HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So my dogs' howling last night woke me at the right time to see Bro aboveground in an EE-covered shell. It doesn't solve why there was chirping unless he was a lightning-fast molter, only being down like 2 weeks, yet being just under medium sized, though it's possible he was de-stressing since i had...

That being the case about digging, I'll count all the shells. For some reason, i keep thinking i got 32 shells in the pack, so I'll pray that between what's on the tank and not that there's only 31. If that's so, i won't mind if Dwebble takes over the old magpie shell, as ugly as i find it

So I'm not sure, but I think one of my crabs, Broheim, is molting. However, I didn't see any sort of pre-molt signs to isolate him, and he left his shell on the opposite side of the tank from where I saw a large mound of eco-earth under one of the pots I broke for them to hide. I didn't inventory th...

Basically it can be boiled down to vanity: I want some colorful crabs to go with my PPs, and since you can lead a crab to shells, but can't make them change nicely, that seemed to be the solution. Are there any more hardy, equally colorful lhc to keep an eye out for?

I'm trying to acquire one or two Strawberries or Blueberries to keep with my PPs. I know this forum advises against online retailers, so other than Craigslist, Petfinder, and the classifieds here, is there any good place to get the aforementioned kinds in central Pennsylvania, somewhat close to Harr...

Did you dip the new guys into the freshwater of the crabitat? No :oops: I'm guessing it was just as Hermias_mom suggested, because now they're playing nice. Jacques is by the food, and Leif is climbing on the new toy In other news, within a few hours of being in his new home, the unnamed one thankf...

I've had two medium PPs (Lief and Snorlax) for a bit, and just introduced some new ones, a small (Jacques) and another medium (still deciding the name). When I introduced the new ones, the old ones knocked antennae with the new medium and went on their way. Snorlax did similarly with Jacques, but Li...

I'm sad to report that Shy Guy is indeed dead :( I'm sad he's gone, but with not even having him two weeks, I couldn't get attached. Once my crabitat is set up, I'm getting another crab so I have at least 3 The other food that came with the crabs was something like this , Wardley Hermit Crab food, w...

@GB: Rather than quote the whole post, I'll just address points that need it by number 4. Here is what came with the crabs, and thus what I started with. When I bought the hood, I got some Instant Ocean, so I'm covered on that front. 5. The pellets I use are All Living Things. I saw that ALT Powdere...

I'm working on getting higher wattage bulbs so I can make the tank warmer

Since I have to be up early and can't watch him all night, is there any way to tell if he's moved on overnight? I spoke with the owner shortly after starting to learn their habits, and she said he's usually shy, so he's not showing any pre-molt symptoms. I don't want him to die after so short a peri...

Because of how limp he was, I was able to at least put his abdomen in a fitting shell and let it rest in some fresh water, but he didn't make any attempt to hold onto the shell. Right now he's in the dark in the aforementioned shell and water in a separate tank with his old shell (the painted one) a...

He's responsive, but also kinda slow. Is there much I can do?

Oh ****, looks like it was Shy Guy who's naked; the one who tried several is just fine atm. Still gonna work on him

You need to take the naked crab and a multitude of shells and put him in a small container with very shallow fresh water dechlorinated. If he doesn't pick one in an hour or so, you need to reshell him, gently uncurl him abdomen and back him into a shell. Without a shell a hermit crab will get to dr...