HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Yeah she decimates her food bowl every time I feed her, she's one hungry crab.

Just wanted to update. The injured crab is doing really well. She's much more active now and eating like a pig. She seems to be enjoying her time in the hospital tank. I'll keep her in there until she molts, but it doesn't look like she's planning on going down any time soon. So I have high hopes fo...

I am a new hermit crab owner and need advice on how to make the play sand substrate into sand castle consistency. I bought the same one from Home Depot and will need to change the substrate soon - I got the tank with substrate and crabs from another person who didn't want it anymore. You can mix it...

Did you check the fish section for salt? It likely wouldn't be with the hermit crab stuff as it's usually marketted for marine fish tanks. I wouldn't be comfortable using table salt.

Yes, please tell us about your crabitat, food, etc. That's the only way we can know why you might be having issues. If everything checks out it could just be death from stress that occurred before he came to live with you, which isn't terribly uncommon in new crabs. Starlite could be molting or coul...

So glad they're in your care, and glad the previous owners cared enough to find them a new home. I got my first crab from a beach store down the cape. They kept their crabs in a tall mesh cage, only sponges for water, no substrate, and hoards of crabs in there. I've always wondered where those poor ...

Two weeks is still pretty new, especially when you factor in the new tank. I just cleaned out and redid my tank on Saturday and one of my crabs has been hiding since. They just take time to adjust. My suggestion is to leave him be, keep the conditions good, and wait. Or do what I do when my crabs ar...

Yes I do find it a bit of a pain to have to chop up food all the time. I think I'm going to start making bigger batches and freezing it so I can just pop it out onto their dish and be done.

Thank you Rebecca. I am going to keep her in the hospital tank, since I moved the other two into the main tank she hasn't really moved so I'm afraid she might surface molt or pass away. She's just sat in the same spot, mostly in her shell though she did poke out once that I saw yesterday.

So I did the deep clean last night, it actually wasn't as dry as I was expecting down there though there were areas where it was too dry. I have three living crabs, one of which I didn't know I owned, a little PP, which means I started with 5. So two died, though I only found one body and it looked ...

Well here's the thing, I don't know how long they've been down, well at least one of them. I left them at home with my parents while I went to college so I only saw them on breaks. I graduated in May so I've been home since then. In that time I've seen three crabs and I only have four. So two up and...

So my tank has dried out way too much, I always struggle with keeping the substrate moist, but I've been afraid to pour water on because I have a bunch of crabs down and previously water logged my tank this way and killed a few very important to me crabs. Two days ago a crab surfaced and was missing...

I've been using is for 6 years with no issues.

I don't hold my crabs unless I need to, or for photo shoots. However for just getting them used to you being around the tank and moving around the tank, just take some time to sit and watch them. If you don't want to watch them sit in front of the tank and read a book or something, just so they beco...

That's how I ended up with a lot of my crabs. All your friends are molting? I must buy a new one for you!