HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Looks like book lice, which are totally harmless.
Check out our 'bugs' care sheet:

viewtopic.php?f=124&t=92537

Some crabs hang in groups and some don't - it does not mean anything is wrong. What used to be thought of as social behavior is now known to be more a matter of resource sharing.

Welcome to crabbing! You will need a lid both to keep the crabs in and to keep the humidity in - they have modified gills and need humidity around 80% in order to breathe. I have a plexi glass lid now, but my first couple of tanks I just taped plastic wrap (ie Saran Wrap) over the top to hold in hum...

Looking good! You'll want to get a few more shells - HCA recommends 3-5 extra shells per crab, in order to give them enough choice, and to avoid fighting over shells.

To add to what JoeHermits said, crabs do not leave their shell when they molt. So if you have deep enough substrate, they will bury themselves completely, shell and all. You don't need to do anything. Leave them alone underground, don't dig them up. They make a little cave underground, and stay ther...

1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it? Half the tank is coconut fiber and the other half is sand. The coconut fiber is 2 inches deep and the sand goes from 2 inches to 7 inches deep at an incline. Curly - Your sub should be at least 2-3 times as deep as your largest crab,...

Welcome to the site and to crabbing!

Don't dig him up, if it is still a month away from moving. Let him stay underground as long as he wants to.

I would wait at least 4 months. Even if he is depleted from being dug up and moved, digging him up again may cause even more harm. If he's already dead, there is nothing to be gained by digging him up. They know what they are doing when they dig underground, and it's best for us to let them do it an...

If you are certain, then six months is generally too long, even for jumbo crabs. There is no harm in waiting a bit longer, just to be sure tho.

Are you absolutely certain he has not come up and gone back down during that time? The only way you can really be certain is if you have a camera watching the tank 24/7. Or if he is the only crab in the tank and you smoothed out the sand and there have been no foot prints. If he is dead, there is no...

Depending on how deep you want your sub, you may need quite a bit more LOL. My one crab is a jumbo now, and I probably have 300 pounds of play sand mixed with coco fiber in my 40 gallon tank! You also may notice that the sand and coco fiber hold the moisture and your humidity will be good without th...

I adopted 4 medium hermits, and they have been thriving!!! I'm not a "new" hermit owner per se, but I am new to having a permanent, heated, humidified, living crabitat. I responded to a post in an online forum for my neighborhood asking for someone to re-home 4 hermits, around Dec-Jan '24. The fami...

I would use a lot of caution with an auto sprayer - introducing a lot of water into a tank can be a flood risk. If you moisten the substrate when you put it in, so that it holds it's shape, and your lid is mostly sealed, the humidity should stay up where it needs to be. What do you have for a lid on...

Many of us give all the crabs (old and new) a quick dip into the fresh water. That way they all smell the same, and nobody seems like an 'intruder'.