HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello All, I use to be a more active member, but haven't been on much lately as I became a more experienced owner. I have one crab who we have had almost 3 years. She has been through several molts and seems to thrive. But I can't keep a friend for her. We've gone through several crabs and they keep dying. I buy them at Pet Supplies Plus. We are about to move across country and thought I would try one from The Hermit Crab Patch. I just don't understand how Lola keeps surviving and doing well when the others just come to my tank and die. We are frustrated and sad. My 10 year old son keeps getting attached to them and then they don't make it. They seem to last about 2 weeks. Lola isn't attacking them or anything. Just wondering if anyone one else had this experience.

And speaking of moving, anyone know how to move hermit crabs across country without stressing them out? I was thinking of putting her in a small plastic container and keeping her in a warm spot in the car. Her tank can go on the moving truck, I hope.

Anyway, thanks for reading and any advice you may have.

hmm...that is worrisome. what are your tank conditions like: size/substrate/temp/humidity?

it could be possible that the place you've been getting them from (since they've all come from that store) just has a really bad track record, that perhaps their supplier has horrible shipping conditions. are these Purple Pinchers?

and another, unlikely possibility....are you positive Lola has been leaving them alone? my oldest PP, Lilith, has been with me seven years, and it took about three years to realize that she would eventually kill any E put with her.

as for moving...i have moved several times with crabs. im not sure what size tank you have...for a very large tank my method wouldn't work. but i take the entire tank and put it in the back of an SUV, and then keep the car air conditioned to the point where the temp is stable (it isn't really that difficult to do). i've never had any deaths with this method, and i've probably used it 6 or 7 times. the largest ive done it with is a 40B though.

annopia

PSP doesn't have a great supplier of hermit crabs. Their Es usually do amazing, but I only ever had about a 40% survival rate with their PPs (and that's probably being generous - I would return 2 or 3 dead crabs for every one that would live). I would not be surprised if the crabs kept dying of Post Purchase Syndrome. Trying one from a different supplier would definitely be the way to go! HCP crabs are guaranteed to have molted in captivity so are extremely likely to survive.

They are pp's. The crabitat is all right on - good substrate/heat/humidity/fresh food/salt & reg water. If Lola is getting to the newbies, then she is pretty sneaky about it. Thanks for the advice about moving the tank. If I have room in our vehicle, that is what I will do. She's survived a lot, so I am hopeful she will be ok. Does anyone know of a good supplier to buy crabs from besides HCP? I would love to pick it out ourselves. But I will try them after we get settled because I really think Lola needs a buddy.

Thanks for your help and advice. As always, this is such a great site with great people!!

I second Wode. The majority of my PP's from Pet Supplies Plus died soon after bringing them home. My E's from there have all been with me over a year. They definitely seem like they are coming from a better distributor. I have 2 PP's in my tank now from PSP and they seem to be doing well. One has molted with me and the bigger guy hasn't yet. I'm hoping these are a hardier group.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I have 3 PPs that are going fine that I got from Pet Supplies Plus in Ohio, but that was 2 years ago.

Now that we are moved, maybe I will try PSP again. We went to the mall here for the first time and to my horror, they had one of those stands in the middle with hermit crabs. I was so sad!! All those poor hermies being sold with false information on how to care for them. Very sad and heartbreaking.

Anyway, Lola survived the trip just fine and we are looking forward to getting another friend for her.