I would like to thank Dionysianexile for writing and granting me permission to post this article on this site. You can visit Dionysianexile at www.crabstreetjournal.com. If I were to write my one post about bathing hermit crabs there is nothing I could add that has not been very eloquently and thoroughly addressed in this article.

Bathing is a highly debated issue in
the hermit crab community. It is apparent now that the best solution is to provide "pools" of both salt and fresh water for the animals to do it themselves. It promotes more natural behavior, reduces stress, and seems to be an all around better solution. Unfortunately, many owners do not have the room, or money to have such lavish conditions for their animals, so we as a community, should point them in the proper direction for how to bathe, instead of condemning them for not being able to provide said pools, and thus dividing the community.

I would like to ask for helpful criticism, not all out debate in putting forth these guidelines for bathing. First off, I would like to put forth the abolishment of recommending the use of stress coat. This is a hot issue in itself, but because of the lack of empirical evidence, I do not believe it to be beneficial. Stress coat was designed to dechlorinate water and replace the slime coating of fish. LHC's do not have a slime coat. When this chemical is put in the water, it is often used in addition to an initial dechlorinater. This causes an abundance of dechlorinater, and lack of chlorine for it to bind to, causing it to stay in the water, and then in the shell water reservoir of the crab. Because this chemical was not created for use with hermit crabs, and no laboratory studies have been conducting showing the chemistry of what effect this is having on the crabs, I say that we, as a community, resolve to not suggest its use to beginners anymore. This of course does not mean that all of those who use stress coat should stop, but that we should no longer recommend its use to beginners. Instead suggesting regular dechlorination of the water.

The second thing I want to recommend is to no longer recommend weekly bathing, but instead, monthly bathing. The reason for this is the stress issue. It has been noted by many crab owners that the activity level of their crabs has increased dramatically after a bath. Considering that a crabs normal activity level is far below that before the bath, then this high activity level would be considered abnormal behavior. Abnormal behavior in animals generally means that something is wrong, in the case of crabs, because we generally do not know much about LHC illness, this is interpreted as stress, which is bad for the overall health of our pets. So to reduce this stress, I suggest a monthly bath. This again does not mean that we are condemning all active members who bathe on a more regular basis; this is just a recommendation to beginners, who are looking to us for advice.

The argument is often made that bathing will throw off the natural balance of salinity in the shell water, thus affecting the internal salinity level of the LHC. This may be true. It has also become a common practice for those who have mite problems to bathe their crabs in saltwater to rid the crab of mites. For these purposes, I suggest that the bath water is recommended to be 1/4 to 1/2 salt-water solution, to lessen the shift in the shell water salinity, and for general sanitary purposes.


Again, I am not suggesting that all active members change their methods, but that we as a community put forth some more well outlined procedures for bathing that are a little more on the conservative side, but also take into account the current evidence for the benefit of the health of the crab. If not for standardization, but for helping the beginner in maintaining a healthy crab.