HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi! We’re about four months into our crab-owning journey. We started with 4 - 1 died early on, 2 have been MIA under the sand (molting, I assume) and 1 has been active and friendly.

This week, a second crab surfaced and has been visible (yay!), but we noticed that in comparison, the one we’ve been watching has grown very pale. We bought them at the same time, and they were all a mix of red and purple. I tried to post a photo but couldn’t figure out how…

I read other posts about pale crabs, and they all suggested adding calcium. We leave a cuttlebone in at all times, and we also feed eggs with crushed shell bits as part of their rotating diet.

Here’s our setup:
-3 tinies, species unknown
-20G glass tank with screen top that’s been siliconed
-temp 79-82, humidity 80-99, two UTHs side-mounted
-fresh and salt water dishes, changed every other day - both dechlorinated and fluval salt used to salinate
-fed 1/2 tsp every other day of dried foods - dried fruit, nuts, seeds, spiralina powder, plain cereal, etc. + random fresh foods every other day - chicken, shrimp, egg, veg, fruits, mealworms…
-one sponge, not in the water dish
-second level over 1/3 of the tank accessible by climbing
-terrarium-grade moss
-pile of extra shells
-6” substrate 1:5 sand:EE
-multiple shelters
-cuttlebone for calcium

It sounds like you have an ideal set up. Crabs will often change color, it does not necessarily mean anything is wrong.
Are you able to post a photo? You can use the Tapatalk app, or a photo sharing website.

Color can also be determined by the food the crabs eat, if they become paler it could be a lack of foods that contain the deep colors, although I would think that would take longer to change

I keep trying to get mine to eat alot of hibiscus flowers

Thanks for your reply! For some reason, I didn’t get the notification email, so I didn’t find it until now. Here’s a photo link: https://share.icloud.com/photos/00dUn-R ... 5tZbt62fjw

OMG he's so cute

My daughter named him Tough because he’s our brave one. He always pops out when he hears us coming; the others mostly hide, but he’s social and curious.

Very cute! And very normal coloring for a crab!