Comparing the Hermit Crab Sellers

[sugarselections]

For people who have ordered directly from the various online hermit crab sellers, I'm wondering what everyone's success rate is. I consider a crab a success story if they live at least six months and molt well at least once with me.

The first place a I ordered from was LiveHermitCrabs.com. All three crabs I ordered from them were great and made it past the six month mark. Also, their shipping procedures were my favorite. Customer service was a little slow.

Then I ordered from HermitCrabVendor.com. Not such a great experience, mostly because I got several DOA and their shipping methods in general were inferior.

Lastly, I ordered from ExoticLandHermitCrabs.com. I know a lot of people love them but my experience wasn't the greatest. I spent nearly $300 and after less than three months only two of the crabs I got from ELHC were still alive.

[NaRnAR]

Ive ordered crabs from The Hermit Crab Patch, I got 3 small Es (this was a couple years ago) and Ive got two still alive now. The third one had died probably within 3 months of getting him.....but the other two are doing great and have grown considerably!

[SebbyCrab]

Well I ordered straws in November from LHC and they're still doing good. Couple of molts out of them and the packaging was great.

Second order I was a bit unhappy with the packaging but the customer service responses were very quick.

[curious_kitty]

my first order from online vendor was LHC, and more than half of my 13Es molted well, and is very healthy-except just recently, I had to do deep clean, and dug up an E molter, who had very bad surface molt in ISO, and probably wont make it . 2nd order was from HCV, with bunch of strawberries and viola.. I had 3 DOA, 1 who arrived ill, died later, and one of the DOA replacement died later from stress related issue just recently. I only have 2 of the 5 violas surviving so far. one of the strawberries, who was dug under, but was dug up from deep clean(i know, i know, it was mites, but again, it was my mistake, more on this later), seems to be on its way out.. all other strawberries seem to be doing fine so far, but cannot comment on long term though. my husband recently ordered bunch of indos/ruggies/strawberries/violas for me from LHC as a b-day present. all of them seemed to be doing fine except indos. I just found one of the little one dead. I dont know if I should mention this to LHC, because they did include extra, in case there is any DOAs, or stress related issue.... but I am mostly happy with their crabs, except few smaller indos(little worried about them).
I will update on final head count on their crabs in few months as its too early to tell how they will do.

[curious_kitty]

Lastly, I ordered from ExoticLandHermitCrabs.com. I know a lot of people love them but my experience wasn't the greatest. I spent nearly $300 and after less than three months only two of the crabs I got from ELHC were still alive.

Off from this topic,... sugarselections, which crabbies from ELHC do you have left now?? didnt you also have blueberry too??? I think from now on, my mentality is a bit changed about which hermies I am going to keep... I think violas/indos/Es and PPs are on my list.. not so sure about strawberries. I just cant connect.. i feel so endearing to PPs and Es and Indos so far!

[sugarselections]

The two remaining crabs from my ELHC order are a pink Indo and an Aussie. Both are is great health, although the Indo could use a molt since she came to me really banged up. I'm curious to see if she will hang onto that pink color after a molt or two.

I lost both my blueberries, which was really hard because I loved them so much. Now it looks like I'll never be able to have them again unless LHC finally gets them in stock.

[curious_kitty]

its so funny you mention indo being really really banged up, my new indo babies(they are very small) that I just received from LHC, they were ALL BANGed up. I wonder why?! all of them had their pinchers, or leg tips all chopped off... every single one of them. its weird.

im so sorry about your blueberries. I think i remember them being medium to largish size? I would figure that they'd have better luck surviving if they were well taken care of before they were sold to you.. i now have more than half of crabbies die from HCV- but it might be because they were last ones left before they went out of stock completely(violas), and I am sure last ones left over are not the healthiest bunch. were your blueberries at least active, eating well while they were still alive?

[sugarselections]

I got a few Indos from HCV and they were in rough shape. One of them, Bali, is now the star of my tank. He's molted well and is very active and beautiful.

My blueberries were a medium/large and a very good sized large. They both seemed very healthy and active right up until their deaths. One of them even molted successfully. Both of them were piggies when it came to food and they loved soaking in the pools.

[Guest]

I ordered from HCV last year and hated how they were packaged. I have all but two ruggies left from a large order and that was a year ago.
At the same time I ordered two e's from LHC it took them over a month to get here, packaging was good. They made it past six months but dug into 100% eco during thier molts and died. So that is my fault completely.

