HCA: Hermit Crab Association

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/pet/3532760067.html

Can you believe this? Poor little guy. I wrote to him and said I'd take him if he is indeed a land hermit crab. Hopefully he'll be able to send me some pics. I'm assuming its a PP.

Any special care that might be necessary for this guy? I guess all are crabs are collected off the beaches, but it still seems so weird to me. I can't believe he survived the plane trip, etc. It must have been freezing in the cargo hold. I hope he doesn't have mites. For some reason, I'm thinking its more likely to have mites than crabs from the store. What do you think?

The only thing is, I've already arranged to adopt 3 new crabs this weekend, so my 10g iso will be full with them. I may need to evict my isopod colony out of their heated KK. Hmmmmmmmm. gonna have to think this through. I guess if the 3 new guys don't have mites, they can go right in the main tank. I've done that before. They seem to be coming from pretty good conditions. (EE, glass lid, heater)

Wow! You seem to be amongst an abundance of adoptable crabbies there!!! I dont see much of it here in Washington! I adopted a crab about 2 months ago.(she found me off of the HCA!) He is a very healthy PP- quite the character, and Im basing this judgment on the fact that he as mysterious as a Unicorn.... or a Yeti.... I know he is still in there... but whhhheeeerrrrreeee ???? Its a 10g, he has nowhere else to go but down! So he stays there becasue I cannot bring myself to pull him out of the substrate!
He has been in his ISO for this whole two months. I know he is up and done molting, as I see the missing foods and dirty water, and sometimes, half asleep I hear claws on the lid... but he even does this quietly!!!! But he is very clever in making himself 'just gone' by the time Im up and ready to transport him to GP!!!

I dont think you have to worry to much about mites with the three- as they have been in captivity and E's and PP's are pretty good at being mite free. However, like anything just found on a beach- it will have bugs of some sort. Meaning, that Mr. Costa Rica will probably have a mite or two of some sort. Now, whether it i zee dreaded bad crab mite- I cannot even guess...

I would imagine I would be more concerned for Mr. Costa Rica- and if your positive that the three amigos have had some detress time from the traveling, I would introduce them to their new family and keep Costa Rica in ISO for at least a week.....

Keep us updated

Wrong side of Central America for it to be a PP. It's either an E or a marine hermit.
Really hope you get him! He needs a great home after what he's been through. (That plane ride could not have been easy on him.)

That is crazy! Hope you can get him!

I hope he isn't a marine hermit Being out of the water for so long would be awful. Plus he may be harder to rehome. Fingers crossed for you and the wee one!

Thanks guys. I haven't heard back from the "owner". I do hope I get him. Poor thing.

Just heard back! Super cute, teeny E! Can't wait to get him. I'll try to post the pic from his email. Not totally sure how.


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Hope you get to bring him home!

I GOT HIM!!!!!

He is the teeeeniest E I have ever seen!!!! I've never seen a land crab this small. He's in a KK that is about 1/2 gal awaiting his bath, and I can't even see him. I only have 2 or 3 shells this small. The smallest from the teeny HCP pack. I hope he likes them. Anyway, I'm going to attempt to search for mites.

SO- what's the deal for crabs this small? Can they even go in the main tank? Will Hermasaurus Rex eat him as a snack? I do have a feeling that he is going to spend a lot of time molting. I'm not sure I want to have the iso up and running for the next year or so until he's a small.

I am open to your thoughts......

So- I'll take some pics, then try and figure out how to post them without tapatalk. It may take me a day or two.

He's soooooo cute.

Happy Crabber wrote:I GOT HIM!!!!!

He is the teeeeniest E I have ever seen!!!! I've never seen a land crab this small. He's in a KK that is about 1/2 gal awaiting his bath, and I can't even see him. I only have 2 or 3 shells this small. The smallest from the teeny HCP pack. I hope he likes them. Anyway, I'm going to attempt to search for mites.

SO- what's the deal for crabs this small? Can they even go in the main tank? Will Hermasaurus Rex eat him as a snack? I do have a feeling that he is going to spend a lot of time molting. I'm not sure I want to have the iso up and running for the next year or so until he's a small.

I am open to your thoughts......

So- I'll take some pics, then try and figure out how to post them without tapatalk. It may take me a day or two.

AWW! He's the luckiest little stow away!
I have an itsy bitsy baby Purple Pincher, Chuck, who is in the smallest shell that Hermit Crab Patch sells, and still disappears into the spiral when he goes in to hide. So he's probably comparable in size to your little E!

Chuck is in my 29 gallon crabitote with my other six hermies, ranging in size from small to largeish medium. He's so small the others don't seem to bother with him much. For instance, food will sometimes become disputed and the larger crabs usually eat first, but Chuck can walk up any time and eat because he's so small that either the bigger crabs don't notice or don't care.

It seems that Chuck's small size keeps him out of any social tensions in the tank because nobody's interested in his shell and he doesn't pose any kind of threat.

He spends a TON of time molting, and I have by far lost count of how many times he's gone under since I got him in August. I've never had any molting trouble with him or my other hermies, and I think his small size decreases the chances of him being run into by a digging E during a molt.

Just make sure that you have good ways for him to climb into and out of the food and water dishes, because Chuck struggled with that at first. I think that he should be fine in the main tank though, as long as you're prepared for him to disappear into the background most of the time.

YAY so glad you got him! Can't wait to see pics of the teeny fella. Since he got in their beach bag, and how small you describe him, could he have possibly be a newborn just coming onto land?! How dang cool is that! Your crab is probably only a month or so old and can now record his growth and molts for his whole life. TOO COOL!!!!

Congrats on the lil guy!
agree with Bridgit, is there pics

That is just so cool! I can't wait to see a pic, and congrats on the new addition!

Jealous! Awesome story! Congrats!


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So glad you got him. I love the tiny guys. That little guy is in one way very unfortunate to wonder in the bag but very lucky to end up in your hands. Lucky little one