HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I am learning so much from this site. Thank you!

I wanted to share about my crabbies with others who would understand my excitement. I got a couple of crabs from the pet store. They were in a tiny, plastic container with fresh food and a water dish with a sponge and an inch of dust. At first glance it looked like no crabs were in there, but then the salesperson lifted the clear plastic container they were using as a hide and they all came boiling out! Huge ones! A dozen or more, poor things. After they scrambled away I started searching through the dirt. I started peeking inside the medium shells to see if they were empty. Deep inside two shells, where you could barely see them, I found two crabbies. I brought them home and put them in my tank. That night they started exploring. They were so active! It was wonderful to watch.

The next night I got to watch one sit at the salt water dish and drink and drink. It was so awesome! I now know that's moulting behavior. The next day he had disappeared.

The next night I watched the second one start digging. He was all around, just digging little holes. Again, I learned this was moulting behavior. The next morning he was gone, too!

I am both thrilled and anxious. I can't wait for them to come back and try on some new shells. I'm also pleased they found their environment suitable to moult.

Thank you!

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Started in 2004 with one PP and by 2007 had gone from a 10G to 20G to 75G. By that point I had nearly 40 crabs of three species. Now, I’ve just recently got back in it and my kids like them so I’ll probably stick with it this time.

I got mine when my grandkids won them at the county fair in 2016 or thereabouts. I've just added one E to the 2 PP's they brought home. Had them in a 10g, moved to a 20g and I'm hoping to get them in the 75g I have in the barn in the next year or so.

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I recently fell in love with them about four months ago and I knew I had to get them so I went to a pet store and got two PP’s ( I know that going to pet stores to get hermit crab is not good now ). At first they started off with a 10 gallon and now they’re in a 20 and I am currently setting up their new custom 70 gallon.


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I can't wait to see pictures of your new habitat!

HermitofHermitCrabs wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 12, 2020 10:37 am

Started in 2004 with one PP and by 2007 had gone from a 10G to 20G to 75G. By that point I had nearly 40 crabs of three species. Now, I’ve just recently got back in it and my kids like them so I’ll probably stick with it this time.

Wow! I would love to have 40 crabs and a giant tank lol

AwesomeHermit wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 13, 2020 12:19 pm

Wow! I would love to have 40 crabs and a giant tank lol

It was fun. I always had 5 or so that were molting at any one time.

I got mine as a Christmas gift when I was 7. My parent's were like "Oh hermit crabs! A pet that doesn't need a lot of work, they don't live that long. Sure you can have it!" now over 9 years later, I got 6 hermit crabs 4 of which are rescues between a 30 gallon and a 35 with a 15 gallon topper

I got mine two years ago, when i saw them at the local pet store. Before that i had been keeping different spicies of land crabs, snakes, spider, geckos. But hermit crabs became my favourite pets. Unfortunatelly, in Russia we don't have enough information about this animals, so i translated many topics about keeping from HCA and other Web sites. Now i have 11 hermies, i bought the last one from the horrible conditions. Crab was without two walking legs, was very scared. But now, after successful molt, he regrown his legs and become a happy hermit crab.

I got my first hermit crab 17 years ago when I was 10 my Mom brought it home from a beach trip and he didn’t last long in his plastic critter cage. I also use to be scared of him a Lil lol I knew nothing about hermit crabs at the time. Fast forward to 2010 I seen them at the pet store and it made me want to learn more about them since it was one of my childhood pets. I learn he needed way more than I ever did and I just wanted to do things the right way. I had a 55 gallon tank with 8 hermies and my last one made it with me until 2016. After that I was devastated and took a long 4 year break because I felt like nothing can ever replace the clan I had. Fast forward to 2020 I finally decided I wanted to start crabbing again because they just seem like my spirit animals lol I knew I can try to give them a better life than maybe going in the wrong hands or dying at the pet stores. Now I have a 75 gallon with 5Pps & 5 baby E’s and I couldn’t be happier