HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hello All,

I am so excited and I am totally in love with my three hermies, all three are E crabs about the size of a quarter each. Their names are Barbosa, Jack and Will. I have read all the relevant forums about their needs and have given them the biggest tank i could with proper substrate. I've even gone as far as getting them UV bulbs to support their growth. I have ordered some food and shells from the recommended sellers from the site. I've hand the crabs maybe 2 weeks now. I live in MD but got my hermies at Hilton Head Island South Carolina from a surf shop, my daughter begged me for them which i obliged and after much research i didn't know how far and intense this process is going to be.
Never the less I'm committed and I've fallen in love with them with her. Reflecting on where I got the hermies from they were being sold under some horrid conditions....but that's a topic for another forum.

My questions are:

1. My crabs won't eat a bit. I bought them everything they could want to eat from Hermies Kitchen and i don't see them touching it at all. They came with packed food but have taken them away because they contain the copper sulfate.

2. They came in those horrid painted shells, they have 15 shells they could possibly switch to from a seller also recommended by HCA. I've sized them properly with calipers and the openings are correct. They just won't switch. I've read that E crabs are not as quick to switch shells but I would still want them to.

3. Jack my largest crab: who desperately needs a new shell has taken to ground and has not left for 4 days. He's alive cause i don't smell anything when i dig around him and he will move just the tiniest bit. Should i drop a bit of dried food next to him in the substrate just in case he gets hungry? I know i shouldn't dig him up. And should I spray around him with the mister?

Anyway thanks for your help in advance.

Hello, and welcome to the HCA!

Congratulations on getting your new crabs!
New crabs almost always bury down to “destress” or quickly molt. They come directly from the wild, and are put under a lot of stress from the stores and transport. You can continue to offer a little amount of food, but they will most likely avoid eating if they are buried, just until they finish destressing.

If you offered a lot of natural shells, they will eventually change when they are in the mood. My Es are a bit picky, but one of my loves changing shells! You won’t need to mist directly around the crab, if your humidity gauge is reading at least 80 percent humidity, you don’t need to worry about anything.

I hope this helps, good luck!


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Even large hermit crabs will eat only small amounts of food, so you may not notice much disappear. As long as they’re alive and active they’ll be fine.

You can’t force them to switch shells. Es like to modify their shells, so encouraging them to switch to new, unmodified shells can be tricky.

Digging behavior is normal, especially with new crabs who need to destress. You don’t need to place food next to them, they’ll eat when they need it.

Just remember that they can remain underground for months at a time. A few days is nothing! Just resist the urge to dig for them. They know what they’re doing.


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First and very importantly - DO NOT DIG! If a crab is underneath the substrate, leave it alone, do not dig around it or dig it up. Unless there is an emergency such as a flood or bacterial bloom, digging up a crab can be VERY harmful and sometimes fatal.

When crabs are small, they don't eat a huge amount - I swear that the only reason I knew mine were alive when they were small, was that they were still alive!

1. My crabs won't eat a bit. I bought them everything they could want to eat from Hermies Kitchen and i don't see them touching it at all. They came with packed food but have taken them away because they contain the copper sulfate.
Mine didn't eat much at first either. It was almost a year (after their first molts) before i noticed any food disappearing from the food bowl. they eat such small amounts that we barely notice. But they also eat other stuff around the tank like any cholla wood you have. I had a cocofiber background and they were munching that for a while! i did the same, bought food from Hermies Kitchen, Hermit Crab Patch, and TheHealthyHermit and was getting frustrated. but be patient, they're eating if they're moving around and healthy

2. They came in those horrid painted shells, they have 15 shells they could possibly switch to from a seller also recommended by HCA. I've sized them properly with calipers and the openings are correct. They just won't switch. I've read that E crabs are not as quick to switch shells but I would still want them to.
I don't have experience with Es, but my purple pinchers didnt change for a little while. Sebastian, my first, came in a painted shell and he kept it for about 3 months. I hated seeing him in it, but they'll change when they are ready.

3. Jack my largest crab: who desperately needs a new shell has taken to ground and has not left for 4 days. He's alive cause i don't smell anything when i dig around him and he will move just the tiniest bit. Should i drop a bit of dried food next to him in the substrate just in case he gets hungry? I know i shouldn't dig him up. And should I spray around him with the mister?
He's destressing most likely! I have a newbie that buried immediately and he's been down for a couple of weeks. It is very stressful just waiting, but he'll eventually come back up.

I noticed you said that you mist the tank.... Are you having trouble keeping up humidity? If so, try some bubblers in the water bowls. I added one just to my fresh water when i first started, and that helped tremendously! They're only a couple of bucks at walmart, and a small pump will do fine.
Also, what kind of lid do you have? I used seran wrap as a lid with a few holes poked for air flow. Just make sure you have to taped down really well, my escape artist Rajah managed to get out a couple of times!

Welcome to the HCA!

Just want to say a quick welcome to the board! Reading all of above posters will give some great tips to start you out.

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Thanks for the help everyone. I mist because that's basically what the shop owner told me to do...she said to keep them "wet"...i noticed however that my hermies hate it and ran away or ducked everytime i've misted around them. i've read basically all the materials offered here along with some other internet sites. I've rigged an old cool mist humidifier to help with the humidity instead of misting and i've ordered a humidity gauge and temperature gauge to go into the tank. The cool mist humidifier is on the lowest setting at the moment until my gauge comes in but my one hermit crab has already parked himself under neath it.

Has anyone found success with planting any live plants in enclosures that they won't eat and are also safe for them to live with? I'm just curious.

Welcome aboard! Watch out with an automatic humidifier as with constant release it can potentially "flood" the substrate drowning crabs that are down molting. As already mentioned, in the DIY section there is a easy tutorial on how to make a bubbler that is pretty easy to build and I heard works really well.

As for live plants, I have heard that people tried them and the crabs eat and pick them apart in a very short time. Most of us use decorative plastic plants to add color.

We have had our E for over a year and he has molted twice and never changed shells. Well he changed shortly after we got him and changed back after several minutes.

Our crabs will pig out one week then it doesn't look like they eat anything for weeks. They can be sneaky about it. Generally ours will all devour popcorn when we make it avaliable. We pop it in organic coconut oil on the stove. Only a few kernels will last a while.

Our tank looked like a warzone. We have 6 crabs in a 30 gallon and we counted over 14 holes from them digging. Pretty much let them alone if they are under. We have some vampire crabs that only come out around midnight then disappear before dawn.

Pathos have been used in crabitats before. It has to be grown in organic soil for at least three months before it can be transplanted.

I’d recommend keeping it in a pot so burrowers don’t shred the roots. Hermit crabs don’t eat pathos but will climb on it.


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I sprinkle organic chia seeds in the tank. Some get eaten by the crabs, the rest sprout and the crabs will eat that!

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Thank you Thank you Thank you for the help,

I have made the changes everyone suggested. My last question is my missing crab finally emerged from underground and he has now parked himself on a branch next to the glass where the UTH is stuck to. Does that mean he's cold? the tank is a steady 80 degrees and the humidity is anywhere between 70-80. my second crab seems to be strictly a night owl. I only know he's alive cause he's in a different spot every day and his feelers will move when i change the bowls or open the tank. My third guy it's just everywhere, will eat everything and take luxurious baths in the bowls and climb every branch until the lights go off. what am i doing wrong for my fist crab. thank you any input would help.

It could also just like the branch. At eighty degrees you shouldn’t have to worry about temperature.


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Your humidity should be a minimum of 80%. You can add bubblers to the pools to boost humidity and a moss pit.