My hermit crabs are infested with tiny red bugs. what are they and how do i get rid of them?
They are probably mites. To get rid of the mites, you have to bathe the crab-yes it may sound silly, but it works. Get a small bucket/container and put room temperature, chlorine-free water in it, and put the crab in the water, at the bottom. You may have to turn the crab around so the air inside the shell can escape. This will stress the crab out a little and it may start to come out of the shell quite a bit. The water will wash the mites off the crab. After the first bath drain the water, and you may want to do a second bath if there were a lot of mites. Clean the entire tank and its accessories–throw the substrate out and put in some new substrate. If you have wood objects in the tank, you will have to sterilize them.
