HCA: Hermit Crab Association

i like to handle my crabs, but i was curious to se what others had to say on the matter.

I don't handle my crabs personally. I take a goldfish philosophy to handling: they are for viewing, not for touching or petting.

I pick up everyone once a day to do a general health check. I hold them for less than 10 seconds as I wait for them to pop out and then I put them back down. I guess I want them to realize that "THE HAND" isn't a bad thing so they don't totally freak out when I change food and water.
Aside from that, they don't get handled.

Edited to say: My big guys are so used to this that they pop out as soon as they feel my fingers on their shell, so most of the time I don't even lift them out of the 'tat.

Ditto, Kili! Ever since finding the HCA I've quit handling aside from the occasional photo shoot where I take them out and sit them on my bed. And that's it, unless I'm like deep cleaning or something else which involves the crabs being out of the 'tat. Personally, I think handling is an eventual death trap to crabs, many will disagree with that though.

Teracolor, why do you think it's a death trap if you handle them too much?

I do a health check and let them out to walk around the outside of the crabitat about once a day, for maybe 5 minutes. The problem is, I have a husband who may do the same thing. My mother, stepfather, and grandmother will leave them alone.

Goliath is a climber, so by getting him out of the aquarium box, he can take advantage of some climbing on books and the like. However, most of the time he's in the corner of the crabitat so I leave him alone. He's been from one corner to another, so I know he's alive

David is still a little shy, but I want them to be familar with my scent so if I need to get into the tank, they won't necessarily go crazy and hide.

i handle mine. i want them to get used to humans, so they get less stressed

Fred and I handle our crabs, especially Freddy. When we first got crabs it never occurred to us to not handle them. Of the 11 crabs in our established colony, only one doesn't come out of his shell. We also let the crabs walk around on our arms and back. Some of the little devils spend a good bit of time exploring my pinned back hair.

I handle all of my crabs from my teenies (not as much, if one gets away from me, good luck finding them), but they all respond in a most positive way and never pinch me. Good thing, seeing that I have a Jumbo gentle giant.

Crabs that are out and about do occasionally get picked up to do an inspection. I think it's a good id ea to take a good look at a crab's anatomy, who's recently molted, condition of exo, etc.

However, over all I try to keep handling to a minimum. I have had crabs in the past who really seemed to enjoy interacting and they had more handling than others. I even have had a couple of crabs who would climb onto my hand from the floor. I do believe that there is a broad spectrum of personalities in crabs ranging from very very shy to very outgoing and comfortable.

I do not believe that handling will kill your crabs. I think that excessive handling of a shy crab will stress that crab and could eventually lead to poor health, but as a general rule, I don't believe there's anything wrong with occasional handling.

ladywolfstorm wrote:Teracolor, why do you think it's a death trap if you handle them too much?

Like I said.. many will disagree with my beliefs..
Well, hermit crabs in the wild aren't used to handling and then whatever dumb people harvest them are more likely than not rather cruel to them. So then they don't trust "the hand." And with being picked up and played with I just think t will cause so much uncalled for stress that in the long run it will shorten the crabs life span. Just my opinion though.

I handle mine about 3 or 4 times a week, depending on how active they are. They really seem to enjoy it and they have gotten used to me and my family. I believe that handling is OK as long is it is not done too frequently.

I handle all of my crabs except for the newbies! I have some very friendly ones that love to be handled. I have a few that do not like it also so I leave them alone. You can pretty much tell.

In my long experience with hermit crabs it really depends on each individual crab as far as handling goes. My older crabs who know me by sight, sound, and smell extremely well don't even tuck in their shells anymore. Now the crabs I have only had a year or so are a lot more skittish when it comes to handling. I voted no to handling unless you have to move them for a cleaning or to ISO. However, I think an exception can be made if the crab is extremely comfortable with you

I believe in handling, but not every day. I think it stresses them about.
I have 6 crabs: 4 PP's and 2 E's.
Because E's sometimes hate being held, I generally hold them for about 30 seconds each to get a good look at them and to let them know hands are not the enemy.
I generally hold my PP's a few minutes if they seem to be enjoying it. I don't hold my crabs for more than 5 minutes at a time.
The crabs I've had longer seem to do better when being held. They know my smell and feel, and I think they trust me not to hurt them.