HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi All,

I've been reading the posts in this forum for about a week now and thought I better introduce myself and crabs!

My name is Vanessa Joy and I'm from Perth, Western Australia. I'm a 3rd year uni student studying Multimedia Design (2D-3D Animation), but not for long as my last day is of Semester is next Thursday and then I'll be graduating (YAY!) I've also studied a year of Veterinary Science, but went back to design as I decided I probably wouldn't be able to handle putting down healthy animals

Anyway, I have recently brought 15 Australian Hermit Crabs (Coenibita variabilis); 1 Jumbo (Blu) 1 Large (Ham) 6 Mediums (Novo, Beast, Runaway, Pinkey, Hoodey, Boss) 3 Smalls (Sebastian, Solar, Luna) 4 Micro's (Goliath, Brian, Frank, Percy), and am housing them in a 65 gallon tank. I am using 5:1 ratio of Play sand and Coco Fiber for their substrate, it is about 3 inches deep in some spots and 4 inches in others at the moment, but I'm not really happy with the depth because it doesn't seem deep enough for my Jumbo, so I am going to add another couple of inches in the next few days. I was just wondering though, because I only got the crabs about a week ago, whether it is too soon to start making adjustments to their tank? I don't want to stress them out too much or kill them!

Also I am using a 25 watt UTH and 50 watt Reptile Light (with the red globe) to keep my tank warm enough because its winter here... My tank has been at a constant 80% humidity through using sea sponges in my salt and fresh water pools, which is good, but its been hard keeping the tank at a minimum of 70F even though I've got two sources of heat. The crabs seem to be doing well though, I thought they would seem more stressed than they have been when I put them in their new home. I brought nearly 30 new shells for them, and boiled them in de-chlorinated water, then waited for them to cool and dipped them in some salty water and added them to the tank. Since then, my crab Novo changed shells 3 times in the first 3 days I had him... lol so thats why I called him Novo, cause it means change in latin. Also, Runaway has changed shells once, Ham changed shells once, Sebastian changed twice, Solar changed once, Pinkey changed once, Boss changed once, and Goliath and Brian have changed once too. Is it normal for the crabs to change shells so much? I've never had crabs that have actually changed shells so readily, and I even saw my first ever shell change when Novo changed the third time! Also last night I saw Sebastian change shells, but then got buyers remorse and changed back haha.

They are all in natural shells as I hate painted ones for the same reasons as everyone else here And I only brought new natural ones too... But there is one exception... I brought Ham in a painted shell because I felt sorry for her, she is a really pretty crab with a bright purple body, and had outgrown her hideous shell which had a bright pink pig painted on it (thats why I called her Ham lol). So I thought there'd be a high chance of being able to lure her out of her painted shell and into a new natural one and then I could quickly throw the gross painted shell away... But as it turned out this was not meant to be... One of my medium crabs, Boss, became fixated on Ham's painted shell while it was still on her! He kept feeling it the way they do when there isnt a crab in there before they choose to move into it... and even though there were heaps of natural shells for Boss (who had also outgrown his current shell) to choose from... he didnt seem interested in any of them... anyway, the other morning I saw that Ham had changed into a bigger natural shell overnight, and I was happy about that. But then I realised I couldnt see the empty pig shell anywhere... so I looked under one of my caves... and there was Boss... in the painted shell *sigh* He seemed quite pleased with himself... so now Ive still got the painted shell in my tank and am hoping if I keep buying new natural shells and cleaning them he will find one he likes more and change into that, because he fits the painted shell quite well so there isnt any reason for him to change a part from that... I called him Boss because he seems like my bossiest crab, with his taking interest in an already occupied shell, and I've seen him pushing other crabs out of their spots in the cave so he can rest there instead... it doesn't seem like serious aggression though, because he hasn't actually been fighting with other crabs or injuring them..

I got my crabs all from the same place, I happen to live 15 minutes away from Merv Cooper's wholesale shop/factory (Crazy Crabs, the only harvester and exporter of Hermit Crabs in Australia)... so I got my crabs directly from there so I could check out the conditions and save some crabs going through to pet stores... I thought it would be good to provide some info about how Aussie crabs are treated before they go to pet stores, and by the only vendor Australia has. I have met Merv in person several times... he is a nice guy as far as Australian men go, but let me just say that its pretty obvious he doesn't really care about the welfare of hermit crabs at all. Making money is his primary concern. Here in each state of Australia we have an event each year called the Royal Show, its like a giant carnival with showbags, rides, animal shows and events, and sales stalls. Merv has a Crazy Crabs stall at the Perth Royal Show every year (I still remember getting my first hermit crab from his stall 16 years ago when I was about 4 or 5 years old). Anyway, the show runs for 8 days, and yesterday I went with my sister and saw Merv and his usual stall. I must say I was pretty horrified by the way he was exploiting the crabs to make money. He had mainly ones in cute child friendly painted shells (hardly any natural shells) and was selling them in tiny 15cm plastic tanks lined with a thin layer of saw dust only. The kids all seemed pretty excited to be getting a pet with their favourite characters painted on their shells... and their parents seemed to have good intentions, but they were being told completely wrong information and being made to think that crabs are just a throw away pet that won't last very long...Also other small animals were at the stall being sold with completely inappropriate houses, there were pairs of mice being sold in tiny plastic tanks, the same as the crabs.. and also guppies...I was disgusted...

