HCA: Hermit Crab Association

My crabbie just came up and I have some crushed eggshell in there. But what other fresh foods are good for him to build up that exo? We do apple, zucchini but other than eggshell grinds, I have no idea. Please share... Thanks!

We took your advice and didn't go digging. Thought for sure he'd had a cave in. Then we started wondering if maybe it was chemical-fishy smell. Either way good news, Hermie came back up today! :cheer: Thanks for the advice, I was sure he was gone and had the shovel ready till I got the message to ju...

Thanks everyone. We'll monitor the situation, hope for the best, clean the sponges and let you know how it goes.

Oh man. Thanks for replying. I'd like to hear one more on this before I dig him up. Ugh. I wonder if the smell bothers the other Hermie. Ugh. I'm so sad.

1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it? Play sand with co fiber 5:1, 7" deep 2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read? Side of tank, 75/75 about- in yellow 3....

Hi. I've got a small crabbie under the water bowl in the sand going on 5 weeks now. He's still alive. I can see him if I lift the water bowl, which I try hard not to do. I'm worried that something's wrong though. Seems too long. I've messed with him a bit, moving the water dish for a night certain h...

Thanks for this. I guess I'll put the dish back up top but not all the way because I can't be sure I won't disturb the sand. I wish he'd come up. He's a small and has been down for around 3 1/2 weeks. I think he's molted but can't figure out why he'd still be down there.

TINY'S ALIVE! :banana: I'm writing again because I need advice on if we're doing what we can to help Tiny finish his molt? We were certain that the larger size crab (Shiny - he's either small or medium) had attacked the small one (Tiny, probably a small) while under the ridiculous 2" of sand. But it...

Ok I think I'm getting it. Since you suggested a jumbo UTH for the 20 gal even tho they also had 2 small UTHs, then my 20" x 12" tank would do well with a large UTH (Zoo Med 8"x18" or Fluker's 11"x17") to get the heat up to 80F. It sounds like for the smaller tanks at least, we need to cover the ent...

I hope it's okay if I crash this thread as I have a similar issue and am finding the discussion of UTHs very helpful and enlightening. We have a 15 gal aquarium that's 20" long and 12" high. We have a Zoo Med UTH 8"x6" pad on one side just above the sand and another smaller 4 watt pad (mini) under t...

We have a 15 gal with 3 small hermits (now 2 due to a sad molting attack incident) and use a small UTH and a mini UTH. We couldn't get the heat up past 72 so got a light fixture on top that holds a day bulb and night bulb. Problems continue and it's a constant stress. Main problem with the bulbs is ...

This totally helps! We are new to hermits and pretty mystified by their ways even tho I've spent hours reading online. I'm still worried about poor Tiny who may have been eaten but now I can understand the reason behind the depth of substrate. I also feel better about the ISO and will do as you sugg...

Thank you for the reply. I separated Shiny in a big tupperware bin and while it's deep it doesn't have much surface area but I'm a bit hesitant to put the other crab in there too as there's barely room for food, water and shells. I'm also pretty sure Tiny got got since Shiny went down, came up and w...

Hi - I'm really worried. I have 3 tiny to small sized crabs and only have 2 inches of sand in the aquarium because I just didn't quite understand that part in the beginning! I know how bad this is but since we got our little buddies one of the crabs kept going under and I was afraid to bother him by...