HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I boil them (and use saltwater for anything natural to prevent mould growth) and either allow them to air dry or bake them at a low temperature


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I’ve had 4 PPs for a month now and I know they are very exciting animals, but they don’t seem to be eating or moving around much. Three of them are now buried, and I was wondering if this is normal? My crabitat conditions are 80 degrees and 85% humidity, and I always offer a balanced variety of food...

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190412/1e1ac46d633bfa9dbc6f56423384fd45.jpg I wanted to get some more calcium into my crabs’ diet so I ground up some eggshells with a (thoroughly cleaned) coffee grinder, since they have refused to eat eggshells or cuttlebone so far. Hopefully this works! :) Sent...

I recently saw a little shoot coming out of the top of my cholla! I was mystified for a while as to how a cactus I had boiled had somehow sprouted, but then noticed the sand and seeds that one of my PPs had dragged up there! Unfortunately it has died now but has made me interested in growing some ot...

Thank you so much!! I read that you should put a pop bottle around them? Idk I guess not then. The other crabs aren’t bothering the buried one so should be fine?


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Hi everyone, One of my crabs has been buried since last Monday and I assume he is moulting. There are no holes on the surface of the substrate, so I assume he dug himself down under one of the hides (it is a 90* elbow for plumbing, one end facing out and the other pushed into the sand). None of the ...

Maybe one day powdered shells mixed in with printer filament (as various woods and metals are right now), so that they can be reshaped by the crabs? But yes, printed shells have so much potential and would make getting the perfect fit for a crab so much easier (and cheaper!) For now, we continue tes...

If hermit crabs are unable to modify these, it is unlikely they would use them when given the option of choosing between natural or 3D printed. They secrete a substance to melt the inner whorls of their shell and they also pick at them to accommodate their eyestalks. Sent from my iPhone using Tapat...

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190324/cffad8bb28ee45435e5ab7d14e580f0b.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190324/25f945e7b161f080f867dd3e94aca533.jpg I printed this to test dimensions today! I doubt it’s going to work as is, it seems pretty thin, rough and uncomfortable, but I think once I ...

It’s been a week and a half since I got PPs, and am still trying to figure out what they like to eat Over the past couple of days I’ve been doing some testing, very little food and only a bit of each type I have yet to find a protein they don’t mind eating https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190324/f...

Thank you so much! I will try and get bowls where it is easier for them to do that (right now there’s quite a gap between the rim of the bowls and the beginning of the water)

Not quite sure what I’d do without this forum


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Hi everyone, I’ve had my 4 PPs for about a week now, and it doesn’t seem as though they’ve been drinking/using the salt/fresh water at all, as there is no sand in either bowl? I won’t be able to make any drastic changes until the weekend (eg changing the bowls so they’re more accessible/changing sal...

Oh sorry! I forgot to actually type the number of inches whoops! It’s about 7 inches at its highest. All of the crabs are alive (thank god) but I’m still worried because having my entire room smell like this isn’t entirely sustainable. I’m letting the tank air out for a bit before I add any more foo...

I sniffed the food dish (before I got rid of every last mushy drop of it) and it really wasn’t as strong as the tank. It may have just been the humidity in there. I am still quite worried that they don’t seem to be eating/drinking/doing much right now.


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1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it? Play sand, inches 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? Yes, 80% and 27 degrees Celsius 3. Is a heat source used i...