HCA: Hermit Crab Association

In the ocean is a complete ecosystem with millions of plants and animals that eat and absorb all that cleans everything. In the crab tank all that stuff is missing to clean it. Think of it like swimming in a lake compared to a swimming pool. Most lakes are generally clean with water coming in and ou...

We try to buy organics when they are available. For us and the crabs. Somethings we just can't find organic around here or has a short season such as watermelon and cantaloupe. We still feed them our crabs as a treat every so often. When you really start searching out organic products in grocery sto...

The Acurites are the way to go. Our Lowes has them near all the outdoor stuff before you head out into the gardening area. We never had any luck with the little ZooMeds gauges with the two probes. I have a thermostat hooked up to my heater to control the UTH from overheating the tank. By placing the...

Companies find so many technical clauses by exchanging words to make people think they are buying something different. Organic means no man made pesticides, or fertilizers were used such as Round up. The FDA and USDA "strictly" regulate organic products to make sure producers are kept in check. They...

We picked up pink rose buds, calendula petals, hibiscus petals and a few other things at an organic health food store. Our crabs really seem to like that stuff a lot too. They had the herbs in the bulk section where you fill up zip lock bags with what you want then they weigh them. We got around 30 ...

They are a bit of a process to clean. It takes about 20 minutes total but has been keeping the substrate from collecting extra moisture. I have been also seeing in and climbing on them too. So I believe they are using them. I remove the airline between the check valve and the T splitter first. Pull ...

Crabs can change their color from molt to molt based on their diet. The grey could just be his new exo not being fully hardened yet, they may look a bit dull for a few days. All my guys are usually pretty spook when they first come up from molting too. It's perfectly normal. Just be sure you have pl...

That sucks. Hopefully Scrundles is just preparing to molt. As long as you don't smell the smell there is still hope. It only took me a day or two to find out Eddie passed. I would probably try a fresh water bath tonight and see if that gets any reaction. If he is still tight in his shell I believe h...

I know one day when I picked up Eddie he was motionless and limp. When I put him in the water he got a little more active and decided to eat. I thought Eddie's inactivity was him getting ready to molt but it was him slowly shutting down. He died a few days later. No smell is a good sign. It is a sup...

All your tank conditions seem to be in check. I read many times from wodesorel that things that happened weeks or months ago to show up. For his ISO tank I would definitely add little substrate and some sort of hide as well. Maybe even add a little damp moss near him. It would give him some moisture...

Your guys will love the deeper substrate! When you need to change the food and water do you just pull the top tank off? We have talked about making a topper for a while now but never got any further than talk. I'm sure the extra room helps spread things out and frees up substrate real estate. I alwa...

Cool! Was Rawr from a school project or some sort of hatch you own butterfly kit or did you find a pupae in the wild? How long did it take for it to hatch?

Don't worry, the crabs know what they are doing. They have been digging and doing silly crabby things for thousands of years before they became pets. As long as we maintain the proper tank conditions, offer the right foods, shells, fresh and saltwater they will take care of the other stuff on their ...

I know if you let tap water sit in an open container for 24 hours the chlorine will evaporate out naturally. I am not sure if it will evaporate from the water but be asorbed by the EE and sand. Perhaps someone with a little more knowledge can assist. I don't want you to change the substrate out if y...

Yea I've decided to do the containers instead. Don't wanna kill my babies. But am looking into something that looks a little better than a couple Tupperware containers in my tank. Have seen some tubs that look as they were made out of rock about size of Tupperware just not sure where I can find the...