HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi, I have only had crabs for about 3 months now. I read heaps about tank set up and did everything the way you guys say to do it, before I went looking for crabs. I started with 3 small crabs (Bobby, Billy & Fred) from a store that had shell grit instead of sand, small water bowls which had just enough water to cover the bottom and no humidity and pellet food. I put them into my tank and set up a camera to spy on them at night. After a day or so, they were exploring the tank and loving the fresh food and the water pools.

About 3 weeks ago I went looking for more shells at a local Fish shop and found a that they sold Hermit Crabs too. They had 2, one small and one golf ball size, who’s shell was to small for him. . There was a thin layer of sand on the bottom and a shallow fresh water bowl and pellet food, no other shells and nothing to climb on. There was nothing for heating or humidity other than the room being warm for tropical fish. I felt really bad for the poor little things and said to the guy that he should read up about how to keep Hermit crabs. He just walked away. I went back to that shop 11 days later and the same hermit crab was in the same spot he was in the first time I went in to get shells. As you can guess I took him home with me. I was making a second level for my tank so I put him in a smaller tank for a few days, to make sure he was eating and drinking. The small tank had fresh and salt water bowls, fresh food, a stick to climb and a hide, with about 2 inches of sand and coconut fibre on the bottom. We called our big boy Murray, he is gorgeous and friendly. He was in the tank for about 10 minutes before he started moving around. I watched him climb into the salt water bowl and stayed in there under the water for about 30 minutes before popping his head up but he stayed in that salt water bowl for a full 2 hours.
After 4 days I moved him into the main tank. I fresh water dipped all the crabs and they are all getting along fine. Fred is the smallest and I am praying he is molting because I haven't seen him since they all went back in. That was a week ago now and Murray has been eating heaps ( broccoli, carrot, tuna and chicken, are his favourites) and swimming in the pools. Murray went down 2 days ago along with Billy. So I have 3 down, I’m hoping its to molt and not to die on me.

I have couple of questions.
1, Is it normal for a crab to stay in salt water for that long?
2, Fred’s shell is about an inch long. How long should he be down for?
3, Will Murray have enough reserves to get him through a molt after such a short time?
4, How long before I should start to worry? Murray’s shell is about the size of a golf ball.

I know this is long winded but I wanted to give you a bit of their background.

I have a crab that just loves the salt water, when I first got him I didn't think he was ever going to get out. Now he just hops in and out, a lot.

Murray is newer, he may not be molting, he may just be destressing. That alone can last for a few days or weeks.

My shortest molt was about 6 weeks.

So far my longest molt was just shy of 3 months.

The first molts are usually the "make it or break it" ones. They've been grabbed from the wild, dumped in containers, shipped Lord only knows how far. Held until they change into those painted shells, then shipped again Dropped into pet store conditions and left without the resources they need. Heck, I got mine because my grandkids won them at the county fair. I can only imagine the conditions there.

I don't give up hope until after 6 months. I've never had to dig down and get one, the ones I've lost were all tiny and I never once smelled anything like dead crab smell. But I've had 4 that never showed up again.



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Bigger crabs take longer to settle in underground and to molt. I have two jumbos and both have taken over a year to molt.

It's really normal for them to want to molt immediately, and yes they should have plenty of stored energy. Most of the time they have access to food but not a safe place to molt, so as soon as they get home they take advantage of being able to dig. I just pity purchased a jumbo last month, he was buried within an hour of getting home, and is already molted and back up again.