HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I am new to this Association and wanted to share my experience with hermit crabs in glass shells. I am a glass blower and hermit crab lover for over 15 years. I have been making hand blown glass shells for my hermit crabs. http://www.glassshell.com I feel I now have perfected them and want to share them with other crab owners. Glass is made from fusing sand at high temps. around 2400 degrees. I can not think of a better natural material for the shells to be made from.
I have duplicated natures patterns using the same spirals found in nature to form the inside of my shells. The glass is very strong if not stronger then a natural shell. The inside of the shell is perfectly smooth and retains the moisture of the hermit crab for a long time. Glass also has an insulation value which help control a steady temp for the Hermit crab. The crabs have selected my glass shell over natural shells more often than not. I have had up to 30 Hermit crabs living in 10 different sculptural glass habitats for many years. I first started working with Hermit crabs in 1994 when I was doing a project for the NY Aquarium Awards. The curator mentioned to me after seeing some of my blown glass work that someone brought in to the Aquarium a hermit crab living in a coke bottle. That sparked an interest in me and I started to investigate blowing glass shells.
I then tried to have my crabs move into them for over six months with no luck. Then I started to cut open natural shells to see the structure and spirals within the shells. After many tries I finally came up with a proportion within a shell that seemed to duplicate the inside of a natural shell and within a week of introducing the glass shell into the tank the hermit crab moved in. I have read a lot about the painted shell and agree that it is not healthy to introduce pigments into the tank enclosure. I hope that I have now created an alternative shell that is both decorative and functional and the hermit crabs have shown to move into time and time again. I would love to hear back comments about my creations!
Regards,
Robert
http://glassshell.com

the photo didnt work but i would love to see them. Some of us have found that E crabs like a shell with no spiral in the inside, they prefer a shell that the spiral has been warn out of, lots of us have problems getting E crabs to like new shells and some are in shells that really should be changed. I would love to see someone work with that idea.

Very nice to have you at the HCA and im so looking forward to seeing photos and hearing more about your research!

I think as long as they are not too heavy for the crabs, they should be very safe. I think the pictures on your site are great. They are a little pricey but most crab fanatics will shell out $$ for things that are unique.

just looked at the site, lovely, I would suggest you post the hole size of the shells that is what most crab owners purchase shells by , they measure the current shell the crab is in and go a bit bigger for the next purchase.

The web site states "Crest Studios glassware is dishwasher safe, but we recommend hand washing to preserve the painting designs." What kind of paint are you using? Are just the metallic shells painted?

The shells are not painted the color comes from colored glass melted into the shell at high temps so it will not come off, it is part of the glass when it is melted in. The real Gold and Platinum are also fused on the surface of the glass and melts into the glass and will not come off. The decoration that we do on our stemware is also a powdered glass and is fused to the glasses at 1000 degrees and also becomes part of the glass.

Robert

Very nice.

Quite gorgeous.

Seems safe.

I might just have to give one a try sometime.

I would try them. In fact - I wish I had known about you a month ago when I had some custom made for a project by a glass blower in New Zealand! They do very nice work also - but are a bit more spendy.

Keith

Very lovely. Those would be great for larger crabs, too - sometimes it's hard finding a big enough shell that they like. Took one of my big guys four weeks and ten shells to find the right fit after he ditched a too-small painted one.

Glass and shell have about the same weight and heft - the best imitation pearls, made from glass, are almost impossible to tell from the real thing without an x-ray.

Very neat. I'd already be ordering some but I'm trying to cut back on my hermit crab spending. Maybe I'll have to save up for a few glass shells.

I definitely going to have to give those a try!! Beautiful work!

They are certainly beautiful but I would not give them to my crabs. The shell is supposed to make the crab feel safe. If he sucks himself into his shell but can still see you I think he'd feel pretty stressed.

Interesting.

Over the time that you have used these shells with hermit crabs you havent had problems of the glass cracking or chipping with their everyday antics of falling and hitting the tank walls or decorations.

I know that mine actually remodel the rim of their shells, by pinching off chunks of the shell. Would this be something to worry about with these shells?

Thanks

SaPen wrote:They are certainly beautiful but I would not give them to my crabs. The shell is supposed to make the crab feel safe. If he sucks himself into his shell but can still see you I think he'd feel pretty stressed.

Then, when given a choice, the crab would move out. If this is a concern, but folks would like to try it they could ake sure they offer a lot of choices and see what the crabs do. One might just be surprised . . . .

Keith

not all the shells seem to be see through I think the coloring might help with the safety felt by the crab too. I would love to see more photos of crabs in them.