Cleaning unused shells?

[Powahfull]

I have 9 empty shells for my 9 various hermits in a 32gal biocube they all seem to be a big too big at the moment but that's what I want right?

I recently read I can take the unused shells out of the tank and boil them to clean them? Is that the optimal way to do it some of the shells have recently started forming film? Algae on them and I wanted to give them a quick cleaning to promote growth!

Thanks any advice would be welcome!

[JoeHermits]

I find boiling helps get water into the coils, but a good rinse will also suffice in a pinch.


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[curlysister]

You will also want to get a few more shells - HCA recommends 3 to 5 extra shells per crab. There's a whole care sheet about shells, as there are correct and incorrect ones to buy.

[Powahfull]

Oh I missed the 3-5 per crab that's for sure when I first started my biocube32 I started with 6 red legs hermits and 6 cerith snails as per reccomended by one of the LFS (I no longer go there) and the second night I had 5 hermits in cerith snail shells. What was really interesting at night they started stacking on top of each other the biggest on the bottom to smallest on the top like a pyramid.

Through research I found out they were "sizing" up which mean when the biggest changed his shell each crab would move down (or up in size) to the next bigger cerith shell. So I assumed there was a hierarchy of sorts going on and they would always wait for the biggest one to change first.

I will look for that link reccomended about 3-5 shells per hermit thanks for the new information glad I found this forum!

[CrabbyLover77]

http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 24&t=92552

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[Powahfull]

Oh great information on the shells I have noticed a few you mentioned that haven't been used so I will not add them back after cleaning. I am not sure how different land hermits will act compared to salt water hermits I have salt water hermits (red, scarlet, hawiaan, banded eye, and halloween) they have all played nicely so far after a couple weeks and I really enjoy being able to tell the difference between them by the color of the legs.

Really appreciate the help!

[CrabbyLover77]

Oh great information on the shells I have noticed a few you mentioned that haven't been used so I will not add them back after cleaning. I am not sure how different land hermits will act compared to salt water hermits I have salt water hermits (red, scarlet, hawiaan, banded eye, and halloween) they have all played nicely so far after a couple weeks and I really enjoy being able to tell the difference between them by the color of the legs.

Really appreciate the help!

Yw! If you can, I'd love to see pics of your marine hermits! I don't think I ever really see pics of those on here. You can download the Tapatalk app to add pics or use an image sharing site. Thanks!

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[curlysister]

Ah, I totally missed that you have marine crabs, not land crabs. Sorry! I have no idea whether the number of recommended shells would be the same or not!

[Powahfull]

Ok cool I took one this morning the scarlet was begging for food they are so cool! I'll try to figure out how to add a picture!