HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi,
I became a crab owner when my grandson came back from a trip with my ex’s family. I’m an animal lover and couldn’t stand to see hector so lonely. I bought friends. I turned the crabitat into the crab-mahal from that silly plastic box. I’ve a 50gal in top and 2 20gal covering it. They have local pecan tree branches with moss inside and substrate and heaters a and moss. I installed a humidifier and keep it at about 85. The temp varies btwn 78-87 degrees f. They have coconut husk on one side and sand and substrate on the other. They have molted several times. I used to have 8 however, some were not healthy when they arrived. I also learned about crab hierarchy. I now have 5. Currently 2 are molting. 3 of them however, Herman, hernanda, and hector are perched on a log and haven’t moved in about a week. Are they stressed? Or just loving being perched? They’ve got access to uva/uvb light. I’m curious if they’re okay. Any info will be helpful

They do love to climb.

What foods do you feed and do you have a fresh and a salt water pool for them?

Yes. Fresh and salt water. I do not have either very deep bc I don’t want them to drown. I feed them all organic homemade dried fruits, seaweed, mealworms, egg shells, fresh veggies. My hermits really like their sweeties, coconut, currants, blueberries etc. they are due for a complete habitat revamp in about a month. Getting fresh everything. I do a surface clean every 3 weeks or so. I regularly buy fresh moss(bc we live in a very warm climate) and have that on top of the coconut husk. I’m just worried maybe something is off. They’ve always loved to climb. Their tink-tink against the tanks are routine but, like I said, they’ve been perched and chilling those 3 anyway.

That’s normal behavior. New crabs often choose a place where they feel secure and stay there while they get used to their new home. As they become more comfortable you’ll see more activity over time.

Providing ample cover like branches and foliage helps. They don’t seem to like open spaces that much.


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Tyvm. I’ll try to post a couple pics.