HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Well I don't know if this really fits, but I am just wondering what your personal experience has been with life span of your hermies. I know I have read they can live upwards of 30 years!!! But I don't know if anyone has had one that long. I have had my three guys for 4 months, so I am still new to this. But how long have you guys had yours?

The longest living crab I had was over a year old, it was a straw. I had four and she was the last of that colony to go and then I quit for awhile.

Carol of crabworks has had two PPs for 30 years, and I know there's HCA members with crabs that have lived 5, 8 years.

Personally, I would say that 4-5 would be a decent life span in captivity, although of course I'd like mine to live the 30 years.

Well let me just make a list:

Peek-a-boo: Large female who is 2 years old this month

Rocko: Medium male who will be 2 years old in January

Spike: Medium male who will also be 2 years old in January

Bugger: Large female who will be 2 years old in March

Crimson: Medium male who will be 2 years old in June

Clover: Medium male who will also be 2 years old in June

Heffer: Small male who will be also be 2 years old in June

Flame: Medium male who will be 2 years old in July

Roadrunner: Medium male who will also be 2 years old in July

Buffet: Small male who will also be 2 years old in July

Ren: Small male who will also be 2 years old in July

Spot: Small male who will also be 2 years old in July

Stimpy: Small female who will also be 2 years old in July

Goober: Jumbo female who will be 2 years old in August

Squirt: Small male who will be 2 years old in January

Rocky: Micro male who will also be 2 years old in January

Pearl: Small female who will be 1 year old in December

Dr. Claw: Medium female who will be 1 year old in January

Feisty: Small male who will be 1 year old in April

Sam: Large male who will be 1 year old in June

Morris: Large ? who will be 1 year old in August

Morris Jr.: Medium ? who will be 1 year old in August

Perky: Large ? who is 3 weeks old

I like the list. It's helpful to see what the actual breakdown of HC lifespan in a tank is.

Thanks, I was actually shocked that I remembered when I bought each one.

The longest I've had one is a year and a half, but that's also my total time crabbing. The second longest crab life is almost a year now. I'm hoping it stays this way for a very long time!

this will be my 14th month with my first crab, a large PP named Big 'un. I hope he grows to a ripe old age with me .

Caroline

You can say how long a crab you have has lived, but how do we know how old it was when purchased? Is there anyway to determine a crabs actual age?

No way to determine the exact age but there is a general guide, which is as follows:

Micro: 1 year or less
Teeny: 1-2 years
Small: 2-4 years
Medium: 5-8 years
Large: 9-14 years
Jumbo: 15 years and beyond

Hermit_of_Hermit_Crabs wrote:No way to determine the exact age but there is a general guide, which is as follows:

Micro: 1 year or less
Teeny: 1-2 years
Small: 2-4 years
Medium: 5-8 years
Large: 9-14 years
Jumbo: 15 years and beyond

This is handy to know HoHC! I posted something similar in another thread, but was just guessing on the other sizes besides micro and jumbo.

Well those year listings are just a estimation. I really think a micro could go up to 2 years, but other than that I think it is fairly close.

I suppose those sizes and ages are pretty close, but we should remember that if certain crabs are not in good conditions (i.e. pet stores) they may have put off molts and could be older then what we think. Not that much though since they most likely would die from pet stores rather then live longer with out molting. But who knows. Thanks for the list, I am pretty sure it is right.

You are quite welcome.

I think we really just need to wait to see the real life span of crabs living in tanks. A nice number of us still have a crab or two that we got when we first started crabbing that is still alive today. We just have to wait to see how long they really can live.

If all goes well, we will be able to see the life span of each of our crabs get larger and larger after every year. My oldest (and first crab) is at 2yr and 3 months.

So, do you think getting micros or teenies are more apt to adapt to captivity than say, a larger crab??? Do you think they have a higher success rate???