HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I have a rectangle of plastic wrap on the top of my mesh lid. I have scotch tape along several parts of the edge to hold it in place. I've had it that way for years. My crab has climbed on the lid many times and never even attempted to pull the plastic, as far as i can tell.

Busy does often crawl over to that "Devil's triangle" corner with the hole in the cabinet as I mentioned and I watch carefully, but she generally just keeps going along the edge of the wall, or turns right around. But finally a couple weeks back (actually Oct. 1) as I was watching, suddenly she was ...

Might be interesting to consider what foods gave rise to each color poop. I can't recall seeing poop other than black (or very dark) from my crab.

When I'm in the shower, I'll let mine walk around in the bathroom, and she often gets in that position when checking out my clothes piled on the floor. I think it is a relaxed state that indicates (at least in my case) that the crab is comfortable with her surroundings.

Hello again. Life went back to normal after a couple weeks, and I've had Busy out for her nightly walks 3-4 times a week since that incident. I wanted to update you on her walking habits, which have shifted a little. To start with, I generally put her on the rug by the kitchen where we keep the dog ...

You change it every night?

Good to hear that the crabbies are not stressed out by the music.
My experience with pets (dogs) is they are more relaxed, when a guitar or piano is being played.
So it would be cool if the crabs actually enjoyed the cello. Sort of like "fiddler crabs"...heh heh.

Hi - I guess there aren't too many people here who can say much about this species since it's not a hermit crab. I don't know anything, although I enjoy land crabs of all types (when I've seen them during travels) so I was curious to read about this crab at https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Cardi...

I've been too lazy to give my crab toys, but during her walks around the house these are the things she seems to enjoy: -pulling pieces off of my earbuds -the wall plug of the Xmas lights (not sure what the interest is about, but no damage so far) -electrical cords that have a "chewy" texture (I don...

Purple clawed! That's a good one. They do hate thermometers don't they? Mine kept submerging the thermometer until it was useless.

Whoa. "Temporary" tank?? Looks like comfortable lodgings to me.

Nice idea. This is giving me the idea to gather any dead arthropods and exoskeletons I might find. I'm sure I can get some spider bits from the basement.

An entire line of gourmet oils for crabs sounds like overkill! (it's an entertaining thought though.) Also I'm not sure from the image, but those look kind of like "high-end" oils with extra stuff added so I would be wary of possible additives that might not be crab-friendly. I will say though, I do...

Had quite an adventure while walking the crab on Thursday night. I was making dinner, and Busy was walking along the east edge of the kitchen (below the microwave) and when I looked back, suddenly she was gone! A quick sweep of all the usual places - along the edge of the fridge, under the dishwashe...

JoeHermits, I love the field guide!
Saving this page in case I ever run into one of those other (i.e. non-clypeatus) crab species...