HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm visiting Lake Michigan over summer, does anyone know if there are hermit crabs there? If so, where is the best place to find one?

All hermit crabs are wild caught from the wild aside from a handful of people who successfully bred them in captivity. Hermits need tropical conditions year round since they do not hibernate so you won't be finding any at lake Michigan. Perhaps if there is a beach shop but they would not be from there.

CrabMommaChara wrote:I'm visiting Lake Michigan over summer, does anyone know if there are hermit crabs there? If so, where is the best place to find one?

As in you want to take wild animals out of their natural habitat to take home and keep as a pet?

I don’t believe there are any marine hermit crabs in the Lake Michigan area but I will tell you, that my personal opinion here is that wild animals need to be left alone. They aren’t meant to be pets. Hermit crabs were never meant to be and honestly I wish people wouldn’t buy them at all but then we’d have thousands of dead crabs. We just keep feeding a cruel system. (I don’t buy crabs, period.)




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All hermits are saltwater creatures and will only be found by the ocean, the Great Lakes are freshwater.

Land hermits are found within the tropics only, but species of fully marine hermits can withstand cold temperatures up into the Arctic.

I wanted to see where hermit crabs naturally thrive so I could replicate their habitiat in my crabitat. But thanks for the answers!

CrabMommaChara wrote:I wanted to see where hermit crabs naturally thrive so I could replicate their habitiat in my crabitat. But thanks for the answers!

Okay but we would have had different answers for you if you’d asked where their habitats were and what conditions were like there.

The coenobita species are from tropical and seaside environments around the world. Southeast Asia, Central America, Australia, the Caribbean, etc.



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ah, thanks, sorry for the misconception, I am just interested in studying wild hermit crabs.

This all said, keep an eye out for released pets while at the lake beaches. People just think they'll be okay because it's a beach - not understanding that they need a constantly tropical ocean beach, not a lake beach covered in ice 6 months out of the year. There have been several people who have rescued hermits that they found wandering around the lakes!

I do find that nature walks are a great way to find cool ideas from nature to replicate on a smaller scale in our tanks. Nature is one of the best ways to develop inspiration!

soilentgringa wrote: The coenobita species are from tropical and seaside environments around the world. Southeast Asia, Central America, Australia, the Caribbean, etc.

*Northern Australia Down here is far too cold!

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I went to the Caribbean and I was really hoping to see some wild hermit crabs because I feel like that would be super cool to see them all. But sadly there were non at the beaches I went to (it's probably because they were people beaches rather than untouched beaches)

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SLEPTAS wrote:I went to the Caribbean and I was really hoping to see some wild hermit crabs because I feel like that would be super cool to see them all. But sadly there were non at the beaches I went to (it's probably because they were people beaches rather than untouched beaches)

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Keep an eye out at night, when they more likely to be active - and minimal human activity.


And Broome, while they are on the 'main beach' of the town, they rarely if ever come out during the day.... but the not so popular beaches - even if they do get foot traffic, but not really as 'loud' IMO - they are a bit more outgoing (and larger in size!

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They have been nearly extirpated on many of the islands in their native range, sadly. Islands that were once completely covered now have extremely small populations in just a few locations. One of the major islands (either Aruba or Bahama, darn that song) once went from having them everywhere including up in the mountains, to only having a population of around 150 individuals in only 100 years. Part of the problem is that the native shells they wear, including Pica snails, are also being extirpated. Without those homes the hermits also directly suffer.