HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Over the weekend I added 2 new small guys to my tank. I already had 2 mediums but the one, Hermie, spends so much time burrowing that my other medium, Comet, seemed lonely. Comet is pretty much always up when not molting whereas Hermie is only up in the middle of the night. I've been checking on the tank a few times a day to make sure the little guys weren't being bullied and trying to encourage them into slightly larger shells since the ones they had on looked a bit small. I checked yesterday morning and they were all up (except Hermie) but the tank was a little cold (I had turned the heat down in my house more than I meant to). This morning I found one of the new smalls, Neptune, had found a better fitting shell and was just doing his thing. Comet, my more active medium, and his new little buddy Trident had decided to burrow to warm up I guess. Well, this evening, after a tank check Neptune has dug down too!

I was really looking forward to a more active tank and now it may as well be empty
I've increased the temperature so hopefully, at least one of the 4 will decide to venture back up, although I've given up on seeing Hermie. That guy is super shy.

And Comet is back up. Little dude never disappoints.

That's cool one of your little guys comes up for you. They can be frustrating at times with the amount of time they prefer to be buried. I have five and in the seven weeks I have had them four have been down the whole time and number five is in a half log hut hiding and refuses to come out. It does sadden me spending all that money making their environment ideal to look at an empty tank.

CrabbahN.E. wrote:That's cool one of your little guys comes up for you. They can be frustrating at times with the amount of time they prefer to be buried. I have five and in the seven weeks I have had them four have been down the whole time and number five is in a half log hut hiding and refuses to come out. It does sadden me spending all that money making their environment ideal to look at an empty tank.

YESSS, I feel the same way-- we've got 10 and had 4 up for a week or so that just tried to stay hidden, and now there are only 2 up consistently (& one that just finished molting that comes up in the middle of the night and then reburies lol). I expected more activity when I added more crabs-- whoops haha.
Hope yours show themselves soon, cewilson!

Neptune was back up as well this morning. Trident is still no where to be seen. I'm hoping he's just gone down for a molt. Hermie seems to have been up overnight but was busy digging himself back down this morning. I could only see the back of his shell.

I find that as the get larger they tend to hide less. The smaller they are, the more predators they have!

You could try adding more hiding places, leafy vines or a moss pit, that usually ups the activity some. (They feel more safe)


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They have quite a few hiding places including a coconut hut, a coconut fiber wall and lots of greens to hide in. Hermie is my biggest and also my hider so I think it is a shyness thing rather than a predator thing. I think the new guy is probably down for a stress molt. The other new guy is the exact same size and he's climbing about without a problem.

Them burying, tunneling, molting, etc. is just them being crabs lol. I like to think of it as them complimenting your substrate.

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