Also, the conditions in Mervs warehouse arnt much better... it was so hard to pick my new crabs because I felt so sorry for all the ones in the store... I have literally never seen so many crabs in the one place... they had what must have been over 1000 crabs housed in an open glass tank... they were all crawling over each other and seemed cold because the door of the shop was open and there was no heater or lid to their tank... also Merv's wife was filling orders from pet shops while I was there and was just grabbing crabs for the orders like they were rocks not little creatures... I asked how they got their painted crabs into their shells, and she said they put them in the tank and they change themselves and then they put them into a seperate tank to sell... I accepted this answer although I dont know if I really believe that.

Anyway, I read a long thread on this site about the salt water myth for Aussie crabs, where people were arguing that the Crazy Crabs website says to bathe your crabs once a week and that if you give your crabs constant access to salt water that they will gorge and die... And let me just say, from having met Merv and his wife in person, been to the store, and having lived right near their store for my whole life in a small town, that they do keep their crabs in a tank with access to salt and fresh water at all times... there's no way they could possibly bathe all the crabs in their store once a week anyway... and I asked them about it and they said their crabs do well with having access to salt water, and that they advertise the crabs to be more appealing for children and easier to take care of, i.e less water bowls in the tank, more fun for kids to interact with the crabs by getting to "bathe them once a week"...also they have told other customers while Ive been around that crabs don't need or like humidity so no need to buy heaters etc :S... its pretty clear they tell people what they want to hear in order to sell more crabs... also I have chosen to give my crabs constant access to salt water and so far they have seemed fine with it and havnt spent excessive time in the salt pool.. and A City Farmers near my house also gives their crabs constant access to both water and their crabs are always active and healthy looking... where as another pet store who only has fresh water always seems to have sickly seeming crabs... may just be a coincidence but I still think its better to let the crabs have access to both.

Also I found a sea sponge dried up at the beach the other day... would it be safe to put in my crab tank or could it introduce dangerous things to the tank?

I thought I'd also share a kind of weird thing that happened the day I got my crabs... I chose my crabs and put them in the car... and I wasnt going to get Ham because she was in a painted shell...but I felt really bad because she had been so friendly and was such a nice colour and wasnt in nice conditions... so then at the last minute I decided to go back and get her... it wasnt too warm or too cold that day so I figured my crabs would be fine to be in the car for 5 mins while I went straight into the store and straight out... So I went and paid for Ham, and as I was carrying her box out... I realised that I didnt have my car keys... so I quickly looked through my car window in a bit of a panic and saw I had left my keys on the seat next to my boxes of crabs... I normally have insurance which means someone would come out and get my keys for free... but I was driving the dog car, which is really old and the only car that isnt covered under any one in my families policy... and to make matters worse... I saw my Jumbo crab blue breaking out of his box through the window! I would have had to pay $200 for my insurance company to come out and get the keys due to not being covered under the policy, so I went back into the store and told Merv what had happened... because he is pretty crafty he was able to break into my car with a coathanger lol... while he was trying to break in my Jumbo crab had fully escaped his own box and was happily climbing up my car seat and eventually reached the top... I took photos because it looked so weird... but was also really worried because I thought he might fall or I might not be able to find him when I got back in the car... he ended up sitting on the back seat when I finally got into the car... I always seem to have the worst luck with my keys when I have pets in the car... I have only locked them in once before, when my rescue greyhound was in the boot (its a station wagon lol)... but luckily someone was able to break in quickly with a coathanger as well and it was raining and cold that day so my dog was fine and asleep for the whole time (greyhounds are really lazy haha)... talk about stressful!

I will attach some photos of my Jumbo climbing around my car...

Also another question I have is, should my crabs be okay to moult seeing as they are sort of fresh from the wild so to speak... Im worried they might not make it through there moults if they have been producing to much MIH hormone because of Crazy Crab conditions.. how long do they have to be producing it before they pass the point of no return where they cant survive moults?

Aussie crabs seem to come in heaps of different shades of colours and thats how Im able to tell who is who even though they have changed into each others shells... Ive got:
Dark red
Purple
White
Olive
Orange
Bright Orange
Brown/Blue
Dark Brown
Blue (almost sky blue!)
Pink
Olive green

Thanks for reading... sorry this post is so long! I hope to make friends here and do the right thing by my crabs as best I can

Also, is it possible to get any US species in Australia? They look pretty cool... would they get along with my Aussie crabs, and how many more would I be able to comfortably fit in a 65 gallon tank with mutliple levels? I dont want to get too many more if they would become over crowded...

Cheers,
~Vanessa

Welcome!!

