HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I recently went to a pet store called Pets Supplies Plus (which is , as far as I know, a chain) to buy some crabs and unlike most pet stores, the staff was knowledgable about hermit crabs' needs and even warned me (as they would with all people they saw buying crabs) that they are much harder animals to care for them most believe. They went over the basics and made sure to tell me what hermit crab products are NOT good for crabs (plastic/wire cages, processed food, etc). Their website has a great and comprehensive guide on the needs of hermit crabs and mentions everything from heating lamps to InstantOcean. I would highly recommend you give this store a look if you can. They are spreading all the right information and don't lie to you just to make money. Here's their hermit crab guide, which contains (mostly) accurate info and suggestions: http://www.petsuppliesplus.com/content. ... ermit_crab

I was wondering about that store...
I'm glad they are doing it right!

I'm glad you had a good experience at your local PSP! Just a precaution that even though they're a chain, there are a lot of stores that are franchises & owned by someone besides the corporate office. Those ones have greater license to do things different from corporate. So conditions might vary depending on the store & the level of care from the store manager, etc.

I used to work at one & while I mostly enjoyed my time there, I wasn't a fan of how the animals were taken care of most of the time. I was one of the ones to handle feeding & cleaning, but I couldn't do as much as I wanted due to time constraints & not being allowed to change things as much as I wanted. I'm pretty sure our crab care was lacking, and we didn't receive any education about it from the store. The animals I did learn about, I had to research myself. The best thing about my store was the greater variety of higher quality dog & cat foods we had available (compared to Petsmart & Petco). But we still weren't great at exotic animals or really, anything that wasn't a dog or cat.

Not all of them are like that. My PPS tried telling me that PPs don't need saltwater. Some of the ones near me also have painted shells, pellet food and calci sand in their crab tanks.
I actually visited a new store near me a few months ago. Their tank was terrible from most of their other stores I've been in. I emailed them telling them my concerns and that they weren't following their own care sheet. Their reply was from the store manager. She said there were no crabs in the tank at the time I visited. But she said that they would start emptying the tank when the crabs are out of stock to prevent confusion.
I agree with you that their care sheet is pretty good. I don't visit much now that I've found that Petsmart is closer. But I think pretty highly of them

My local PSP is awful with their live animals. Hermits dried out and dying and they don't care. Fish that have massive bacterial infections. Reptiles that aren't given hides or proper temps/humidity. The birds are always overcrowded. They have high schoolers working that section that know nothing of proper care for anything. The manager is a piece of work, which I'm sure is the problem. I know there are good ones out there, but I've been to around a dozen in Pittsburgh and Cleveland and none are places where I'll spend money. It's awesome you have a good store you can go to.

The worst is when they think they are doing a great job... Ugh. One of my local pet stores is family-run and they take horrible care of their hermits. They just got them and the crabs are the only ones with bad conditions. They use gravel, no saltwater, overcrowded, more I don't want to think about. I really want to tell them, but they always try to give ME advice on hermit crab care.

That's too bad you guys have had bad experiences there I was so happy to find mine to be good but thank you for sharing that not everyone is like that! There's actually a lady at mine who owns over 20 hermits of her own so she probably got my store to shape up! I agree that their dog/cat food selections are great, especially for my fat, picky, acid sensitive bulldog! Why can't pet stores just treat crabbies well

wodesorel wrote:My local PSP is awful with their live animals. Hermits dried out and dying and they don't care. Fish that have massive bacterial infections. Reptiles that aren't given hides or proper temps/humidity. The birds are always overcrowded. They have high schoolers working that section that know nothing of proper care for anything. The manager is a piece of work, which I'm sure is the problem. I know there are good ones out there, but I've been to around a dozen in Pittsburgh and Cleveland and none are places where I'll spend money. It's awesome you have a good store you can go to.

What stores have you been to in the Pittsburgh area? I live I Pittsburgh and plan on going shopping tomorrow and would like your opinion.


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It's been several years, but I think we hit every pet shop between the Ohio border and Robinson/Cranberry. Nothing outstanding.

Cumba wrote:The worst is when they think they are doing a great job... Ugh. One of my local pet stores is family-run and they take horrible care of their hermits. They just got them and the crabs are the only ones with bad conditions. They use gravel, no saltwater, overcrowded, more I don't want to think about. I really want to tell them, but they always try to give ME advice on hermit crab care.

There's one of these types of stores by me. They have a tank full of dead and dying crabs in the fish/aquarium area with pellet food and no water at all. Years ago I bought the two remaining live ones just to get them into better conditions. The cashiers told me that I wouldn't get a "they'll live" type of guarantee because I wouldn't buy their pellet food. Gah. That place annoys me. Haven't been back since.

I'm jealous of the nice PSP store though! The ones I've visited in this area don't carry any live animals.

Today I went to Petco to pick up some Instant Ocean. I analyzed the crabs and no natural shells, but everything else was okay.
They were THIS close!

Cumba wrote:Today I went to Petco to pick up some Instant Ocean. I analyzed the crabs and no natural shells, but everything else was okay.
They were THIS close!

I'm having troubles finding natural shells too. Just going to wait til I go in vacation again, after this month to find some a shore shops.


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