HERMIT CRAB 101

Need help with your crabs? That's what I'm here for. PLEASE READ FAQ BEFORE ASKING A QUESTION! I CANNOT HELP WITH EMERGENCIES. For mobile users: The FAQ page can be found at hermitcrab101.tumblr.com/faq

[hermitcrab101]

Okay. I’m really frustrated by this continuously happening and I honestly can’t handle a million of these messages.

I am not an emergency resource. My blog says this all over the place, even for the mobile setup. It says right in the description - “I cannot help with emergencies”. There’s a link to the FAQ in the description for mobile users. I don’t know how many times I can say it. I am not always online. I am one guy. I am closing asks and submissions. Sorry.

[hermitcrab101]

Do you know of any other hermit crab profiles on tumblr? I want to follow more hermit blogs

I do not!

[hermitcrab101]

Just found this teeny tiny little seedling all by itself in our crabitat. Any ideas on what it might be / If it will hurt any of our crabs? I took it out and put it in a little cup in case it wasn’t good for them. We have an air plant in there also because I read it was a good snack for crabs, but I don’t think it would have produced a seedling on the other side of the tank. Thanks for the help

This is too small and undeveloped to tell what kind of plant it is. I have no idea what food goes into your tank, and so I can’t even begin to guess if spilled food could take root in your substrate. 

I actually don’t know whether or not air plants are safe for crabs to eat - I can’t find anything reputable either way.

[hermitcrab101]

so, i have 4 hermit crabs three of them are medium, then the last one is small. one of my medium crabs lost a leg last night. i have a ten gallon tank, with sand 4 inches deep. i have something for them to climb and hide on, and food, water, and lots of shells. i isilated the one that lost a leg, is there anything else i can do? and is there a way to tell if he's stressed, or had a shell fight with another crab?

I actually would not have isolated the crab, since this in itself can be stressful for a crab. As for figuring out what happened, you really can’t. Typically in my experience, a crab dropping a limb that isn’t a newly purchased crab is probably something related to a too-limited diet if it’s not a shell fight. Unfortunately it can be sort of hard to tell if your crabs got in a squabble if it’s after the fact.

[hermitcrab101]

Will mites cause a hermit crab to be really pale when they come up from a molt? I have an infestation that I'm working really hard to get rid of, but a crab just came up and she is extremely pale. It's not the food because I feed them a variety of fresh proteins, fruits, and vegetables sprinkled with cuttlebone powder everyday

Mites will not cause this.

[hermitcrab101]

Just a quick question here, I heard my hermit crab chirping and I immediately went to her, and nothing was happening? She was just sitting in a little hole she dug and no one was bothering her. Do hermit crabs just chirp for no reason like that?

They can!

[hermitcrab101]

Hey so i recently bought a new hermit crab who seemed somewhat sickly... i guess he immediately decided to molt bc the conditions and food at the pet store were pretty bad. but my tank has been smelling (>>>)

(>>>) pretty fishy lately... so i decided to dig around to try to find im'. he managed to molt but he smelled absolutely putrid. i've been trying to find a clear answer to see if hes still alive or not but apparently crabs smell gross when they molt

Crabs don’t usually smell strongly when they molt, which makes me think (I’m very sorry to say) he probably didn’t make it. If he slides out of his shell upon being picked up, he is almost certainly dead.

[hermitcrab101]

One of many thing I feed my crabs are chia seeds. Every few weeks I will have chia seed sprouts grow due to my crabs dragging the seeds around the crabitat. Are the sprouts safe of should I remove them?

Check the FAQ!

[hermitcrab101]

I got my hermit crabs in late October, and they haven't molted. Is this normal?

On average, crabs molt every 6-10 months - more frequently the smaller they are. Totally normal.

[hermitcrab101]

Hi there, 

I have a 18 x 18 x 24 tank, (33.66 gallons) with 5 hermit crabs and I pretty much have all the essentials. But, with an 18 x 18 x 24 tank, it is pretty skinny. I want to make the best out of my tank, so what can I use for climbing? I heard about the shower caddy, but all the shower caddys I’ve looked at wouldn’t work for it. So, what can I use to make it possible for them to climb around in? I can still use a shower caddy but if possible, could you link me one? Thanks.

