HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm upgrading my plastic tote crabitat. I've read the forum post about tank sizing based on size in inches of your hermits. But I have trouble determining the size of my hermies. I took photos of them next to a ruler in the hope that someone will be able to determine whether my kids are small, med, large, etc.

I also need to know how big my tote has to be. I have 3 Purple Pincher children now but I want to add two more PPs to the family for a total of 5. How big of a tub would I need in order to accommodate that? I know that hermits grow, so I guess I'm asking how big of a tote I need for 5 full grown PPs.

Clarence




Opaque




Rusty





Other photos:

I would say your smallest is a small (haha), the next one is a large small, and then the biggest is a small medium. I have a bad time judging though, especially if they're wearing a shell too big or too small, so someone else may be be able to judge better. Doesn't look like any of them are enormous, though!

For 5 crabs, assuming you didn't have any larger than a medium, I would aim for the equivalent of maybe 20 gallons or so? According to this post in a 20 gallon you can fit 3 large OR 6 medium OR 9 small OR 12 teenie.

For help seeing how many gallons a tote is, there are a lot of converters out there, like this.

I would say that your biggest crab is a medium at most, the smallest looks like a teeny/small. It is a bit hard to tell though & a good link to size your crabs is hermit crab sizing chart (Plus it is easier for people to see to IMO! OK, probably just me... but still.) Just save it in word & print it out.

However, if your crabs (5 - 7) were to grow to jumbos, i would be looking at a tank or container no smaller than 90g. However, a good thing is that there are large totes on the market however they aren't see through.... However, you have many years - I would say at least 5 - until you have to worry about 3+ inch shells.

Thanks to both of you for your help. I just revamped my existing tote again today and feel better for the time being. I'm definitely going to research the appropriate size for a while before I go out and buy something. Kind of want this to be a one time buy deal and not have to worry about upgrading or getting more. I think 5 PPs is a good amount of crab children for this mom. I would love a million of them. Heck I should have a farm xD But that's not in the books for my life right now and most likely not in the future. I hope to move to a new apartment in the next year or so, and I just can't afford a giant glass tank, and it isn't easy to move. I'll be looking at large totes at the stores now