HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Okay, so after suffering from a fire earlier this year and moving out of our home to move back in 6 mos later…and now the owner (we rent) is selling the house. Ugh. We just moved back in like a month ago. When we originally left after the fire, I was able to leave crabs here while they were doing work in the house (came and checked on them daily). Now that we have to get out, I’m immediately concerned about moving my crabs…and the tank!

I have a 40g breeder with a 30g exo terra tank topper. I have 7 crabs total and I think a few are down. Moving in 2 weeks and hoping for the experienced crabbers to reply with some best practices!

Thank you everyone…worried this is gonna stress them out and certainly don’t like the idea of digging anyone up. Help.


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I'd get the ones that are up into a temporary isolation tank/storage container right away, then only carefully dig for the buried ones right before the move. Probably have to individually house the ones you dug for so you can monitor them. I'm sure there's some write-up here on the process.

How far is your drive to your new place? Depending on how long of a drive my reply for transport will be different.

ciaraalston had to dig up crabs for a move she did. Her play by play is pretty in depth and should help you a lot. Especially if you need to dig.
https://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB ... 7&t=118837

@motörcrab The new house is 10-12 min away…

I’ll read what you sent in the meantime!

Thank you, both, for the reply


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With moving that close I wouldn't be too concerned with the actual transport. Put them in small containers with moist moss for humidity. Be sure you have your vehicle warmed up well before transport. Going longer distances takes a bit more prepping.

Oh yea, good call! Do I have to put them each in a separate container…or can a put 2-3 in each, depending on size?

I’m mostly worried about having to dig for some…


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If they will be out of their crabitats for several days overnight or a few hours I would place each one in their own container.

I honestly wouldn't worry about separate containers if they would be in if for less than an hour.

We rescued/adopted close to a dozen crabs from 3 different people a few years ago. It was an all day event, we drove from central PA to the Washington DC area. We placed them all in a 10 gallon with an inch or so of sub and a few hides. We had a power inverter hooked up to the tank with a thermostat just like in a home set up. We didn't have any issues. It was mid January too! Something like that could also serve as a temporary tank too. Just add more sub when you are at the new house!

Good luck! I'd like to hear how everything goes.

Long time coming update… I was very lucky that none of the crabs I had to dig for were molting. I put each (7) of them in their own container with moistened moss and a little snack. Then I stacked them between 2 20 gallon tanks with heaters and transported them that way. They stayed like that overnight and through the next day… Everything went smoothly, thank goodness! And it makes me happy to announce that they now live in a 75 gallon tank with a 30 gallon topper and all 7 of them seem to be thriving, 4 of which I adopted here at the HCA!


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Nice!

crabbycasey wrote:Long time coming update… I was very lucky that none of the crabs I had to dig for were molting. I put each (7) of them in their own container with moistened moss and a little snack. Then I stacked them between 2 20 gallon tanks with heaters and transported them that way. They stayed like that overnight and through the next day… Everything went smoothly, thank goodness! And it makes me happy to announce that they now live in a 75 gallon tank with a 30 gallon topper and all 7 of them seem to be thriving, 4 of which I adopted here at the HCA!


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So awesome!! Happy all went well!

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