HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Generally fresh water is recommended over salt water, just cause he doesn't really need a salt coating & fresh may be better for making him smell like his buds - but otherwise, yup, pretty much what Angel_crab said.

Congrats on a good moult!

One of my crabs dug under a shell. I thought they'd be really good at hide and seek. But then he came up and deposited said shell in that hole. Do they bury them to save for later? Or as a discard? Do you think they're upset when they come back to find their buried shells unburied? I dunno... just ...

Yup, that's crabs all over. You're most likely to see lots o shell changes when you've either just cleaned & replaced the shells, or added new ones. Keeping them clean will result in more shell action, if you want to see that, but it's also work. I'm pretty lazy about cleaning shells - though I try ...

A crab can generally dig around an obstacle like a buried stone or a shell or root (like in nature). But if you want those shells (that you paid money for - not those dang lazy, resource squandering, ungrateful crabs!) to be available for wearing, you'll rescue them from the fate of obsolescence in ...

I did ammonia testing in one of my fw pools for a couple weeks - I found that the first week it took four days before the ammonia went up (and then it spiked pretty hard, but because a couple of isopods had wandered in & drowned). The next week the crabs were all about dragging stuff into the pools ...

I like command hooks. I've also purchased untreated oak dowl (very narrow diameter), drilled holes all along it & then drilled holes in the plastic rim of my tank. I use zip ties through the holes in the end of the dowl to secure it through holes in the rim. Then any thing I want to hang I can do so...

Maybe it's the crabby new year, and his resolution is to exercise more & be healthy.

If any of your crabs quit smoking you'll know that's it.

If desperate you might try buying shell grit for birds and sifting through that for okay shells? It would not be fun, but you might get a good number in the absurdly-small size range. Related note: anyone know if anyone has offered fresh water aquarium snail shells to megalopa with success? I ask be...

It's possible that if they have had it recently it is presently a less compelling food. As my kid sister would say, they're "full up of" honey. As omnivorous (mostly) scavengers, they've evolved to seek different foods. You never know when you'll come across a quality protein/sugar/lipid/whatever fo...

* HCP mixes oyster shell (for calcium) in too. (So do I... I buy a box in the bird section at the petstore & mix it in). That's what I was thinking when I mentioned calcium.

Lol, could be anything.

Other groups may have recommendations regarding either the calcium or added salt (if memory serves the HPC mix contains a small quantity of salt? ). Members of the HCA over the years have not reported negative issues with these additions & so other than mentioning that playsend&ee homade mix is chea...

Heya, I'm late to the party, but just wanted to suggest that you hold off on getting more crabs for a bit. Heres why: a 29 gal is great initially, but they will all (hopefully!) grow - and the more crabs you have, the sooner you will need an upgrade. Besides which a 29 gal is likely a wee bit crampe...

Okay, if you haven't yet tried adding him to the 55 colony, perhaps that would be a good idea - he may react differently in a tank with hides & decor than he does in a more open setting (like the playpen - I sort of assume you mean a literal playpen?). When an animal enters a space with other conspe...

That's excellent! They'll always appreciate variety.