HCA: Hermit Crab Association

To all hermit crab pet lovers:

I need your help. I am currently a college student working on a research paper on how we, as people, can better bring awareness to the common problems hermit crab owners are face with. What are some facts that people need to know, but don't know. Most of us are aware that large retail pet store give hermit crab owners false information on how to properly care for their crab. I am trying to gather as much information from experienced hermit crab pet owners to write a research paper on the facts that people need to know, but don't know about having a hermit crab as a pet. I would really appreciate your knowledgeable facts and will be more than happy to share my findings once I am done with my report.
some example questions:
- What is the most common issue first time hermit crab pet owners face with?
- On the top of your head, what are 5 essential products every hermit crab pet owner needs to have?
- What is the number one reason hermit crab's do not reach their life expectancy in captivity? and how can we give solutions to these problems?

* If anyone knows where I could get these information I would really appreciate it: The number of hermit crab pet owners in the U.S.?*

Thank You so much for your time! I really hope that this research paper can save the life's of some hermit crab's.

Let's help extend the life of the crab

This is what I found http://users.tpg.com.au/users/vanessap/hermit/cs/

In addition to looking for articles and threads, you could PM some of the members on the forum and ask if you could send them some questions, like an interview.

What is the most common issue first time hermit crab pet owners face with?

Allot of time people have problems with keeping both humidity and temperature at safe levels. Lots of inexperienced crabbers also fear that they're crab isn't eating, which is usually not the case.

On the top of your head, what are 5 essential products every hermit crab pet owner needs to have?

1. Substrate
2. Water conditioner
3. Natural shells
4. A heat lamp or matt
5. A glass aquarium of at least 10 gallons

- What is the number one reason hermit crabs do not reach their life expectancy in captivity? and how can we give solutions to these problems?

Allot of it has to do with the care the crabs are receiving. Allot of time these crabs are bought as throw away pets and are given either so little or no care at all. They have lots of basic needs that can’t be covered when kept in a tiny plastic or wire cage. When given appropriate care the crabs will live 10+ in captivity. Occasionally crabs will die soon after being brought home, due to what we call PPS, it stands for post-purchase syndrome. It’s caused by the stress of moving from supplier to store to your home.

If anyone knows where I could get this information I would really appreciate it: The number of hermit crab pet owners in the U.S.?*

I don’t know the exact number of captive crabs or owners for that matter and I don’t think anyone does.But I do know that around 1 million crabs are imported into the U.S. per year, most of which are sold at boardwalk stores and mall kiosks across the nation as throw away pets.

Tenodera wrote:In addition to looking for articles and threads, you could PM some of the members on the forum and ask if you could send them some questions, like an interview.

Thank You, I will definitely PM people personally and ask them questions.

hermitcrab101 wrote: Allot of time people have problems with keeping both humidity and temperature at safe levels. Lots of inexperienced crabbers also fear that they're crab isn't eating, which is usually not the case. 1. Substrate
2. Water conditioner
3. Natural shells
4. A heat lamp or matt
5. A glass aquarium of at least 10 gallons Allot of it has to do with the care the crabs are receiving. Allot of time these crabs are bought as throw away pets and are given either so little or no care at all. They have lots of basic needs that can’t be covered when kept in a tiny plastic or wire cage. When given appropriate care the crabs will live 10+ in captivity. Occasionally crabs will die soon after being brought home, due to what we call PPS, it stands for post-purchase syndrome. It’s caused by the stress of moving from supplier to store to your home.
I don’t know the exact number of captive crabs or owners for that matter and I don’t think anyone does.But I do know that around 1 million crabs are imported into the U.S. per year, most of which are sold at boardwalk stores and mall kiosks across the nation as throw away pets.

Wow Thank you so much I was not aware 1 million hermit crab were imported in the U.S.
Do You know where you got that information so I can verify it for my research paper.

Thank you so much for your help everyone.

Sorry, I meant to say sold each year heres the article http://www.nytimes.com/2000/08/13/nyreg ... -here.html . The articles about one of the biggest hermit crab companies in the U.S.

Here is another story on the same importer that estimates they import 200,000 purple pinchers per year...

http://articles.philly.com/2014-08-11/n ... shore-town