HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So last year I bought three beautiful crabs. 2 male one female. The males died :( I tried giving all of them the perfect temps, but the people I live with aren't that sympathetic to them. Basically, I have to fight for 70 degrees at all times. :? Both males, did however, before their unfortunate dea...

Update: All three are in the tank and Kanikama switched shells again. He is now in an all pearl shell. Wish the other two would come out of their painted shells. Oh well. 1 down 2 to go.

He has a vine that wraps around two sides of the tank and he has cholla wood and grapewood in three different places. He also has an artificial plant. In my opinion he has plenty of places to climb. He just likes to hang from the lid. What a funny lil guy! Maybe add a level so that when he drops he...

Does he have a lot of climbing options? If not you could get creative and make him something to climb on that wouldn't be as bad as a drop.

So I bought three hermit crabs from the pet store and they all came in painted shells. Well tonight the one I isolated in the tank (with half of a 2liter coke bottle to encase him) just changed from his painted shell into his new natural shell. :bigsmile: The only thing is he is still isolated and I...

...and also the third one Pangxie (Kanikama is the one under right now) is very sluggish while Geh is somewhat active in the tank. Would putting Pangxie in with Geh help her to be more active or stress her out more since she's probably suffering from pps?

All you can do, besides provide a large selection of appropriate shells, is watch and wait. Being "glued" in, while not impossible, is not common. If a crab seems very restricted in it's movements or can't seem to come out of it's shell even to walk, post again and we'll do our best to help. Try no...

So I'm pretty sure one of them is molting and I have secluded him away from the other one. But I have one that's in a small ISO. I did that because all three of them would keep digging under. But two of them come up and the third is the isolated one. Should I let the other one join the tank? Or shou...

Having been here for several years, even the best intentioned people and wonderful pet owners get sucked into the "easy pet" trap of hermit crabs. They're too far outside of any of the major circles - they aren't a dog or cat, they aren't a pocket pet, they aren't a reptile, they aren't fish, etc. ...

Ok thank you. But what if they're glued in and can't change shells?

They seem to be stressed and trying to molt (I think). Problem is I was reading on the horrors of painted shells and found out that the crabs could be glued into their shell! Is there anyway to know that for sure? And if so is there a way to help them transfer to a better shell? :cry: All three of t...