It's so nice to get another Australian here! I think you're the second one in the last day or two We can only get Aussies and Strawberries here in Australia - Straws are pretty hard to come by and very pricey. Places that specialise in marine aquarium fish are able to order them in - one here in Sydney will order them in, but they are $45 per crab. They are rumored to be threatened or endangered, but I've been unable to find any evidence of that on government lists of endangered/threatened species.

Regarding the salt water, there are rumor circulating that it is bad for Aussies to have 24/7 access to it, yet there has been no evidence presented regarding this and the crabs are naturally found in the intertidal zones in the wild, meaning they do naturally have access to salt water whenever they please. So I prefer to give them 24/7 access as do many other crabbers.

That rumor seems to have started with the Crazy Crabs company, but their reasons as to why this is so seem to keep changing so I'm highly disinclined to believe them - especially since almost all the other info they give out is so bad. As they were the sole exporter to the US, they passed along the misinformation to US retailers of Aussies. 15 years ago they were advertising that hermit crabs do not poop because they have a 'perfect digestive system'. They also say to keep them in wood shavings in winter and Merv Cooper also owns a company that paints shells for hermit crabs. :roll:

The biggest problem I've had with first molts seems to be some sort of deficiency - they survive the molt, but have fragile exoskeletons which can break. Had a few die under those circumstances But mostly they are pretty tough and seem to repair all the damage pretty quickly.

Mine absolute adore sponges fresh from the beach - they eat them so fast I can't get enough. Cuttlebone straight from the beach gets eaten faster than stuff from the shops too.

Aussies dig so darn much that I still haven't worked out how many I'll eventually have in my 120gal - there are 6 at the moment and they dig so much that I'm afraid too many more will turn it completely upside down lol.

Hi all, in a hurry and have to leave out early, so just gleened through what all you wrote, but noticed that you mentioned the weakness of exo after molt......may want to up the calcium and see if that makes a difference. When I worked for Emerald Coast Wildlife here in Florida, just about any problems with bones or exo had to do with that. Would also add a good mineral mix......good luck and I would keep a journal on how they do with their molt after having cal. and minerals to see if it does make a difference.....gotta run! will check back later

That's too funny about Ham's shell. I have one guy who won't leave a painted shell too! Your jumbo is adorable, I hope you post more pics of your AUSs as we can't find them here in the US so they fascinate me. It's pretty typical for the stores to be more about the money than the conditions, I had a vendor at a store say... "Hey, whatever sells better..." and I was kind of taken back... but proceeded to browse.

Good luck with the crabs, I think they'll molt comfortably.

congrats on the crabbies I'm glad you are adding more substrate. It should be atleast twice as tall as your largest and some people like three times as high.

Cute pics of your guy in teh car, that little rascal I see a shell in your purse! Can't wait to see pics of the crabitat and other stuff!

Thanks for sharing!

Thank you so much for writing about your experience! I've been curious about the Crazy Crab people for a while now, and it's interesting (and heartbreaking) to read about your visit. I doubt that American warehouses are any better when it comes to housing crabs seeing as the largest one is in New Jersey (which is almost at the Canadian border), and all crabs coming into the US are flown in from the Caribbean, Mexico, or the South Pacific. Aussie crabs have a relatively short trip so I'm sure you getting them direct form the source will make a huge difference in how they do.

I hope once they settle in that you can share photos! It sounds like they have such a range of colors compared to other species. The reason they won't import other species into Australia is the fear that they would get loose or be let loose and become invasive since the conditions are perfect for them in the northern part of the country.

Welcome to HCA! Thanks for your information and pics! That rascal climbing all over your car!

I think it's fine to go ahead and add more substrate.

Welcome to the hca! Love hearing about your little dare devil! Thanks for sharing the pics!

All info I've heard say Aussies only come in Off white to a pale orange, to a light brown, but I have red ones, and one by the looks of it becoming blue!

It's amazing you have pink and green ones though! Could I have pictures please?!


I have salt water in my tank, but they actually pay more attention to my fresh water one :B

To everyone that has red Aussies - what sort of red are they? It is a burnt brownish red or a bright red? I've never seen any Aussies that are a bright red. If you have some that are bright red with tiny white spots, you most likely got Strawberries. In which case you are very lucky indeed.

Mine are definitely not strawberries. This isn't the best photo, but it display's Molly's colour the best (though still not true to life. In real life, it's less brown )

eloise13, that is one gorgeous crabby!! I've never seen an Aussie that red. Reddish, but not that red. All the ones I've bought or seen in shops have been more brown. Molly's colour goes nicely with that shell too!

I got lucky with her too. I was buying five "small" ( by the shop's definition) and they only had 7 smalls, so the lady arranged the small ones and asked me which two shells I didn't like


Baby is in the same shell as well. I am trying to find somewhere that sells them, but I can't even figure out the name.

is the shell a blood tooth nerite? I got a small crab and it came in one of those. It's darker coloring than my shell though. Hope that helps!

SoulLonely wrote:is the shell a blood tooth nerite? I got a small crab and it came in one of those. It's darker coloring than my shell though. Hope that helps!

No, I got a few of them,

They are more turbo like then nerite.