HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I think you may have both C. Lila and C. Rugosus. Clear photos of their claws while closed up in their shells is the best way to ID.

Vinegar can be used with just a wipe-down afterwards to make it crab safe. Bleach can also be used but should be rinsed throughly with running water and allowed to air dry until no smell remains. Personally, I like unscented cleaning ammonia the best for scrubbing nasty used tanks (removes grime and...

Purple pinchers can and have lived 25 years in captivity with no access to saltwater. It's healthier and more enriching for them to have it available so it is always recommended for hermit crabs, but lack of saltwater even for extended periods will not kill them.

Corn is all the same species and is all crab safe, but there are different varieties (cultivars) that are aimed at different uses. Ornamental corn (aka flint corn) is used dry as cornmeal or popcorn.

Yes, any color of carrot is safe for hermits.

Gas can be eventually be scrubbed and rinsed clean off of glass, but I'm not sure how well it absorbs into silicon and I know it can break down and destroy silicon. The silicon may need to be cut off and replaced to make the tank safe. Personally I'd trash the tank and replace it completely at one o...

My old tank was 3 feet high and I regularly had divers launch from the top branches! Never had an issue though I moved the resin water dishes away from the landing zones just in case.

I use a pair of regular pliers and just snap down the row to divide. It can fling off pieces so I do it facing a corner where it's easy to vacuum up.

Honestly I think it comes down to there being very little crossover between experienced fishkeepers and hermit crab keepers. Crabbers who got live zoea and wanted to attempt raising them pretty much gave themsleves a crash course in kreisels and water chemistry and they didn't have a background in a...

Those look great!!

So for a standard 48x24 inch tank, it's roughly 1 inch of substrate depth per 50 pound bag of sand. With most tanks the formula isn't this easy!

If you're going with turbo shells, then matching the size they're in now would actually give them the right amount of room because of the difference in shape and volume. The smaller one probably needs at least a 1 inch opening, and the larger one would do great with 1&1/16 or 1&1/8 if you can find t...

Heat lamps get a lot hotter than a good quality UTH will, hot enough to cause immediate burns and catch things on fire. I've registered 400+ degrees surface temps on red lamps before, while Ultratherms max out at around 140 even without using a thermostat. You won't be able to get enough heat inside...

My experience is similar to Joe's, if there's guaranteed no sign by four months I get really worried as well. There is no benefit to digging to check though other than to satisfy that concern. Sometimes I've been able to hold out for a while just for safety's sake, other times I went with my gut and...

Freshly picked millet straight from the plant should be left out to fully dry before packaging, the moisture content can be high enough to cause mold for a while until it's dried out enough. (I used to run sorghum sprays through the dehydrator for 24 hours on low to make the process a bit faster.) I...