HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I’ve had this bird feeder up for a few months now and have never seen any of my 7 PPs attempting to access it.

It could be due to the 2nd rate sphagnum moss I got from Home Depot (I have some new moss coming soon), but wouldn’t they have at least climbed up there to check it out?

Any tips to entice their curiosity would be appreciated


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Harry Wang wrote:

I’ve had this bird feeder up for a few months now and have never seen any of my 7 PPs attempting to access it.

It could be due to the 2nd rate sphagnum moss I got from Home Depot (I have some new moss coming soon), but wouldn’t they have at least climbed up there to check it out?

Any tips to entice their curiosity would be appreciated


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Have you tried putting little treats on it or up at the top? I have a hamster wheel, and I kept putting a little treat in it (like popcorn) everyday for a month. My big crab Beau finally went for it and realized what the wheel was for when he was in there.

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Ofc! Great idea - I think I’ll try hanging some snacks on the green plastic to make sure they know it’s there, then gradually lure them higher.

If that doesn’t work I’ll wait until the next time I have an excuse to handle them and put them back directly in the feeder

Also, any advice on handfeeding crabs to get them associating being handled with food? Would be cool for them to come closer instead of running for cover when anyone approaches. I’m debating on getting some 1 way mirror film lol


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Definitely let me know how it goes with the treats. Hopefully it works for you. And 1 way mirror tape would actually be pretty neat to see in action.

I don't know anything about making hermies more tame/less frightened of us, but maybe you could ask Overmountain1 . She has a huge hermie named Princess that likes to cuddle lol.

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Hey! Yep, I have a few little hermit buddies that seem to enjoy the interactions; they will approach us at the front and play with us thru the glass, and some of those ones enjoy having some time out with us here and there. It honestly depends on the individual crab, and how long they’ve been in captivity too. Princess is an adoptee,and her former owner was pretty hands off, but she has almost zero nervousness around people in general. She will walk into my hand to be lifted out and she lets me know when she’s done with it all too!
My main advice is to just take it slow- at their rate. Which is super hard to do when you do want to visit, believe me I know! I still only try to get any one of my buddies out no more than about once a month. More than that and it loses its novelty for them I guess! I just do what they seem to want, however much or little that may be, and the bigger they get the friendlier they get too, at least that holds true for me so far. Some small are friendly and some big are shy, but on the whole age and simply time seem to help the most! Idk if any of that was useful, it’s a little late and I’m rambling a bit. Sorry! Princess is my sweetie pie; I’ll post a couple of her and of James, my friendly E in too small pants! He is a real nut and comes running forward almost anytime you walk in the room. Congrats and enjoy! They’ll climb all over it in no time I’m sure.


Dave the Wondercrab~Pat~Maggie~ Billy~Pop~Corn~Ten~Sam~MissTeri~Tim~Gene~ Barry~Mr S~Princess + 5 Es + Mr EnDoh =my crabby clan!

Overmountain1 wrote:Hey! Yep, I have a few little hermit buddies that seem to enjoy the interactions; they will approach us at the front and play with us thru the glass, and some of those ones enjoy having some time out with us here and there. It honestly depends on the individual crab, and how long they’ve been in captivity too. Princess is an adoptee,and her former owner was pretty hands off, but she has almost zero nervousness around people in general. She will walk into my hand to be lifted out and she lets me know when she’s done with it all too!
My main advice is to just take it slow- at their rate. Which is super hard to do when you do want to visit, believe me I know! I still only try to get any one of my buddies out no more than about once a month. More than that and it loses its novelty for them I guess! I just do what they seem to want, however much or little that may be, and the bigger they get the friendlier they get too, at least that holds true for me so far. Some small are friendly and some big are shy, but on the whole age and simply time seem to help the most! Idk if any of that was useful, it’s a little late and I’m rambling a bit. Sorry! Princess is my sweetie pie; I’ll post a couple of her and of James, my friendly E in too small pants! He is a real nut and comes running forward almost anytime you walk in the room. Congrats and enjoy! They’ll climb all over it in no time I’m sure.


Dave the Wondercrab~Pat~Maggie~ Billy~Pop~Corn~Ten~Sam~MissTeri~Tim~Gene~ Barry~Mr S~Princess + 5 Es + Mr EnDoh =my crabby clan!

Shhhhh, don't tell anyone, but I think Princess is my favorite crab in the HCA group. LOL
It does look like James would have a hard time completely retracting in his shell if he needed too lol. I wish I lived near you so I could hug all of your cute crabbies. If I tried that with mine, they'd all have a heart attack lol.


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That's an awesome feeder - what is the netting? Did you make it or was it pre-made?

Most of us at the HCA take a hand-off approach with our crabs. Yes, there are people who handle them and there are crabs who don't seem to mind it. But in general they see us a predators and it can stress them out.

CrabbyLover77- it’s ok, me too. She is just a cool and chill crab! And thank you. I still want to find a way to share her with more people without it being stressful on her too bad, we are working on short outings in warmer weather. (She has gone to a couple of pet shops with me to spread some more awareness.) I could carry on about that for a while but won’t. Suffice it to say, I don’t want to push her any harder than she can handle, and we are taking it slow.

CurlySister - yes, that’s exactly what it comes to- I will never be an equal to her, but she can come to trust me enough to hang out a little bit here and there. I try to respect their boundaries and signals as much as possible, bc the last thing I want is to harm them- I want my Princess (and everyone else) for another 10-20-30 years! (No idea how old she is of course...)


Dave the Wondercrab~Pat~Maggie~ Billy~Pop~Corn~Ten~Sam~MissTeri~Tim~Gene~ Barry~Mr S~Princess + 5 Es + Mr EnDoh =my crabby clan!

Definitely keep me updated on her outings! I love to hear about the adventures of other people's crabs, especially Miss Princess.

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curlysister wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 02, 2019 12:52 pm

That's an awesome feeder - what is the netting? Did you make it or was it pre-made?

Most of us at the HCA take a hand-off approach with our crabs. Yes, there are people who handle them and there are crabs who don't seem to mind it. But in general they see us a predators and it can stress them out.

Thanks! I got the birdfeeder and reptile hammock off of amazon for ~$30. The green square was $5 from Hancock.

The skull and coco-hammock are their favorite spots atm.. Hopefully they’ll incorporate that birdfeeder though


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Zoid chillin on the cholla


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Thanks, we love our little James too. He’s our friendly neighborhood crab.

Zoid climbed up there all by himself with no food incentive ^_^ That huge green square had to go, but maybe i’ll use it to line a wall or something.

Does anyone know if the Flexible moss reptile bridge from Petsmart is safe, or do they dye that?


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