I received several crabs from ELHC about a month and a half ago, I have all of them except one Blueberry and one Brunnie. The Blueberry had been involved in a some sort of crab argument, couldn't tell until the autopsy but it was obvious. The other (Rei) is fine. The brunie was killed in my community tank more than likely a ruggie attack. I was unaware that ruggies are quite ruthless in some instances, they now have their own tank.

Here is the thing, we can order from whoever, in the end we are dealing with living delicate creatures, what freaks out one will not freak out another. The only thing we can do as owners is set up the environment to the best of our ability and take care of them. Take advice from others that have learned before you, I have learned a lot. Did I start this wanting 6 fair to large size tanks in my home? No, but I try what I can to keep them thriving. My conclusion is that there are very few species that can be kept together, since that conclusion I have seen less death.

[curious_kitty]

also I think its the way hermies are kept till they are purchased.. better health hermies are in, more likelyhood that they will survive through shipping, and adjusting to their new home. I had a feeling that violas from HCV were not in their optimal health-OR maybe that they were last few left over before HCV were out of stock.
On the other hand, i know LHC just had their fresh shipment of violas, and they were all hyper, and active. So maybe that its better to get your hands on newly arrived hermies, because longer they were kept in suboptimal conditions at vendors(highly likely, they run business with many type of animals), worse they'd be off by the time they get to our homes.

[Guest]

I agree with what you said, it definitely matters how they are kept. Longer time under stress and such. However, I have had 22 crabs shipped to me in a span of over a year, from three different places. There have only been 2 unexplained deaths... well past the stress window. The other losses were from fighting that I did not see, or user error on my part.

So while it matters how they are kept before they get to us, sometimes we can turn it around with good conditions unless it is fighting. Which I have discovered happens much more than we know. While we sleep there is a continuous turf war going on, with most species. I know this because I have taken to sleeping or napping in the living room and watching them most of the night. Not because I am paranoid but I just can't sleep and they are active so I research what I see, and separate when needed.

I think that the 4 main vendors in the US have their share of issues and good stuff too. My first choice is ELHC because of how the crabs are cared for and the customer service, and of course the wonderful variety. I know there have been some issues for a few people, but I think that will always be the case with any vendor.

[sugarselections]

Right now when people ask which vendor I recommend, I direct them over to LHC. I got really healthy crabs from them and their prices are reasonable.

[Guest]

sugarselections

I think it is wonderful that you have not had any issues like that. When I say turf wars it's not like they are all fighting all the time. Their encounters are usually brief, a little pushing and maybe some storking. But the issue is that much like being picked on in school the crab gets stressed out and sooner or later they have a more serious argument. Or the crab simply stress out and dies before the encounter happens. Since I have gotten the violas and ruggies out of the community tank this has decreased a great deal.

I cannot speak for all craber's experiences and in no way am I trying to point fingers or tell yall that I am doing everything perfect. I am a science student that observes and records what I see. I then make changes based on what I see. I only say things to try and help and also learn from everyone here.

[suebee]

I will only ever get crabs sent to me by two places. One is the hermit crab patch, the other is ELHC. After hearing MANY peoples experiences I have only ever heard of one who had problems with ELHC and it was not DOA's. I aslo have seen little fights between species when the crabs get to be medium or bigger. The little pushes of very young ones isnt as bad. I agree that some species get along fine like PPs and Es however I would keep most species in separate species tanks. Aussies for one need different salt water needs. Violas are known to dig up molters. These are all things to consider if you have had recent deaths in a tank. We all learn from each others studies and mistakes. I know when i need information I call ELHC or Email the hermit crab patch. The information i get always seems to agree with each other and I very much trust the amount of time they have been studying transporting and raising Land hermit crabs. Ive seen the packaging from HCV and really was not at all impressed. I realize that things can change but I would rather go with a company that figured out the kinks long ago and has had continued success then one who is still trying to figure it out.
I also appreciate that ELHC will not sell to just anyone and talks to each person they sell to making sure that the buyer has the best interests of the crabs. Not always can they weed out the people who lie to them or dont do what they should for the crabs but talking to the people does help weed out the ones who definitely will not be the best caregivers for the crabs.
Again, this is just my opinion.

[curious_kitty]

Right now when people ask which vendor I recommend, I direct them over to LHC. I got really healthy crabs from them and their prices are reasonable.

I second this; I can speak for LHC's healthy crabbies: Es, Strawberries, Violas and ruggies with exception on one tiny Indo(I lost one out of 6).