HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Yes, as you say pleeenty of eggs. And each crab can spawn up to 10,000 eggs. I shipped out zoeae more than 40 times last year to aspiring breeders and none of the ones I shipped to were able to get their zoeae to land, even with mentoring, supplies, and crowdsourcing help through Hermit House breede...

You need to add C.varabilis to your list of successfully bred species. I think I"m an official HH Breeder aren't I Mary? Oh, my god, Sue! I'm so sorry I left that off. :oops: Jeez Louise, you are the FIRST Hermit House breeder! Sorry for being so American-focused. Gah. Thank you for catching that a...

My megalopas are feeding well now. Some seafood and fish feeds in sinking form have been well received. Perhaps, they needed time to adjust to new food, or moving to a larger tank may have helped. Can Megalopa hunt brine shrimp? I've already put brine shrimp in, but I haven't seen them hunt. I firs...

Last month we filed the paperwork to apply for 501-c non-profit status for HERMIT HOUSE. Our mission statement is "Keep Wild Hermit Crabs in the Wild." As a non-profit, we will be able to help even more folks appreciate and understand captive-breeding and supply would-be breeders with the tools and ...

I finally moved three C. perlatus babies to land after more than seven weeks in the water. They do love the saltwater, just like the adults. So far, if my (general) count is correct, they are still surviving. They were raised concurrently with C. lilas (of which I got 76 to land--and I just moved 79...

I found a surprise spawn in my straw tank on the evening of the 6th. They'd been in the saltwater pool (filtered) most of the day, so I'd lost quite a few, but still counted around 1,150 when I did a population count on day two. That feels like a good number to start with. I'm using a brand new krei...

So exciting! The tank looks great. I’m betting they’ll be making babies soon!

Obviously none of us have copyright on our uniquely designed crabitat items, but as a seller myself, I know I would be annoyed if someone started making identical objects to what I have designed and sell at my shop and then posted publicly about it, complete with pictures. At the very least, I think...

Good conditions are the best thing to encourage mating. Slightly warmer temperatures help, too, but that usually occurs in most summer tanks. I'm not sure what you purchased as a bubbler, but the smallest air pump, some airline tubing, and an air stone is all you need. The whole thing should have co...

Definitely task that friend! I also recommend a bright light and a pair of tweezers.

Yeah, those craft store shells are teeny, but they're nothing close to as teeny as the first shells need to be. They need to fit under your fingernail to work. Purple pinchers like the teeny tiny spiral shells, larval whelk shells (hand-picked picked out of a whelk egg casing), and very small "melis...

My current theory about why we're seeing so many more breeding crabs (especially PPs), is because of the addition of deeper pools, and also (perhaps more importantly) the addition of hamster wheels and saucers. PPs migrate to spawn (possibly also to find a mate, though I don't know if that's been pr...

Hello! I have a 45 gal bioactive aquarium, and 5 pp's. My ultimate goal is to breed them. (I have already started to see 'guarding' behaviors between my two largest, but it could easily be something else.) Yes, I have fully read Mary Akers's blog and such. She is the one who is inspiring this goal....

The zoeae won’t have any way to eat this during the first stages when they only catch microalgae, etc, as others have said. But if you get them to megalopa stage, they will happily eat this with their brand new claws. And it’s really nutritious for your adult land hermit crabs. Good luck!

Worst case, I isolate females from the captive breeding program and introduce them to a new/different male than the one that sired them.