Websites that humanely ship hermit crabs?

[Crabby in NJ]

For the most part this has remained a civil sharing of opinions. I love seeing that, I think it is great and shows the care with which we speak to one another, and conveys respect. It’s good to see. But mostly I agree with @Crabby in NJ. It doesn’t really answer then question other than we all agree that shipping is not ideal if it can be helped. I love all my crabbies- PPS and exotics, from tiny to jumbo. But I also live in a rural area with very few pet stores and can see why people will order the crabs. If they’re going to be snatched off the beach at least we can give them a better home than so many others would. There is nothing wrong with wanting more than one breed, they’re all really cool and different. Anyway, I’m sure I didn’t add anything new just now, but I wanted to say a little something anyway.


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

I agree...for the most part. I said something only bc the original poster just asked a question and hoped for an answer which it seems they didn’t really get. Instead, the opposite which wasn’t very helpful imho. Just my 2 cents.
It’s hard for some of us to find anything other than PPs....I would love a crab that does more than just change shells constantly to add to the crabby family. I love them ALL but naturally wanna have more than just one type. They are awesome little creatures and they r already ripped from their natural homes ya know? Why not give them a better life? Idk....Trying to adopt in this area is impossible for anything other than PPs so I totally understand. I wonder how others were able to get their strawberries and e’s or violas and blueberries etc.
regardless, it is true that no matter how you get your hermit crabs, they have been ripped away from their homes, transported in some shipping form which is not ideal....this I agree with whole heartedly. It sucks but that’s the way it is right now. I would rather give the crabbies their best chance of a normal life than watch more be murdered bc nobody would Home them, adopt etc. everyone is entitled to their opinions. We are all here for one main reason, to help each other...help the crabbies thrive! 🥰

[CrabbyChelle628]

I would love an E or a strawberry but nothing like that lives around me either and I’m on the shore so I completely understand what finalXfantasy is saying.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I think when ppl ask a question they would rather just an answer than to be bombarded with others opinions. Just my two cents.

I agree with you. I Live in Fargo,ND where I am completely land locked. I recently called around in my city and in the Minneapolis ,MN to reptile stores and pet stores to see who had hermit crabs. And to my surprise I found one with Strawberries.I don't see any crabs up for adoption and rarely do around my area, so I am driving down there later in the week on a 4 hour car trip. I would be happy with PP's, but I was going to Minneapolis anyways.

[Crabby in NJ]

Good luck and pls do share pics with me!

[CrabbyChelle628]

I agree...for the most part. I said something only bc the original poster just asked a question and hoped for an answer which it seems they didn’t really get. Instead, the opposite which wasn’t very helpful imho. Just my 2 cents.
It’s hard for some of us to find anything other than PPs....I would love a crab that does more than just change shells constantly to add to the crabby family. I love them ALL but naturally wanna have more than just one type. They are awesome little creatures and they r already ripped from their natural homes ya know? Why not give them a better life? Idk....Trying to adopt in this area is impossible for anything other than PPs so I totally understand. I wonder how others were able to get their strawberries and e’s or violas and blueberries etc.
regardless, it is true that no matter how you get your hermit crabs, they have been ripped away from their homes, transported in some shipping form which is not ideal....this I agree with whole heartedly. It sucks but that’s the way it is right now. I would rather give the crabbies their best chance of a normal life than watch more be murdered bc nobody would Home them, adopt etc. everyone is entitled to their opinions. We are all here for one main reason, to help each other...help the crabbies thrive!

Ok.I would love to adopt but like "Crabby in NJ" there is no way to get diifferent species besides adoption and having them shipped. I want shipping to be the last available option and i want to try every other avenue first. In ND, I am literally almost at the center of North America, so I am completely land locked. Last week I must have called 20-25 reptile, exotic pet, and other pet stores,in both Fargo, and Minneapolis/St. Paul, and only about 6-7 of those had hermit crabs and only 1 store has Strawberries. The only ones I didn't call were the national chains, like Petco, and PetSmart.

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

[CrabbyChelle628]

Good luck and pls do share pics with me!

Unfortunatly, plans have changed not going for a couple more months. Hopefully they will still have Strawberries.

When I went to petco last time to get some eco earth(and to look at hermies)
they had a good 5 -6 inches of substrate with places to hide and to climb and a bowl of each kind of water and a bowl of food.(commercial) for us food snobs. Petco had their lights on timers and only about 5-7 pps to a tank, with only a few in painted shells.They had most in natural shells and even a few extra large. As well as almost all of them were active that were up. I went to Petco at about 8:15-8:30 right after the mall.

VS....
The pet store in the mall which had about 30-40, 1.5 inch PPs in a 15 gal tank with less then 1 inch of the dyed calci hermit crab sand and one giant dish with a pile of sponges in only 1 type of water and food sprinkled throughout the sand. The hermies had a few places to hide, but none of them were being used. Almost all of them were huddled down and curled tight as it was in the evening around 7-7:30pm, a few of them were active (like 3) , AND all of them were in painted shells.

So in conclusion, I think if I had to get any (more) PPs from a store it would be from Petco, although I haven't seen what Petsmarts tanks are like.

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

[Motörcrab]

If you fill out the application and pass the approval process Mary Akers will ship captive bred baby hermits. She has had success sending them all over the US next day shipping last year. Shipping hermits is always a tough call on how safe it is. During late spring through the early fall months is generally acceptable in the US. There can still be variables out of everyone control because of the transit if you do get a cold night, or if they are in the back of a hot truck during the day.

[Crabby in NJ]

I was pretty much approved but haven’t had the accumulated time for this year and wasn't going to chance her saying no at the last moment. Whomever she had going through with the applications and what not was very happy with me and the changes I’d made but I said I would wait u til next year. I truly hope she has some e’s next time around as I know I’ll be approved!

[Motörcrab]

Last year Mary thought she had E's which are the ones we picked. For how small they are it's really tough to tell since they are all a light tan color and they can tuck up way into their tiny shells. All ours we thought were E's are actually Purples. They are still fun to watch and still tiny!

[Harry Wang]

If you fill out the application and pass the approval process Mary Akers will ship captive bred baby hermits. She has had success sending them all over the US next day shipping last year. Shipping hermits is always a tough call on how safe it is. During late spring through the early fall months is generally acceptable in the US. There can still be variables out of everyone control because of the transit if you do get a cold night, or if they are in the back of a hot truck during the day.

Where would one find this form? I also want to get one of her optimal bronze pea dishes

[Motörcrab]

The babies will be available at Crab Con 2020 to approved adopters. At the bottom of the first page of the Crab Con 2020 thread I posted information a link to the adoption application.
Crab Con 2020 thread link
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=121125&hilit=2020

Here is the link to Mary's shop on Etsy. She came up with several new food dish shapes recently. Some of them are really cool! I also highly recommend ordering some of her Crabby Granola and Color Mix. They are some of the only foods we can offer almost daily and are the first to go!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/EarthWaterFireStudio

[wodesorel]

Last year Mary thought she had E's which are the ones we picked. For how small they are it's really tough to tell since they are all a light tan color and they can tuck up way into their tiny shells. All ours we thought were E's are actually Purples. They are still fun to watch and still tiny!

Wild caught baby E's are vivid blues and greens, though for how fast they molt out of it in captivity, that may be from diet.