HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I just found them in the saltwater bowl, and I gave the hermit crabs new water early this morning.

These tiny little creatures looks just like mysis shrimps or something like that. Is it really possible that it could be hermit crab babies??

That would be epic if they were crabby babies! That's a major science break through! Me, I'm not sure what those are. Kinda hard to see in the picture.

Oh my god...they certainly look like photos of larval hermit crabs I've seen before!!

Fiery Vyxen wrote:That would be epic if they were crabby babies! That's a major science break through! Me, I'm not sure what those are. Kinda hard to see in the picture.

As far as I've read there are some that has had hermit crab babies hatch, but they haven't been able to make them survive. :/ And I don't know what else they can be.
My camera didn't want to take any good pictures on them from the side, but they look almost identical (as far as I can see without a microscope ) to mysis shrimp or this hermit crab larva: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7zZJnFdprE (it is not my video, but they look like this)

tnt4eva wrote:Oh my god...they certainly look like photos of larval hermit crabs I've seen before!!

I thought so too! First I thought it was some sort of bugs, since I have harmless bugs now and then, and there are a SWARM of thousands of these little animals in the salt water bowl. I took a little plastic jar and filled it with water so I could look at them - and they look just like tiny little shrimps! If these little guys are hermit crab babies, I will be both extremely sad and extremely happy. Sad that I know they will die, and happy that my hermit crabs feel so good in my care that they actually breed in there.

You can make them survive. It is possible. All you have to is have patience. And many tanks for the process. Talk t sue about this one she can probally help you on this one. I think those are crabbie babies. Cngrads best of luck to you.

You should at least give them a chance! Most of the lab studies never bothered following through with raising them, so there's still a shot. They'll need aerated marine water and a very fine food to eat. (Phytoplankton would probably be correct, but I'm sure you could at least attempt it with commercial fry feed.)

That is so very cool.

jakeman wrote:You can make them survive. It is possible. All you have to is have patience. And many tanks for the process. Talk t sue about this one she can probally help you on this one. I think those are crabbie babies. Cngrads best of luck to you.

Well, okay, I know it is possible to raise some of the babies up to adulthood, but it is very hard, and definately impossible if you don't have a cykled saltwater aquarium, which I sadly don't have. :S The only saltwater I have is the one I mix up to the hermit crabs everytime I change their water - and I don't think that would be good enough for the babies. :/ Now I've changed the hermit crabs water again, and put the tiny babies and their water in another container.

Does anyone know if hermit crabs can carry sperm or how long they are pregnant?

Thanks to all replies.

wodesorel wrote:You should at least give them a chance! Most of the lab studies never bothered following through with raising them, so there's still a shot. They'll need aerated marine water and a very fine food to eat. (Phytoplankton would probably be correct, but I'm sure you could at least attempt it with commercial fry feed.)

That is so very cool.

Where can I get that kind of food, "Phytoplankton"?

Are you guys sure that they actually eat anything the first stages of their life? Or do they "eat" sunlight? Because these little guys are very drawn to light. ^^

Aw that's so cool! Unfortunately, I don't think they have much of a chance.

Here is a link to more info about the life cycle of a baby crabby: https://www.hermitcrabpatch.com/Hermit- ... -a/152.htm

Awesome pics!

Did you get a new crab lately? It may have had like shrimp eggs on its shell.

wolfnipplechips wrote:Aw that's so cool! Unfortunately, I don't think they have much of a chance.

Here is a link to more info about the life cycle of a baby crabby: https://www.hermitcrabpatch.com/Hermit- ... -a/152.htm

Awesome pics!

No, they certainly didn't, because now most of them have died. I really have to put up a saltwater aquarium, for possible future babies.

But I'm still so extremely happy, this was the best compliment I could ever get from my hermit crabs! Now I'm curious to which one of my hermit crabs who laid the eggs, but that is something I'll never get to know. ^^

Thanks for the link. I've already read it, but it is so interesting.

Hermitcrablover12 wrote:Did you get a new crab lately? It may have had like shrimp eggs on its shell.

No, not at all. All the hermit crabs in that crabitat is hermit crabs that have lived here for between one and almost three years, and all of them have molted a couple of times or more. And there where more than thousands of little babies in the water bowl, so it is impossible for it to be anything else.

Here's a (bad) picture of most of them, when they swam against the right side of the container to the light from the lamp on that side.

That's so cool and so sad at the same time.