HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I often by large packs of shells and usually there are some shells that cannot be used by hermit crabs. Some of them have holes or cracks and some just aren't the right type or don't have the right type of opening. I have collected quite a few of these and I just don't know what to do with them.

I sometimes use flat ones as food dishes. And I know you can use the others for decoration. Sometimes I even crush them up into tiny pieces to either feed them or to mix into the sand.

Any other ideas?
What do you do with yours?

What about using the holes in them to make them into necklaces, or pull-chains for lights or fans? Maybe even string them together or glue them to each other for a climbing structure?

A climbing structure is a great idea!
I could glue some suction cups to the back and use it as part of a background!
Thanks!

No prob! I didn't even think of it till I was typing it,hh. Be sure to share pics when you get it done.

I have a lot of extra shells, and most of the time I just put them in a basket as a room decoration... it adds a nice touch.

I put them into the pools for the smaller crabs to climb out on. They look pretty, and are useful!

They all go in the tank as decorations. I've had about 20 shell changes and as yet, they've never picked a broken shell.

Right now I'm saving my shells in the hopes that one day, I may get that tropical vacation so I can disperse them in the wild so that wild hermits can use them as well.

...maybe....

I created a hut out of my junk shells. It took about a week and a lot of changing of plans, but I used aquarium sealant as my "glue". A few pieces have come loose since I have made it, but I was running low around the bottom of the hut and didn't use as much sealant as I would have liked. Most of the shells are broken beyond repair or inadequate for my crabs. I felt bad about having all these junk shells laying around with nothing to do.

Photobucket appears to be down, so I cannot post my photos of it. It is rather ugly, but the crabs seem to like crawling on top of it.[/img]

I haven't decided how I'm going to use all of my unusable shells yet. I'm contemplating reselling them for people that use them for crafts and the like. I've seen them go on Ebay and Etsy so I'm not sure.

Photo bucket is finally working, so here is what I did with my broken & non hermit crab friendly shells:

Cool

I'm hoarding my unusable shells until I build my new tank. I will have to break some apart, but I'm going to silicone them to the sides of my pools. I think they'll look nicer than aquarium rocks.

Michelle that is the coolest thing I have seen in awhile, no offense to anyone I am just really impressed. May I borrow the idea?

If the I can't use the shells in the tank and they are no sharp edges I give them to my granddaughter to play with to use with her Little People. She loves shells.

I don't get much of a chance to use the broken/non-hermie friendly shells. Every time my mother vists she kidnaps the pretty ones to use as decorations in her house