HCA: Hermit Crab Association

We just got our three babies about a month ago. Two of them went straight away down into the sand and haven't come back up yet. That leaves Tamatoa for us to obsess over, the poor thing. He goes under the sand to nap and be super boring during the day so I stuck a camera to watch him at night.

We threw in extra shells for him two nights ago. I have no idea what I'm doing, so he got lots of shells. LOL I figure, better too many than too few.

(The yellow thing is an entire hardboiled egg yolk, because I think it would be funny to watch him eat something bigger than he is. Also my kid won't eat them so it would just get thrown away anyway. The brownish red thing is a dried cranberry.)

So the night we put the shells in, he was in and out of them over and over. He seemed to be having fun. Then he went to sleep in the green shell and left his old one abandoned.

The first thing he did last night was swap back to his old shell. Then he proceeded to completely ignore the egg yolk and eat the sand substrate? He also picked at his cranberry and some egg white, and scuttled around until I went to bed.

He seems fine, other than the shell swapping and eating sand. It was super fast, every time he swapped. Very confident. Twirl the new shell to line up the openings, swing his little bottom around, and wriggle into place. Blink and you miss it. Super cool. Go have a snack, scuttle around, repeat.

Is that a thing hermies do? To change shells that often? I guess I thought they picked one and lived in it forever until they didn't fit. Does he need more, so he can play dress up with more variety?

He doesn't have a lot to do, but I can't really redecorate much until his friends come back up. He's got to be bored and lonely.

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Yes, they can change shells very often. Like shopping for just the right pair of shoes. You should add things for them to climb on. They are also called tree climbers. And maybe add a hamster wheel to walk on. Crabs love that! They walk miles every night in the wild. Hermit crabs will walk on the wheel 24-48 hrs straight.

I got them a hamster wheel! It's pink and everything! LOL I'm super excited to put it in! The problem is the angles of this tank. It's not square. That style makes a great betta tank, but not so much for hermies. Who knew they'd need a wheel?

I can't fit the wheel and both water bowls in. Also they have too much sand so the lid can't close, even if I got them smaller water bowls. Did I mention I have no idea what I'm doing? This initial setup got all wonky.

I swear, this tank was supposed to be temporary. The day all three of them are on the surface, it's getting changed. I was ready to do that, then they went down. I don't have room to set up two, or I would.

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Zanthalia wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 17, 2019 3:11 pm

I got them a hamster wheel! It's pink and everything! LOL I'm super excited to put it in! The problem is the angles of this tank. It's not square. That style makes a great betta tank, but not so much for hermies. Who knew they'd need a wheel?

I can't fit the wheel and both water bowls in. Also they have too much sand so the lid can't close, even if I got them smaller water bowls. Did I mention I have no idea what I'm doing? This initial setup got all wonky.

I swear, this tank was supposed to be temporary. The day all three of them are on the surface, it's getting changed. I was ready to do that, then they went down. I don't have room to set up two, or I would.

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Get the new tank up and running and as each crab comes up you can switch them over. If you wait until they are all up at the same time, you'll be waiting a long time. Lol

What size wheel did you get? I know your tank shape is a little funky, but you might be able to fit the 4.5" silent spinner wheel (it's considered mini size). That's the size I got to fit in my 20 gal long. Anything bigger would have been too big along with the other stuff I have in there. None of my hermies have discovered the wheel yet, but I'm hopeful!

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I threw away the tag on the wheel when I cleaned it. I measured it, though, and the wheel itself is 5.5" and with the stand it's about 7.5" tall. I did pick up a 29gal tank on sale last night and I'm confident it'll fit in there. The measurements are 30.25" long x 12.5" wide x 18.25" high. I figure for three little guys, we should have tons of room.

In order to set up the bigger tank now I'll have to move the one they're in. I read not to do that if babies are under the sands because it might collapse their molting caves.

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