HCA: Hermit Crab Association

No, all hermits can use a combination of legs and their large claw to block the opening. It has a lot to do with the shape of the shell and how well it fits, as to what all will be exposed.

This is kinda normal crab behaviour, not even moulting behaviour, but just general goodly crab weirdness. I know how shocking it is when they suddenly start doing something new to them! I've had my Rug for almost 4 years, and last month she dug herself out a permanent burrow for the first time. Actu...

Bright colours in the joints can happen post moult, and it tends to fade the farther out it gets from the last time they went down. I've had them come up sporting near neon yellow, and bright orange joints before, and it usually lasts only a month on the biggest crabs.

I found one once at the pet store that had mummified in it's shell. There was no smell and it looked like it was all closed up tight.

Also, expect the crabs to double and triple in size while molting - sometimes on their very first molt but guaranteed within the first year. Little crabs do not stay little for very long, and each molt will just compound space issues and make future molts that much more dangerous.

While there are a few things that could cause issues down the road like Curly pointed out, I'm really wondering if it's just coincidence that both went on the surface at the same time. By numbers alone, you'll see more weirdness. A tank rescape can cause surface molts, as can new crabs with post-pur...

It really sounds like post-purchase syndrome, with them being so new. If you're talking a true jumbo crab - the size of a baseball or bigger - it's already decades old and they do not adapt well to captivity, if they can adapt at all. I have never had one survive longer than a couple of years, and t...

It can still be the gauge!! Temperature and humidity are two different sensors, one can go while the other is okay. Calibrating it (there's a guide in the caresheets) is a very good idea to make sure it really is a humidity problem and not a gauge problem.

Plastic wrap the lid, or use Ziploc bags and packing tape, to seal the lid up and hold the humidity in.

Salt is really helpful in limiting mold, though caution is warranted so it doesn't built up too high in the substrate. Mixing new substrate with drinking strength salwater made from Instant Ocean (or similar) will keep mold growth at bay on the surface of the EE and can cut down on mustiness. If you...

The Fluker's hermit crab beach sand is absolutely safe for them. It's only the reptile sands that can potentially be an issue. Calcium and aragonite sands aren't safe unless it's in small additive amounts.

The downside of the bottle method is that it's hard to get them the darkness they need in order to finish molting properly. It's also not foolproof either, and crabs have gotten inside to attack molters.

Becomes inaccurate, but sometimes the display goes wonky first!

Okay not gonna lie I kinda didn't yet. It's a digital, and the instructions for calibrating on HCA seemed to apply more for analog ones. Do I still need to calibrate it? Yep. Even the digital ones can be broken out of the box! They also have a tendency to randomly fail after about a year. I've neve...

This was my biggest guy. He was absolutely wedged into that shell! And he did that to the edge himself to make room for his eyes. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200115/e16fe5a5a503ad95e2d4be3a2afdf0d0.jpg https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200115/b0a2a2bb9a3672502c28cc605ecb7fcd.jpg https://uplo...