HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Just for funsies, has anyone here bought those handblown glass shells? They're super pricey but so pretty and it's just plain neat how you can see inside the shell. Wondering if the crabs like them at all or if they're automatically too heavy or something? Just curious lolz

I haven't because it's not natural. I want the best for my crabs. They alter the inside of their shells to get the perfect fit for them. They chip it away and secrete fluids to get the shell just right. They can't do that with glass. Plus if they chip the glass and eat it, it could seriously harm them.

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Xenocrab wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 04, 2019 3:09 pm

I haven't because it's not natural. I want the best for my crabs. They alter the inside of their shells to get the perfect fit for them. They chip it away and secrete fluids to get the shell just right. They can't do that with glass. Plus if they chip the glass and eat it, it could seriously harm them.

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Oh that's a good point yeah

Plus, they often retract into their shells to hide, so if they retract and still feel like they can be seen they may not be too happy.


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That's another good point. So, in short, glass shells are a big no.

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My crabs are great at falling from the support beam in the middle of the tank, so I would be worried about the glass shell breaking. I have considered getting one just to put on a shelf in my room, however.

Crabs know best, and it is extremely doubtful one would ever move into one willingly, so if you like the look get one for yourself or for decor!

Xenocrab wrote:I haven't because it's not natural. I want the best for my crabs. They alter the inside of their shells to get the perfect fit for them. They chip it away and secrete fluids to get the shell just right. They can't do that with glass. Plus if they chip the glass and eat it, it could seriously harm them.

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Personally, I doubt eating glass would harm the crabs, as counter intuitive as that might sound. Silica (aka sand) is very similar to glass. They eat all kinds of super hard rocks and stuff. Coral / shell can be razor sharp and the Hermes definitely pick at that from time to time. But your point about the fact that they cant mod the shell is definitely good! Would still be cool to offer one or two though!

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I don't like them because they can't "hide" from predators.

When your defense mechanism is to hide and not be able to see something and for them not to see you, my opinion/assumption is that if the crabs can still see potential predators through the glass and predators can see them-their natural defense mechanisms are thrown out of whack and this could cause distress.

Also the glass shells tend to be heavier than many natural shells, and they aren't able to modify them, as stated above.




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