HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Update: still no sighting of Bluey. She went under March 30th so we are approaching the 3 month mark. She is definitely not coming up at night because the food dish is untouched and there are no track marks. Still no bad smell though I think she is ok. Continuing to be patient...

Ok, will continue to be patient! Just curious, why the 4 month mark?

Hi, I've had a purple pincher, Bluey, since last August. She molted twice before and was down for a month each time. This time though, she has been down since March 30th, so over 2 months. I know not to dig up but a few days ago I lifted a wooden house up very carefully to have a look and she was ri...

I have a plexi glass lid that sits on top (inside the rim). It it hinged so that it opens halfway. If I jostle it, it can fall into the tank. So I would be concerned that it could be knocked down with enough jostling. What did you use to hinge it? I just put a plexi lid on my tank and right now it'...

I have a plexi glass lid that sits on top (inside the rim). It it hinged so that it opens halfway. If I jostle it, it can fall into the tank. So I would be concerned that it could be knocked down with enough jostling.

For those of you who have hermit crabs and cats. How do you prevent the cat from possibly going over the tank and getting in there to get the food or the crabs themselves? I have never had a house cat but we are considering one and it occurred to me that unlike a dog (which I do have experience with...

I have read and heard that hermit crabs are social creatures who thrive with other crabs. I adopted 2 crabs at the end of the summer and one crab died as a result of molting complications. Bluey has been a singleton for over a month now. There is a chance now to take in a crab whose owner no long wa...

I will try the pencil test but I am pretty sure that it will be fine as I think there is maybe too much wetness. I have the water pools on some rocks/pebbles and when I change them out, I try to sop up any residual water with paper towels. Bluey seems to be able to tunnel fine as far as I can tell. ...

I have been trying to tempt Bluey out to eat some other things in the evening but she waits until I am not watching! I want to see it again!

Got it about the tunnels. I was only planning to do this when Bluey was at the surface.

I am a squeamish person in general about icky things. But holding Bluey does not bother me. Of course I have never been pinched yet. That might change things.

I will check if it drips. I am a bit squeamish about grabbing it!

Just curious - why not pack it down? Not that I did...

I suspect the substrate is too wet. I have Fluker's All Natural Premium Sand Substrate, which I used straight out of the bag. I don't wet the substrate any more than how it came but there is a lot of humidity in the tank (around 89%). Bluey doesn't seem to have had a problem with digging tunnels tha...

Bluey tends to be inactive during the day (either buried in substrate or in her moss jar) and then comes out in the evening to play around. I tend to go to bed early so I don't see her too much. Last night, before I went to bed, I checked in on her and she was sitting in her food dish, holding down ...

Thanks so much for posting. I had heard of Carol before and her relationship with her crabs is amazing!

I appreciate all the differing viewpoints. I do understand that they are wild animals but they are living a captive life and part of that in my opinion is relating with their owners. There are plenty of other prey animals who are pets and do learn to acclimate over time. For now, I am going to keep ...