HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Pam, here is a site that can hopefully answer some of your questions about crab reproduction: http://www.hermitcrabpatch.com...Life-Cycle-a/152.htmCrabs must drink brackish water and/or salt water in addition to fresh water so that may have been the other behavior you witnessed at the pond.

Nope - she's doing what she needs to do! Mine often go up and down for weeks before settling underground for good. Never dig her up.

You don't need to bake sand. If my sand dries out in between uses in the ISO tank, I just add spring water until it's moist again.

Yes eucalyptus is unsafe for crab use.It has been used as tea tree oil to heal crab injuries in rare cases, but definitely don't feed it to them.

Thanks for sharing this JMT! And good to know this is why we don't feed it to our crabbies.

What kind of lid do you have? I use a screen lid and cover it with a double layer of taped-on Glad Press and Seal and leave a small square for air circulation. Never had a problem with mold by doing this. Don't crack your lid as crabs have been known to escape this way.

Starfish get squooshy and mold easily in the crabitat as well. I wouldn't use them. Unbleached sand dollars are great to use though.

Hi! Welcome back!

The bigger crabs get, the molts will take longer to complete and the 'quick molting' will be a thing of the past. Mine take an average of 5-6 weeks under now and they're golf ball-sized.Crabs normally don't fear other crabs due to size. I had a jumbo and I remember the baby crabs climbing on her. I ...

I used Velcro in my tank many years ago and it separated one day...my one crab Ocean got stuck on the glue that was on the backing and it was horrible getting her loose because she was moving around so much. I never recommend Velcro for that reason.

Bay leaves are a wonderful ant deterrent! I have them around my tank as well.

Thank you for the link Keg! I will check it out, it seems to be blocked on my work computer.

Hi! First of all, your crabs do not need to be misted daily or at all so don't worry about that. With deep enough water dishes they will bathe themselves if they need it. How tight is your cage lid and what is it covered with? You should only have a small area for air circulation to keep the temp an...

I have always used Dawn dishwashing liquid (a few drops to about a gallon of water) to clean out my tank. You cannot smell it in the tank once it's rinsed away and I've used it for 10 years now with no crab deaths post-clean.

Bad idea: Going to the casino with that extra $50.