (sike)! She agreed and gave me the crabs to take home. I had to be sneaky so she wouldn’t get into trouble. Doing this is extremely against petco policy, and I would never name the employee.
At this time, I had no other crabs, but had set up a habitat to begin adopting them. They went directly into the habitat with deep sand; no PPDS method. They munched a bit, but almost immediately dug down to molt.
They both stayed down for a really long time, which was quite distressing as a first time crab keeper. When they came up, and they did so one right after the other, they had bright new claws! They were slightly tiny this first molt. It’s taken them a few molts to grow them as big and shiny as they are now.
Sartan is the most active, and runs from each activity to activity. He’s always in a hurry.
Chandra is shy and polite. She liked to climb and be up high.
They both eat, and are active.
I’ve had them both for 3 years now