Gardner's TREECRABS?! This is awful...
Post by Guest » Tue May 02, 2006 9:00 am

Right, so I stopped at a local pet store on my way home today to get some supplies and see if they had any hermies. Oh, they had some - a lot in fact. Probably 20 - 30 in a 10g tank....on a mirror...with no water or food...and being advertised as TREECRABS. I ask to speak to the manager, who tells me that oh, no, they're not hermit crabs - their supplier is very adamant that these are a different type of crab that don't burrow. I'm handed a booklet by Bob Gardner. This booklet was written pre-1977 and is so chock full of misinformation that I want to scream. All of the crabs in the store were labeled "Gardner's Exotic Treecrabs", exotic meaning that they're in painted shells.Excerpts from the booklet (stuff in red is me):* Hermit treecrabs, COENOBITA CLYPEATUS, first sentence, contradicts everything else in the booklet alsocalled land hermits...* Just about anything can be used to house Treecrabs...wire mesh cages, fish bowls, boxes, and home-made containers.* For the base material...we do suggest...charcoal in a 1/2" layer on the very bottom of relatively dry setups, and just above the water level in wet setups [which] might consist of ...broken coral bits, gravel or rocks. Add...anywhere from one and a half to five inches of potting soil, gravel, marble, red wood chips....A dry setup might consist of a wire mesh cage with an inch or so of redwood chips over a layer of charcoal.* If you want your hermits to stay in attractive shell homes don't leave drab looking shells in your pet's cage. i.e. provide your crab with painted shells In the back of the booklet there is a Q&A section, where he explains that he's kept a sixty gallon aquarium with well over a thousand crabs inside. He tells you that it's absolutely possible to breed crabs in captivity. He says that Treecrab noises are in no way related to stress or aggression. They live from 20 - 70 years in captivity. Finally, he says that in 1977 (!!!), he hopes to introduce the first Treecrabs bred in captivity.The store manager would say nothing but that all of their supplies and crabs come from this "Gardner's Exotic Treecrabs" company and the way their crabs are housed is strictly in accordance with the care sheets they receive from there. I looked in the tank - there were definitely E's and Indo's in there, even though the manager assured me several times that every crab in there was a "Gardner's Treecrab". Every crab in there was in a painted shell. Who is this guy Gardner? Anyone know anything about the company? I can't go back to the store and argue with the manager unless I have some solid evidence that the info that company provides them with is utter crap. Everything I said to him was countered with "But you're talking about hermit crabs - these are treecrabs - they're different."I'm going to go and scream into a pillow now.