Houdini: O.mercatoris - Itty bitty little fella

[bagarius]

I've been doing a lot of watching, but I haven't seen him since the last post. My hermit crab count is inconclusive, the hermits I have are, well, hermity; they tend to hide and don't come out very often. I have so many shells in my tank that new ones aren't immediately obvious.

I'm getting worried. :/

 

[DWhatley]

I am going to rerecommend putting in a small set of barnacle (maybe twice the diameter of the mantle) and locate them maybe 3" off the bottom positioned so you can seen in but so that the light does not shine directly into the (human) desired den. Even if he is male, he will likely take them for one of his dens. A cluster of varying sizes would be good if you can find one but you can put several cluster in the tank (Sleazy's is embedded in the LR). I don't know why they are attacted to these (possibly the smooth sides) but all of mine have used them for at least part of their lives (they are not native to their home environment).

 

[Lmecher]

D has said it is common for mercs to go into hiding for weeks. It must be difficult wondering if he is alright though. I would worry wether he is eating. Never had that problem w/my O briareus but he is so large even when he is denned up I can see a bit of an arm and he has only refused food a coulpe times in 4 months. I am sure someone with experience will chime in. I am following your journal as well as a few others, quite a few folks with mercs. I am in the process of setting up a tank for a couple. I am learning a lot from all of these experiences.