HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello all! So I am thrilled to finally have found a place with other hermie lovers! We have a pretty full house here. There is me, my husband, his parents, our teenagers, two cats, two bettas, two dwarf African clawed frogs, a bearded dragon, and a small little colony of 5 hermit crabs. At the moment they are in a ten gallon tank but I am preparing for a move up to a 20 gallon soon because I have soooooo many ideas I want to put in place and also to grow our little colony. They have playsand at the moment with no coconut fiber. I ran out but it should be coming in the mail this week. They have access to fresh water and saltwater everyday. And I just recently have started putting pieces of cuttlebone in the tank. It's so much easier than eggshells. I'm rambling on because I am just so excited.

So anyways, on to introductions: (I hope I'm posting the pictures correct.)

https://instagram.com/p/BZU01regNzB/
Here is Derp. I think she's the smallest but definitely the goofiest. She always cracks me up.

https://instagram.com/p/BZU1w9vALhI/
This Merlin. He's on the quiet side but not overly shy. Merlin is just kind of a chill guy.

https://instagram.com/p/BZU2STeAg34/
Sir Sassypants. He is very active and very curious. Not at all shy. He is also our newest member.

https://instagram.com/p/BZU3BqggTzF/
Arwen is my beautiful little shy lady. She is always camera ready too! Lol.

https://instagram.com/p/BZU0onHgXh7/
In this pic you can see General Tybalt (in the red and yellow shell) along with Sir Sassypants being crazy and Derp peeking out too.

I've been trying to phase out the painted shells that most of them came with but sometimes they've switched to another painted shell before I can do anything about it. That's still a work In progress.

Hi-Hi!
Welcome to the HCA!

Those are some cute crabs!

They will definately be excited to get a bigger tank.
With five crabs, I'd be tempted to recommend something a bit bigger than a 20 gal because they can grow pretty fast & overcrowd the tank quickly. But its a good start!

Have you seen the HCA care sheet yet?

Also, how long have you had your crabs? How did they scrabble into your life? Everyone who ends up with these guys has a story.

Awww what cute names! And nice lookin crabs!

Thanks! The oldest one is Merlin. He's four. Well...we've had him for four years anyways. If you judge age by size they were al at least four to five when we acquired them. They're all larger than golf balls but not quite tennis ball sized yet. Arwen and Derp were Wildwood additions from three years ago. And Sir Sassypants was from a tiny little store in NY. General Tybalt was an adoption from some parents whose son went off to college. Poor guy had been by himself for awhile when I got him. He's adjusted very well considering.

I'm not too worried about a 20 gallon because our hermies get a lot of out of tank time. I won't release them to wild but they deserve as much freedom as I can give them. Lol. My husband thinks I'm crazy. He says they're not babies and don't need floor time but I think they enjoy exploring. I set up a sheet with all kinds of treats and things for them to climb and "play" whatever....they go for it most of the time. Sometimes they just hang out and don't do much. Derp likes clothes. Especially when you're wearing them. She will climb on them, hide in them, shove them about...you just gotta be careful not to get "pinched". I always tell people loose clothing around Derp.

I am curious if anyone knows where I can find a nice collection of larger shells at this point. It's getting harder to find them. And the few times I've ordered online they've come in and been far too small. Is there a thread for that?