HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello everyone,
I was on Amazon curious about what kinds of crab kits there are and what they contain and i found these terrible crab kits
These all look more like toys than terrariums....
Here we have Diego crab kit(There is a Dora one too)

Here we have some Super Hero crab kits which are probably aimed towards kids and definitely not the comfort of the crabs



And these just look like toddler toys


This is the on i commonly see on youtube

This last one doesn't look that bad compared to the others above,but it still is bad for crabs

Heya Crabbzymagnus, thanks for spreadingvthe word! I think it would be more effective for you to leave a review on Amazon, to stop other people from buying them.


Crabbers unite!!!

YYWW wrote:Heya Crabbzymagnus, thanks for spreadingvthe word! I think it would be more effective for you to leave a review on Amazon, to stop other people from buying them.


Crabbers unite!!!

I wish i could write a review however I don't own an amazon account,but my brother does,may use his account to write a couple of reviews one of these days.....

That would be great! Hopefully more crabs can be saved that way. Thank you for ibspiring me as well!


Crabbers unite!!!

Man does it bother me to see these. Some of them were almost $50 too! You can easily buy a ten gallon, 50 lbs of play sand, AND shells, huts, climbing toys, ect for under $50 (I know I did)! The poor hermies that have to live in these things. :crybaby:

A lot of us started out with that Super Pet Giant Little Crab Shack kit because pet shop employees assured us that it was the perfect set-up. Yeah, just perfect without maintaining proper temperature, humidity, substrate depth, etc. Fortunately, many crabs survive in spite of these useless little kits because their owners find HCA, Crab Street or other serious sites and learn what to do before it's too late.

Crabinski wrote:A lot of us started out with that Super Pet Giant Little Crab Shack kit because pet shop employees assured us that it was the perfect set-up. Yeah, just perfect without maintaining proper temperature, humidity, substrate depth, etc. Fortunately, many crabs survive in spite of these useless little kits because their owners find HCA, Crab Street or other serious sites and learn what to do before it's too late.

I had a critter keeper for a couple hours. As I researched online I found HCA and immediately went and got an aquarium. I have been a hermit crab owner for 6 days today, and I have already spent over $100. So worth it though!

Stefunkie wrote: I had a critter keeper for a couple hours. As I researched online I found HCA and immediately went and got an aquarium. I have been a hermit crab owner for 6 days today, and I have already spent over $100. So worth it though!

I was in the same boat! The crazy part is after a couple days i spent ANOTHER $100, then ANOTHER! Within 2.5 months i had upgraded 3 times, from a KK TO 10g to 20g to 75g. It is THE CRAZY! But i am happy to report that i have stuck with the 75g and double 2.5g pools for a while, now. Crabs are eating and molting, and i'm leaving them the heck alone!!!


Crabbers unite!!!

Lol! I think I may be contracting THE CRAZY also. I am already looking for a bigger tank! I saw your post with the pictures of your setup, and it is pretty awesome!

Thanks! THE CRAZY has touched many of us, but it is always a great ride.


Crabbers unite!!!

I wish I could upgrade to a bigger tank, but I have no room.

I've definitely caught THE CRAZY. I'm waiting to walk in my front door one day to all my friends and family sitting in a circle for a crab intervention.

I made the mistake of looking on Amazon for hermit crab stuff before and I found all these horrible kits. Even worse were the wire cage ones. I left a couple of reviews warning people not to buy them and explaining a bit why they aren't good for hermit crabs but I had to stop because there were just too many listings and I was getting frustrated. Maybe I'll go back on Amazon and write a few more though. People deserve to know how to properly care for their pets. Luckily I new before I ever bought my crabs that this was not proper care but I know I'd have been mad If I hadn't known but later found out that I'd been mislead by pet store employees, these ads, etc. Especially if I'd spent $50 on a cruddy critter keeper .

I keep a couple of the large KK's around for emergencies.One when we lost power during an ice storm and I slept with them in the KK's against my body under blankets.Another time when I had to isolate a crab and just placed the kk in the tank just for overnight.I have seen others use them as pools.So if you got talked into buying them you can put them to use.I wonder if they would make a good terrarium?Another idea was a fake crabitat with sand, cocohut and toy plastic/rubber crabs for kids playing or desktop when you are at work.This was actually cute, a good way to use that plastic palm tree that has no real use.