Leopards and hermits?

[wellington]

I read a few past post of people putting hermit crabs in with tortoises. A few have also mentioned it on Toms thread "Indoor Underground Housing". My questions are:
Can they be housed with a 10 month leopard being raised warm/hot humid, hydrated
Do they do any good
Do they do any bad
Do they dirty the enclosure faster
Size, any size or only very small ones
Has anyone ever had a tort hurt by them (anything the crab did)
Any comments, pros and cons are welcomed. I am bringing this back up as people have been able to have the two together for an even longer time and may have a better/more experienced opinion on it now. Also for any newer members that may be considering this.
Thank you in advance for any input

 

[ripper7777777]

First off I want to say I keep the Hermit Crabs as Pets, my Daughters like them and had them and when we built peanuts enclosure they went in there and seem to like it a lot more than there 30 gallon enclosure.

Most stores sell small to medium Hermit Crabs, I have small to medium and don't have any issues.

Hermit Crabs need very little be happy, there are lots of great Hermit Crab sites with folks as devoted to Hermit Crabs as the people here are devoted to torts.

Hermit Crabs are a lot like turtles and Tortoises, they prefer to be observed not touched, you can pick them up and let them walk around in your hand they are not aggressive at all, in fact they are very timid.

I find they all have their own likes and dislikes, from food to being burrowed in to climbing and sleeping high. Some like to change shells often some don't seem to care to ever change.

I do recommend keeping assorted shells in the enclosure for them to change into, just a few. Peanut kept showing interest in the empty shells, so I put some in with Dig Dug and Scooter and they both seem to like pushing them around and redecorating.

Do Not use painted shells, you can buy Crabs with painted shells and give them unpainted, the paint used is often toxic to the crab. I have one Crab "Buster" that just refuses to give up his painted shell, but all the others dumped the painted shells in about 10 minutes.

It is said they require access to both salt and fresh water bowls, I keep fresh water for them and give them salt water baths once a week or so when I clean the enclosures.

Just about every pet store sells the needed supplies for Hermit Crabs, food snacks and salt mix, it's really all inexpensive and easy to do.

Hermit Crabs will scavenge for lettuce and fruits and anything else they can find.

They are nocturnal and come out late and explore, it's funny to hear their shells banging around on the enclosure walls.

When I trim the trees I add a few branches for them to climb, they love new stuff and toys to explore.


I am yet to see any Torts pay them a bit of attention even when the crabs climb up on their backs, neither seem to care about either one way or the other.

So really they aren't needed, they won't keep the cage sparkly clean and you will have add a bit of care for them.

They are just another little pet in the enclosure.


I hope I answered your questions, it's sunday morning the kids are charging around the house so things are bit crazy at the moment.

 

[wellington]

Thank you I have looked up their care. Just not sure yet. I have always like hermits. Have had some in the past. Now considering again