HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Apparently, some crabs just like a little extra shell. I have one who has moved into the snack dish. He even threw out the snack (the grape). He does try on shells from there, so maybe in his case he's using it as an extended-stay dressing room? But I have seen him in there when not shell-shopping. ...

We put out a base of bird seed and crab diet from the jar, along with an assortment of fresh options that change daily. Today we're having carrots and masago (smelt roe). Normally the smallest crabs in our tank will hide whenever I hang out too long, but the masago's too tasty to leave so I caught a...

My crabs are snobs. I made the mistake of giving them polished shells on Amazon and now they don't want anything but. I understand the draw: The polished shells are lighter than the unpolished but still dark enough to feel safe in. They look awesome. They're smooth so they probably feel awesome. But...

Our crabs do both. I've found buried shells but I've also seen one completely fill the entrance of a shell with poo. Maybe they're marking it as theirs?

How is the humidity in your tank? If the crabs are clustering under the dishes they may be searching for more moisture. If your crabbie can't fit under there anymore he (or the others) might be uncomfortable, which could be why the chirping. If the humidity's okay (and even if it's not) you might wa...

I put some crab and masago in the food dish tonight. One of our biggest crabs was on the wheel at the time and ignored me, content to keep walking... till he saw the crab meat and fish eggs go in the dish. Practically before my hand was out of the tank he was already climbing down to come investigat...

We have 7 crabs. Usually don't see more than 3 out at once. Right now 4 of them are out and they've all climbed to the highest point of the tank in a cluster. They often take turns sitting in the hammock up there but I've never seen 4 together all at once. It's a crab slumber party.

We have 7 crabs in a huge tank and while I thought it was perfecto, the crabs think otherwise. They've soaked their sand. We replaced it with stuff that was the proper amount of moisture and they've gone and soaked it again. They take the water out of the fresh water changing bowl in their shells an...

I have so many pics of our crabs on my phone, there's almost more of them than ones of me and my friends.

I noticed David poking around the shells again but he was too big for everything we had in the tank so I got him 2 new shiny shells to shop. He immediately put one on and left his old shell in the pile. Mary is still hanging out with him, his constant little companion. When he's on the wheel, she's ...

CrabMater wrote:i stopped trying to figure out crabs long ago. they are very weird.

Same here. After watching ours for nearly 3 years... Yeah. They're really strange critters. They seem to know what they're doing but I sure don't.

I have 7 crabs in a 60 gallon tank. Their substrate is over 7 inches. I only ever see one or two at any given time during the day. Usually none. At night I most often see 2 - particularly the smallest ones - out playing with shells and trying to run off with food. Only once in 3 years have I seen 6 ...

Mary and David are still motoring around together. She's still wearing his old shell but it fits better now. They're adorably close. Just yesterday I saw them both hanging out in the wheel together. Mary's the one on the net and David's actually in the wheel. They spent the whole day there together....

I've owned crabs a while and have had some since they were babies and they all act like a seagull's swooping down on them every time I stop in front of the tank to see what they're doing. It's instinct to pretend to be a rock whenever anything un-crab-ular moves and I'm guessing the glass tank inter...

For the past few months we've seen Mary (tiny) and David (medium) hanging out together. Almost inseparable since Mary arrived. I've seen him follow under her when she's being daring and climbing branches. He keeps his shell under her where she can reach out and feel it with a foot when she gets nerv...