HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello everyone! I am new here and a new owner of hermit crabs. I absolutely love them and I am having a great experience setting up their crabitat. I just had a question, I joined a hermit crab group on Facebook and I shared a photo of my hermit crab out of its tank and cuddling up in my hoodie sweatshirt. Many people from the crab Facebook page automatically jumped down my throat telling me that crabs should never be outside of their tank and they are hands off animals. Is this true? I have never read anything online about this being true. I have done tons of research before getting crabs and nowhere have I read this. I wanted to join this group and see what you all had to say about this topic. Thank you

It is usually best not to handle them. Because they are wild animals and when you handle them they think you are a predator. And good job doing lots of research before getting hermit crabs!

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If you search through old threads on this forum, you will find lots of posts that most of us are hands off. They are prey animal - which means that they see us as predators. They do not have the brain capacity to 'bond' with humans like dogs and cats. The great majority of us don't like to stress our crabs by handling them or taking them out of the tank.

You shouldn't take them out of their tank because, as others have said, they are prey animals and it is best to keep them in a place that is like their natural environment. They are easily stressed. However, I have read about people taking them out and playing with them. Obviously, you should make sure that it is safe. Not on tables as it may fall, not on carpets as the fibers could get snagged in their legs, and other precautions like that. That being said, it really is not advisable to take your crab out of its tank.


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The hands off movement is a newer idea in the last few years, mostly fueled by the Facebook groups. Prior to this owners would occasionally interact with their hermits without issues. The thought is that since they are tropical that our house conditions could kill them quickly.

I always like to remind people of Carol of Crabworks who has the oldest living hermit in captivity, and she let hers out to roam for about 4 hours every single evening for over 40 years. People like to argue she lives in Florida so her conditions are the same, but for the first 20 years she lived in Maryland.

I do want to add that when crabs are new, care should be taken to keep them as stress free as possible. They are all wild caught and are adapting to life in captivity, and they go through heck during the collection, shipping and selling process. Up until they have a molt, sometimes two molts, they are extremely delicate and the smallest thing can tip the scales out of their favor. Often the best thing for them is to be hands off so they have the best chance at survival, as the death rate is extremely high even when things are picture perfect.

I really appreciate all the replies!