to bring home. We got back to the condo on the opposite side of the island, I and started hearing movement in the shell bucket, and lo and behold, we had 5 hermit crabs. Not having any kind of permanent set up available, and after doing some rudimentary research, we did our best with the containers (a plastic shoebox full of damp beach sand, with a leftovers container set inside with sand at the bottom and topped full of ocean water), and using plastic jug caps we had (for food and distilled water) until we could get home to set up a habitat. 3 were reeeally small, in shells about 0.5” to 0.75” long (periwinkle shells), one was small, in a round shell about an inch in diameter, and one was in a small conch shell about 1.5 -2” long. We named them Peanut, Almond, and Cashew (the itty-bitties), Hazelnut (small), and Pistachio (the bigger guy).
Sadly, Peanut, Almond, and Cashew didn’t survive the stress of captivity and never even made it home 🥺. But Hazelnut and Pistachio survived the trip home, and the trial and error of a new crab mom with no experience whatsoever with these guys. We initially did everything wrong when we moved them into a 10 gallon crabitat (so the intro pic below is NOT the current set up). We are now using playsand and coconut fiber substrates. (A mix through most of the tank, with an area on the side of just coconut fiber), roughly 4” deep.
Meet the new guys:
This was when we first got home. I have since overhauled the tank, as described above, along with the addition of more hiding spots and climb-able stuff. They also got a new shell showroom.
It’s nice to “meet” y’all!
