HCA: Hermit Crab Association

If the hermits rear end is shoved in a shell how do they poop? I seriously want to know

I'm not sure about the physical facts but I do know they poop a lot.


Crabbing for 2 years-still obsessed! 6 total crustacean kids. Gave up trying to tell them apart but I love them all.

They have 10 limbs total - two bigger claws, four walking legs, two tiny paddles that hold them in the shell, and yet another pair of tiny little pinchers that are hidden back in the shell. They use these little pinchers to groom, and also to grab their own poop and toss it out of the shell when they defecate.

Lol I scared my big guy today and when he retracted into his shell a little piece of poo was between his shell and purple claw

Lol Wodesorel I had a vision of this playing out as I read it. I made me laugh thinking about them tossing the poo out. Lol I've been easily amused lately. Pain meds will do that


Crabbing for 2 years-still obsessed! 6 total crustacean kids. Gave up trying to tell them apart but I love them all.

I've spent many an hour watching a crab de-poop his shell...time well-spent when you're hooked on these little critters .

What does the poop look like? I don't know if I've seen any at all

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

It looks a lot like dry fish poop, or a thick thread broken up in sections. If you see some thing near or in your food dishes that looks like chunks of tiny twigs that you don't remember introducing to your tank, it's probably poop.

Mr. Crabby Pants wrote:It looks a lot like dry fish poop, or a thick thread broken up in sections. If you see some thing near or in your food dishes that looks like chunks of tiny twigs that you don't remember introducing to your tank, it's probably poop.

I think I see it EVERYWHERE lol. I have 4 crabs and just set up this new tank for them on Sunday but there's all of this "debris" looking stuff everywhere that I think is poop now because I don't see any of the in the sides of the substrate hahahaha. Good thing I got a scoop coming today

If you give them calcium block it comes out white and makes them go a lot. When I had Big Oliver, his poop was huge. I swear it looked like a dog's...just not as big thank goodness.