HCA: Hermit Crab Association

lol
It is so cute when they all convene for a favorite snack.

The saucer style of "wheel" needs to be flat in order to work. It would not work if it was mounted to a wall. (And I don't think suction cups would hold.)

You can also buy saucer wheels that are made for hamsters. It might make finding the right size a little easier.

If you've purchased them, there's a good chance that it's not a native species in your area and could quickly become invasive. Even if they're wild-caught from your area, there's an argument against releasing any animal you've been keeping and feeding because it may have been exposed to pathogens/pa...

They'll breed in relationship to food available, so you could cut back on feedings (of the crabs... since you're not feeding them directly) or treat them like a pest, by setting traps with desired food items and manually removing as many as you can each night. Once they're in there, if conditions ar...

Fun fact: Isopods are land crustaceans, just like our crabs! They won't eat bugs in the tank (I think someone said that above?) but they'll eat leftover or hidden food. You won't see them much, since they'll spend a lot of their time hiding, and they'll benefit from the calcium supplementation that ...

Yes, I definitely am eager to learn anything that others know about waste buildup and/or the need for substrate changes (and frequency). The isopods are helping to tidy... but they're making waste, too, so... *I am now rethinking my planned substrate changing % and wondering whether I should aim to ...

Thank you very much. While not ideal, at least this has given me an opportunity to redo and redecorate the enclosure, which is always exciting.

I'll second that! My crabs LOVE their saucer.

As Wodesorel said, fungi spores can live for a looooooong time, so waiting it out with the tank empty is not a great option if you want to get rid of them. I get mushrooms in a couple of my very high humidity enclosures (like my dart frog and mourning gecko enclosures), and I actually like them. I t...

Thank you for the kind words. It really does make me feel better about the whole situation. <3 I think that this is the also longest they'd gone without any real substrate change, because, having finally gotten then a very large "mansion," I haven't needed to upgrade. Every few years (until this tan...

I've been keeping a colony of hermit crabs for about 15 years. When I moved across the country, they came with me, thanks to a very generous crab-sitter who was able to care for them until I was set up, and then follow directions for safely overnight shipping them to me. As of 2017, I've had them in...

It might help if you describe other details of your setup. I've found that glass canopy lids really help. If have a screen lid, and you want a quick fix, you can cover it with saran wrap.

You're going to have some happy crabs!

Alyw77 wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 22, 2023 11:26 am

I just bought new equipment and changed the tank. I cleaned it out. Put coconut substrate on the bottom (as the bag said) and calcium sand on top.

Calcium sand is harmful. Switch out substrate to a mix using playsand from the hardware store.