HCA: Hermit Crab Association

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Awwww... So cute! Where did you get that bridge! it is awesome!

The bridge is in the bird aisle at either Petco or Petsmart

Check isopodconnection. Com she makes great maple wood ladders, I love her stuff

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Yes I did get it at PetSmart in the bird section, I also found a natural straw rolled up tunnel in the rabbit section that my little hermis love to climb on and pic at when they come out to play at night. I just ordered some coral pieces from Pet Discounters, I think they will like.

I made a water dish and a upper level moss pit this weekend....now I just have to wait for my little ones to come up from their molts and go exploring

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I just made one of those bridges because i have a silver maple tree in my backyard. I just drilled some holes in the sticks and put the string through them. I used suction cups to hold it up and its working great! The crabs approve

That's cool. I am going find a nice branch with leaves from the old apple tree in my yard for my little hermies next. I checked out your website, very nicely done and informative. I am wondering if you handle your hermies a lot and if that is why they are so active and not shy. I am obviously just starting out with my two small pp's and within the first few weeks of bringing them home, they went into molting so I have not had the opportunity to handle them. Before that I did notice that Echo was more active and outgoing around me than Mini, who was very shy.

Different hermit crabs have different personalities and i don't usually show my more shy hermit crabs in my videos. I also have had my hermit crabs for half a year, and i have noticed some things that make them more active.

1. Not handling them too much and leaving them alone as much as possible until they are used to you. (i know its sooooooo hard)
2. Try to put more hiding places in their tank. I found that once i added more places for them to hide(basicly just made my tank a mess) They were a lot more comfortable and i think its because they were not being bothered all the time.
3. Time. Some hermit crabs just need some time to get used to you and your tank. I used to spend an hour (literally) waiting for my hermit crabs to wake up. Eventually they did but some of them just didnt. I had a hermit crab named berry who wouldnt come out of her shell to anything. However, i left her alone and watched her become more and more comfortable
4. Dont get discouraged! Hermit crabs are super fun they are just more of a challenge to handle that some animals, so just keep trying!

I hope this helped!

Yes your reply did help : ) I think that is what I will have to do with Mini, because she is so shy I will have to give her much more time to be comfortable in her environment and with me too-without handling her. It is soo hard to wait! I do have a long log cut on an angle that I put in one corner, with some moss where she always hides out, but I will see what I can do about adding another hide out next to it too. Maybe a little coconut hut or something like that. Anyway thanks again for your help and the very cool videos! Your hermit crabs are awesome!

One of my first crabs was a medium (big mistake) who was soo shy she hid in her shell 3 hours after I got her, she would let me watch her but the slightest movement and she was back in her shell fast, I thought she was just a shy one, but after 2 months I tried holding her for the first time (waited long to make sure she was clear of PPS and was settled in) she came out a little and smelled me and hid, I would hold her 5 mins a week and worked with her, now she comes to my voice and loves being held, she really doesn't like other people because I'm the only one who gives her attention, I'll hold her once or twice a week depending and give her treats every time I hold her to show her I'm friendly and give food lol, now 6 months later she's finally molting and hopefully she will make it

Oh she is really pretty how cool! Thank you for sharing that with me

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