If you check the basic care page about tank setup, there’s some ideas!

[hermitcrab101]

Hi I'm the same anon with the molting crab that has mites. I need to do a deep clean but this is a really big tank. I have 10 small crabs and I always have crabs that are molting, they're never up all at the same time. How should I deep clean? Should I just wait for them to come up and then move them to a different tank?

I would do that if you can.

[hermitcrab101]

Hi. my two crabs just went down to molt. Our sand is a good 4 inches (our crabs are mini/medium) and all they left behind was a giant pile of sand above them. The conditions in the tank are standard. I'm just wondering if there's anything I should do while they're down there.... and any specific advice for when they come up? Thanks! :)

Keep their food and water dishes filled (if you have dried food, that’s fine to leave out instead of fresh fruits/veggies), and leave them be while they’re molting! Disturbing them is bad. Once they’re back up, I recommend foods like eggs and honey, and eggshells are great for a calcium boost that freshly-molted crabs might need.

There’s also a molting article on the basic care page!

[hermitcrab101]

So I have a molting crab who's made her cave against the glass so I can see her. The sand all around the glass is turning orange and the crab is an orangy red. What is this? Also I noticed mites crawling all over her. Will the mites hurt a molting crab?

The sand shouldn’t be turning colors, you probably have mold and your substrate needs to be changed. I can’t say for certain, but that’s what it sounds like to me. If there are mites on your crab, she needs a bath in warm water to get them off. However, right now she shouldn’t be disturbed. 

Something’s going on in your tank that doesn’t seem good to me, so when your crab comes back up I would do a deep clean (change all substrate and wash tank + any hides, water dishes, climbing gear etc with hot water - no cleansers or chemicals.).

[hermitcrab101]

i heard a way to keep humidity in the tank if you have a top that doesnt keep humidity in you can use plastic wrap to trap the warmth and humidity over the cover Is that right? And if it is do i cover the entire thing, seal it shut Or keep an opening

Check the FAQ!

[hermitcrab101]

Hey this is kind of awkward but I was wondering if you knew how hermit crabs breed? I've seen one of my crabs getting somewhat aggressive with another and supposedly last night he was banging her she'll against one of the walls of the tank. I don't know if this is some sort of breeding behavior or if he needs to be isolated. He hasn't been super aggressive before (just the usual whisker fights) but I have seen him rubbing his shell on the other crabs??? Pls give some input on this. Thank you!

Hermit crabs will mate in captivity, but they cannot breed without access to the ocean (they lay their eggs in water, and in captivity it is incredibly difficult to maintain the correct conditions + food supply for the freshly hatched larvae). Mating between crabs involves both crabs coming a little bit out of their shells and sort of lining up their abdomens, and generally it isn’t something that involves any sort of rough behavior. It sort of looks like a very strange hug.

In all likelihood, either your crabs had a little scuffle or one of them straight-up just banged their shell against the tank wall. My crabs do this all the time - sometimes they’ll hang off something in the tank and just smack gently against the glass, or fall over into it. It makes a decently loud clacking noise, but isn’t really dangerous. If there wasn’t any squawking going on, it was probably just an accident that barely involved any crab interaction.

If your crab is going after another, it’s more likely a brewing shell fight than an attempt at mating. If it gets aggressive, he might need to be isolated for the safety of your other crabs, but for the most part hermit crabs kind of sort out their problems on their own. 

[hermitcrab101]

Hey I got some finely ground walnut/almond substrate. It's about the consistency/size of sand/sand grains and doesn't have anything harmful in it (that I know of). Do you think it would be okay to use this instead of sand?

If your humidity is where it should be, you’re looking at a lot of mold.

[hermitcrab101]

how do you clean a 50 pound bag of play sand?

Bake it! Generally, though, play sand doesn’t need to be washed.