HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Squeaky wrote:So - what is the expectation for babies? If they make it, what will you do about finding itty bitty teeny weeny shells?

If they make it that far, I have some tiny tiny shells I can spare.

The chances of them making it aren't all that great, though. There's still a lot we don't know about breeding hermit crabs. Having the females lay eggs and getting them to hatch is the best way to learn more about what they need.

If you do get the chance to have them last that long and need shells, I have a ton of really REALLY small ramshorn snail shells. They lay clutches in 300 or more, and more times than not there's at least 50 babies that are able to either escape outside of the tank or somehow scramble into the sponge filter and end up dieing. Their shells are super small and could work if your crabbies are able to survive that long. =) More than willing to send you them. Better than just letting them go to waste.

Keep us posted, please!

Woah.

You should make a time lapse video of a molter buried near the glass. It'd be cool to see the process

Holy moly so many questions... Thanks everybody.

@hermitnewbie2011:
Nobody truly knows for sure what the people that get eggs do different. It might not be anything, really. Wodesorel hypothesized that maybe we luckily have crabs that came from the same area, and annopia thinks maybe it's because we have our tanks to almost the crowding point. I really don't have my own hypothesis.

The different colors mean different ages. They turn from pink to red, back to pink, and then grey from what I saw last year. Big Mamma's were just produced that day, so were lighter, and Cat produced her's yesterday, so they darkened up. If they remain red through the month, and don't turn grey, it means they aren't fertilized.

If they're fertilized and hatched in my SW pool, I am going to try to keep them in a 20ga with SW, air stones, sponge filter, and feed them brine shrimp eggs, and do lots of water changes. I am going to try to follow what these people did to hatch coconut crabs. http://biodiv.sinica.edu.tw/~coconutcra ... ost_a.html I don't expect to be able to raise any to adulthood (this time) since I will be going out of town in early August for two weeks. I knew if my crabs had eggs, I would not be able to be here the whole time, and my husband would have to take over (and they will be surely doomed ). I have an elderly dog back home that I think deserves more than two weeks of time with me, so my priority is to see him as much as I can, since I have a whole lifetime to attempt to raise babies.

Females are in season in early summer every year, assuming they are comfortable (or whatever) enough to breed. It takes about a month for the eggs to develop, and they are hatched in mid july-early august. But some breed outside this window, as annopia had babies already this year!

I check for eggs after the males show no more interest in the females. It means the deed is done, so they should have eggs!

@lizardlady:
That was Tammy from THCP. I talked to her last year. Such an awesome lady!

@meldamiriel:
Yep. Sojmad did, too! She kept them alive for a bit over a couple weeks! I was out of town last time when mine hatched. My husband took pics and washed them down the drain, because we didn't have any way to try to raise them. But I made some money with my harvestables that year, and purchased some equipment for next time.

@kip:
Yeah, I'm going to try as long as I am in town. If I have any luck, I'll have my husband take over while I am out of town for two weeks. I don't expect to succeed, but it will be fun, and a great way to learn for next time.

@Squeaky:
Only a few will make it to the last larval stage to take shells. Maybe 1% or less. If I ever get to that point, I actually have hundreds of teeny tiny "turbo" shells that I painstakingly collected from the beaches in Juneau, AK. They are actually sitka periwinkles. So I'm good on shells. I have a whole range of sizes from smaller than a sugar ant to larger than a pea.

awesome, how exciting! 'tis the season, right? sometimes i get a little freaked out when i see them start to copulate...such as when a jumbo PP tried to couple with a medium E a couple weeks ago. but its really usually so cool when you get to see it first hand...like a little gift.

keep us updated on how it turns out!

annopia

That is so cool! I would take that as evidence of some really happy and comfortable crabs. I wish they had luck becoming full adults in captivity, maybe then pet stores and such would stop taking them from the wild.

Thank you for answering my questions, I know I asked a ton of them It's just so interesting...esp for someone who has only been at this for about a year! I wish you the best w/the babies I agree 100% w/your decision to spend time w/your dog. We have an elderly dog (12 or 13 yrs old. We're not sure since she was a rescue) that has cushings disease. It's kinda odd, but knowing "that time" is approaching seems to make you appreciate them a little more
@annopia
I didn't know you had any eggs! What happened?

Just an update. Here is a pic of Big Mamma's eggs.

I remember them being more red last year. Who knows...

I can't find Cat, though. Do they dig when they have eggs? Really not sure where she went. Wanted to get an update on her eggs.

Found her!

SOOOOOO Super COOL!

I can't wait to hear more! I wonder if there is bacteria in the ocean where they come from that would be beneficial. Also what about wave action? Maybe there is a way to get sand from their homeland. Congrats on eggs! I can't wait to hear more!

I'm amazed at what looks like their complete willingness to come out of their shells so far! I would have thought they'd be more protective...but then again, what in the world do I know about this topic

WOW, I am speechless!

They don't come out as far as they normally would. They are definitely more careful! What I do usually is let the tips of their legs touch a smooth surface, so they try to lean out to grasp it, but can't so they keep leaning. I snap a few pics, and then back in the tank ASAP to try to keep the stress to a minimum.

I'm going to start calling you the love doctor Two females in a season is amazing I don't have high hopes for the babies since you'll be away, but I still have my fingers crossed Because it sounds like your setup for them is awesome.
Am I the only one that finds the little fertilizer package halarious? "Here you go, you know what to do with it"