HCA: Hermit Crab Association

What a great topic! I have HCA to thank for still having our four original crabs, this will always be my home! I like how this site really doesn’t criticize anyone, even if you’re doing something that not everyone agrees with, we’re more open here. They will help you, not judge you. I agree with ea...

Also in LHCOS, you aren’t allowed to delete your own comments if you say something you shouldn’t or make a mistake. They claim people can benefit from the discussion. Yeah, that would have gotten me a warning a few months ago or so! Thankfully I was able to vent and then just delete that post as it...

Wow... I have really changed things up (at least IMO lol) since posting those pics. Had changed the water bowls again with expensive ones from Petco then thought they were leaking so did a DIY Tupperware contraption for the water. I did this with a lizard hammock sitting around and some craft mesh w...

I've done a full substrate change twice since setting up the 20G long. Started with the circular mesh cage of death to a cheapo 2G or so temporarily after reading care sheets while on vacation then to a 10G and finally a 20G long. I was forced (bacterial bloom) shortly after to change all of the sub...

Thank you! I will make sure to try the trick (I'm going to guess I'm fine). My crabitat doesn't really smell except for fish (I have a fish treat in there, plush some shrimp. It also wouldn't surprise me if it was coming from an exo because my tiniest hasn't been seen for about a month now. I think...

I’ve been searching for some bacterial bloom stories. I need to know what to look for. And when I first set up my tank I had to wing it together because I had a crab from vacation in a KK. Luckily I had an empty 55. But only had space heater to heat entire area Cost me $100 extra for that month. I ...

I can’t provide much experience but I’ve heard of some people dumping it in the tank straight from the bag. I do know one thing for sure. In my situation I would want my sub to start out as dry as possible without loosing sandcastle consistency. Because my humidity is high. It was 99% this morning....

Wanted to get this done tomorrow morning, but my search results here are all over the place. My current substrate is maybe 3:1 with crabs already molted and I had mixed it all at one point which surely had crab waste in there. The top inch or so is fairly dry now with visible waste, and probably mor...

I'll have to check that site again for a closer store to upgrade as I delayed the Petco sale, though they'll have another as always soon enough. I'm not sure how I'd even go about baking 50lb bags of sand. Would like to start with dry add some saltwater, etc. Assuming just rainwater because being ou...

Posted in the chat, but figured I'd ask what to do with this. I went to Home Depot and Lowes all Premium Playsand was outside. It's been raining for days. All were at minimum damp. Still bought a few bags. Really want to change the substrate as I can with crabs up. Thoughts? Appreciate it. Know I've...

Yea! Having the cams is a great investment. Especially if you invest in the micro SD memory card so you can do time lapse videos! I love the fact that you can review footage then record certain times after the fact. I know I caught a bunch of silly stuff. Crabs falling from the sky, stealing food, ...

Yep. You had a shell jacket for sure. They can be so picky with shells. I'm glad you had a positive out come. The reason I brought up the mating is because that can look similar to a shell jacking as well. Appreciate it and will have to look into mating behavior. I do not know the sexes of them, bu...

And... the shelljacker moved into the new pear turbo after I left the room 😂🤣. Have about 20 different turbos around that size in there including another pearl turbo. Just wow. How he went right to that new shell after I cleaned and put 30 empty shells all over the tank. Spent about 10 minutes inspe...

So I just removed 27 extra shells... couldn't find the other and didn't want to dig all over. Added a murex and another pearl turbo, but took a picture of all 3 crabs and the 2 are matching, while the shelljacker is in the pearl turbo (believe that's what it is). Just found that interesting. Going t...

To me it sounds like an attempted shell jacking. By any chance do you know the sex of both crabs? This is unlikely, but I'll mention it. It's technically the wrong season for mating, but it is constant summer in our tanks. Mating usually takes place around the new moon. Then they carry the eggs unt...