HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So I have a shell problem, I can't decide how many and which shells to keep in the tank. I have 4 crabs and probably 30 shells in the tank PLUS more to spare in my supplies.

My crabs are a small E in a nerite, an almost medium E in a Tapestry Turbo with 7/8" opening, a medium PP in a frog shell with 1 1/8" opening, and a large PP in a banded turbo with a 1 1/8" opening.

In the tank right know:

For the large, I have 3 more turbos with wide opening, same size and just larger. I also have a handful of Japanese land snail shells (I think) with 1 1/2" and larger openings. (At least 4 his size).

For the others I have several (3-5) babylonias 3/4" to over an inch, 2 whales eyes about an inch, tapestry turbos 3/4-1", more of the land snails (3-4), an assortment of turbos that are 7/8" ish opening, a variety of magpies (small to large) and two white shells with D shaped openings that are about 3/4-7/8" openings.

All my crabs seem to fit well in their chosen shells.

I do have a shell shopping/swapping E, the larger one in a turbo. I haven't offered him a shell yet that's really struck his fancy. I notice that he changes tapestry turbos from time to time. He also is always subterranean and I maybe catch him on the surface once a week.

So recommendations? Is it 5 shells per crab? How do you rotate?


Crabby since 8/13/14
Es Buzz and Bullseye PPs Rex and Woody

3 - 5 shells per crab is the recommendation. However I like to offer MAD SHELLS. I put all of them in there. Dump em all in. I have some type of organization bin, the type where you get a bunch of different sizes that you can click together and they make compartments inside your desk drawer. I just shoved one in there with a bunch of shells. I don't have enough shells to fill it up, but I'm aiming for it. I like the idea of a shell SUPER MALL. Plus the crabs like to grab them and dig through them and turn them every which way, so it's cool if your shop is 2 - 3 layered. I guess you can always split it out into 2 shell shops In summary, the more, the merrier.

That's what we have going right now, mad shells everywhere.


Crabby since 8/13/14
Es Buzz and Bullseye PPs Rex and Woody

Hi there! Just hijacking the thread for a second. Can either of you explain the purpose and benefits of a shell shop (as opposed to leaving shells lying around the top of the substrate)? I'm new to crabs, so any info would be great!

crabswell wrote:Hi there! Just hijacking the thread for a second. Can either of you explain the purpose and benefits of a shell shop (as opposed to leaving shells lying around the top of the substrate)? I'm new to crabs, so any info would be great!

When you leave them laying around they end up (in my experience) being buried or full of sand. I think a shell shop in a container is an easier way of keeping track of the shells while having them above ground. There are plenty of people who don't use a shell shop. Just personal preference, I suppose.

Thanks, soilentgringa! Makes perfect sense. Now to see if I can fit one into my tank...

Put a random layer of shells down, and swap it out for a new mix every week or two.

Sounds good. I need to organize them.


Crabby since 8/13/14
Es Buzz and Bullseye PPs Rex and Woody

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one with this problem. I have 5 shell shops all over flowing but i had to brake down my son's tank so i have micros, smalls, medium, large, and jumbo hermits and a mix of PPs and Es too

I do try to have a sort of shell shop on the upper level, but things tend to get knocked down. Also, five shells per crabs when you have three PPs all in about that 1 1/4"-ish size that NOBODY has shells for... UGH. It's either 1" or the big jump all the way to 2", never just that little quarter inch jump.

I need to order more shells one of these days. Meh.