HCA: Hermit Crab Association

nebuchadnezzer sure does love spelunking! when he's on the surface, he's a busy man so i wonder how he keeps busy in his caves?



here's the whole gang- clementine, nebuchadnezzer, and jebediah. and i love them.

Nebuchadnezzer is adorable! I love their names

megmaholm,
they make EVERYTHING more fun! i wonder why nebechadnezzer likes to cave around so much? the other two hang out on the surface and climb the corners of their glass walls where the glue is and the syran wrap/mesh lid and the plants but nebechadnezzer just isn't much of a surface dweller...do you suppose that it is just his personality, his hobby is cave-building? because he isn't shy when he IS up.

ALSO i didn't know you have horses!!! kiss their soft noses for me and feed 'em an apple just from me! i wish i could hug their necks and scratch between their horse ears.

you have the best animal fam.

Some crabs just like to party underground! I have a few that just come up to eat and then disappear again. They're not shy, either. Maybe they're just antisocial. Cave building is a good way to relieve excess energy.

Yep, I have 2 spoiled horses! They're fat and lazy and would certainly appreciate an apple. https://www.flickr.com/photos/meganmaholm/6358701569/ That's Hawk, my biggest pain in the butt.

oh. my. goodness. i could never love another twitchy-eared, nuzzly-nosed horse as much as that guy!!! HAWK! i love him. do the cats love him or do they visit the barn at all?

so i guess i can think of cave building like when my cats mock battle each other and then go off to groom, part coping mechanism, part general inclination.

He has a very kissable nose! The cats haven't met him. I board him at a friend's place that's about 20 minutes from my house, but I have a feeling if my cats ever met him he would try to eat them since he thinks EVERYTHING is edible. https://www.flickr.com/photos/meganmaholm/11970207175/ <- That's Moon, my 20 year old senior.

Has Nebuchadnezzer molted with you yet? Maybe he's building practice caves before so he can make the perfect one when he decides to stay under.

ooooooooh she's so sleek and shiny! i haven't seen all that many horses in my life but her coloring seems extra special like a holstein cow and i love her!

nebechadnezzer molted about a month ago which is why i am so confused by his copious cave dwelling. i imagine primitive crab cave paintings on the walls of his substrate and maybe a small hearth fire burning in there

kate.e.m. wrote:ooooooooh she's so sleek and shiny! i haven't seen all that many horses in my life but her coloring seems extra special like a holstein cow and i love her!

nebechadnezzer molted about a month ago which is why i am so confused by his copious cave dwelling. i imagine primitive crab cave paintings on the walls of his substrate and maybe a small hearth fire burning in there

Omg! That image had me bent over laughing hysterically. Maybe I'm just more crazy than usual tonight but wow that was hilarious. At least you won't have any heating issues with the extra fires.

Hermit crab cave paintings...OMG. What would they paint pictures of? The giant pink hand that descends on them daily and blesses them with food?

Yes!

well i tried to sneak a peak by looking under the tank and using the flashlight on my phone...nebuchadnezzer was SCANDALIZED and skittered all around the cave which by the way is huge! it was like 2 inches by 3 inches! i had no idea they made a whole den he's like a boxtroll living below the surface...maybe i should rename him! fish or eggs or shoe?

Now that you know he's okay, it's best to leave him in perfect darkness. Shining lights on him can prevent him from molting, which can be deadly. Just let him do his thing

soilentgringa wrote:Now that you know he's okay, it's best to leave him in perfect darkness. Shining lights on him can prevent him from molting, which can be deadly. Just let him do his thing

he molted a month ago along with my other two crabs so i doubt that's what he has planned for this cave...but thanks for trying to help

soilentgringa wrote:Now that you know he's okay, it's best to leave him in perfect darkness. Shining lights on him can prevent him from molting, which can be deadly. Just let him do his thing

WHAT?! you were totally right, nebuchadnezzer was cave testing, and he just finished his molt and returned to the surface today. he's my biggest crab (his shell is about 2 inches long and 1 inch high but he wears it pretty tightly despite bigger choices in the tank)...why would he molt twice in the span of less than two months??? should i be expecting my two little guys to molt again too? they did a group molt after coming from a very unpleasant environment.

this is stressful! i'm always worried that they won't make it through since that first group molt killed off half the herd