HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi all -

I have spent so many hours on these boards setting up an awesome 40 gallon tank with 5 hermit crabs. They are happy and healthy and my children love them! None are currently molting.

Right now we are safe but if the fires grow we are facing potential evacuation from the fires in the Santa Cruz mountains. Are there any other California crab owners here who have thought through an evac plan for your crabs? Also would taking 2 cats and 2 dogs a hamster and 3 kids in one minivan, so there is a lot to think about.

I'd love to connect with crab owners in San Jose or the north bay who would be willing to foster our crabs if needed (santa cruz might work too). I'm just worried about being able to provide proper substrate, fresh and salt water, humidity, and food variation!

Thanks for any advice!

Aster

If you have vehicle space you can use a plastic tote with a little substrate and moss for transport. Molters will have to be dug up and kept individually in food containers filled with moss.

If space is an issue you can transport all the crabs in moss-filled containers. The moss provides both moisture and food.

If you just have PPs you won’t need to carry saltwater around since they can make do without it in a pinch. Having a small bag with emergency supplies (a few bottles of water, a dechlor agent, and a bit of food) will be useful.


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Joe's advice is spot on! Hermits do okay with an occasional disturbance, and while it isn't ideal, using temp totes and digging up molters can be perfectly okay. I like moss the best for transport since it's natural, lightweight, acts as a cushion, and provides them with food and water. They would be okay nestled in moist moss with little attention for a very long time if it came down to an emergency situation. If moss was unavailable, I'd substitute straight cocofiber. Moist papertowels would be my third choice.

Thank you for the great replies! Sorry for the delay, it's been a wild week in northern california.

I'm very glad to learn that I can evacuate our hermit crabs in tub of moss - so I've now prepared a gallon plastic tub with some substrate in the bottom and filled with moss. Our hermits normally get a fresh diet daily, but I picked up a small bottle of dry pellets just in case and I have a water dripper (like the kind a hamster would use that can fit inside the plastic tub too.

Thank you all!