HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Many of us more experienced members don't post about our failures, only our successes. So it may seem that we never have things go wrong in our tanks. Sadly this is not the case and we sometimes make mistakes too. :( I had been missing one of my straws for quite some time. I realized the other day I...

Yesterday, my sister and I started talking about my hermies, and she got SO excited over the idea of painting and decorating some shells for them. I'm talkin' glitter, rhinestones, paint, all sorts of things.. Today she actually went to Hobby Lobby and bought all these things!! I'll feel sooo bad t...

I'm actually on here a lot, usually about an hour or two a day--except on days/times when my life gets rather hectic. I rarely have time to post much on the forums anymore when I am here though because I'm too busy doing behind the scenes moderating stuff and it takes up most of my free time to be o...

My crabs seem to know when there's company. They all hide. Even when they were just out. I answer the door thinking I'll get a great opportunity to show off my hermits to my guests. We tiptoe into the crab room and the crabs are all gone! :x Then my guests look at me like I'm a nutter. After they le...

I have a 1/2 gallon saltwater pool (about 2 litres for all you metric folks) and I see my crabs submerge all the way to the bottom multiple times a day. I've seen: Es, Straws, Violas, Indos, and Ruggies all do this. The only species I haven't seen do it is the PPs but that could be because I have no...

That's a great story! What a survivor!

hermietastic wrote:Thank you Starmaiden!

Christa actually did the updating! Thanks Christa!

Just an FYI to check out the updated business cards. The link is on the top right of your screen. These cards can be printed and handed out at pet stores, mall kiosks, anywhere you want to share the HCA!

One of my large straws loves to poo in the food dish. My other crabbies like to poo on the driftwood or in one of the large shells. I've yet to find multicolored poo though, but it is often green, red or orange depending on what I've fed them lately.

Interesting theory kilimanjaro. You might want to include this anecdotal observation of my troublesome straw, Redlinger, in your notes. Redlinger is a large straw who has had two successful molts in captivity. He has been in a 40B since December of 06. He used to pace around the sides of the tank an...

I have some that like it and some that don't and some it depends on their mood. I try not to spray them directly, but will mist slightly above so it falls on them like rain when I'm giving them a 'shower'.

I prefer to use bottled spring water myself, since distilled removes all the beneficial minerals from the water. Be sure the bottle says 'Spring Water' on it and not 'drinking water' which is just filtered tap water and may contain some residual chlorine.

Hello and welcome to the HCA Terpulus! Don't worry, it doesn't sound like you are screwing up! At least you are doing your research and trying to fix it. There's a bit of a learning curve with the land hermits that can be overwhelming at first. You should have 3 dishes. 1 Freshwater, 1 marine salt w...

Interesting Mudcrabdude. Brevimanus are worst for me, although I can't really say for sure because I got my 4 brevimanus all at once from the same pet store. If I had gotten them from somewhere else maybe it would have been different? Your numbers seem about right Monica. One thing that really helpe...

I just wanted to add that I'm sorry for your friend and all her losses. I'm having a lot of mysterious losses this summer myself and I'm thinking perhaps it was something viral brought in with the new crabs I bought back in April despite ISOing them for a month. You bring up a good point about the s...