HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi, everyone! It has been a long time since I have been on here...as usual, life got in the way. Mainly, caring for my elderly mother, who finally passed last September. I am just now getting back into my crabbing again, even though I was caring for them, I wasn't really spending any significant time or effort on them.

Anyway, I had adopted 4 E's a while back, who all seemed to transition nicely into my 55 gallon. I also had a 29 gallon with about 6 small pp's. The 55 had the 4 E's and about 12 small with a few medium pp's. It was like this for months with no apparent problems.

It wasn't until a month ago that it seemed like I was seeing fewer crabs. So as I started keeping track of who was missing, then I knew something was wrong. And it was all pp's that were gone. I had caught one in the act previously of attacking a mother, but thought it was an isolated incident. How wrong I was.

So this week, I gave myself the very sad chore of doing a deep clean of the sub (only 1 mother down and he was just starting so is in iso), and found at least 8 shells with partial remains. I am just devastated. I don't know for sure if was all the E's, but I bought a used 44 gallon corner tank and they are by themselves now. And I haven't lost anymore so far.

I also noticed a problem with the lower inch or so of sub. It was awfully damp, so I am going to add vent tubes every few inches along the front and back of the walls so moisture can escape. Even with a false bottom, there is no way for excess to rise and evaporate. I did make the mistake early in my crabbing life of spraying the whole tank for humidity, instead of just the moss pits.

So, I hope this helps prevent anyone else from having to suffer losses like this. It is truly heartbreaking.

This is why i don't want es from what i hear their murderous. Sorry for your loss it's horrific.

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Good to know... Es get their own digs in hypothetical future!

Thanks for sharing your experience and I'm sorry that it happened.

My heart goes out to u!

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E's get a bad rap. Mine have never caused any problems.

Usually, aggression is linked to overcrowding, not enough shell choices in the shapes that they prefer, or not enough protein in their diets.

We have had a couple of members in the past rehome E's because they were aggressive in their colonies, but never had any issues in their new homes.



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E's also need deep substrate and plenty of room to dig.

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soilentgringa wrote:E's get a bad rap. Mine have never caused any problems.

Usually, aggression is linked to overcrowding, not enough shell choices in the shapes that they prefer, or not enough protein in their diets.

We have had a couple of members in the past rehome E's because they were aggressive in their colonies, but never had any issues in their new homes.



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Are they also cannibalistic with in their kind or do they mostly attack other species ?

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isadoraisacat wrote:

soilentgringa wrote:E's get a bad rap. Mine have never caused any problems.

Usually, aggression is linked to overcrowding, not enough shell choices in the shapes that they prefer, or not enough protein in their diets.

We have had a couple of members in the past rehome E's because they were aggressive in their colonies, but never had any issues in their new homes.



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Are they also cannibalistic with in their kind or do they mostly attack other species ?

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Any species of crab will cannibalize if the proper conditions aren't provided or they smell a freshly surface molted crab.

Cannibalism in land hermit crabs is not normal and is usually linked to other issues.



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soilentgringa wrote:

isadoraisacat wrote:

soilentgringa wrote:E's get a bad rap. Mine have never caused any problems.

Usually, aggression is linked to overcrowding, not enough shell choices in the shapes that they prefer, or not enough protein in their diets.

We have had a couple of members in the past rehome E's because they were aggressive in their colonies, but never had any issues in their new homes.



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Are they also cannibalistic with in their kind or do they mostly attack other species ?

Sent from my SM-G360T1 using Tapatalk

Any species of crab will cannibalize if the proper conditions aren't provided or they smell a freshly surface molted crab.

Cannibalism in land hermit crabs is not normal and is usually linked to other issues.



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Makes sense was just curious because all i hear about es is their cannibals. But i see the reasons why

isadoraisacat wrote:

soilentgringa wrote:E's get a bad rap. Mine have never caused any problems.

Usually, aggression is linked to overcrowding, not enough shell choices in the shapes that they prefer, or not enough protein in their diets.

We have had a couple of members in the past rehome E's because they were aggressive in their colonies, but never had any issues in their new homes.



Sent from my LGLS665 using Tapatalk

Are they also cannibalistic with in their kind or do they mostly attack other species ?

Sent from my SM-G360T1 using Tapatalk

Sent from my SM-G360T1 using Tapatalk

hermieluv1 wrote:Hi, everyone! It has been a long time since I have been on here...as usual, life got in the way. Mainly, caring for my elderly mother, who finally passed last September. I am just now getting back into my crabbing again, even though I was caring for them, I wasn't really spending any significant time or effort on them.

Anyway, I had adopted 4 E's a while back, who all seemed to transition nicely into my 55 gallon. I also had a 29 gallon with about 6 small pp's. The 55 had the 4 E's and about 12 small with a few medium pp's. It was like this for months with no apparent problems.

It wasn't until a month ago that it seemed like I was seeing fewer crabs. So as I started keeping track of who was missing, then I knew something was wrong. And it was all pp's that were gone. I had caught one in the act previously of attacking a mother, but thought it was an isolated incident. How wrong I was.

So this week, I gave myself the very sad chore of doing a deep clean of the sub (only 1 mother down and he was just starting so is in iso), and found at least 8 shells with partial remains. I am just devastated. I don't know for sure if was all the E's, but I bought a used 44 gallon corner tank and they are by themselves now. And I haven't lost anymore so far.

I also noticed a problem with the lower inch or so of sub. It was awfully damp, so I am going to add vent tubes every few inches along the front and back of the walls so moisture can escape. Even with a false bottom, there is no way for excess to rise and evaporate. I did make the mistake early in my crabbing life of spraying the whole tank for humidity, instead of just the moss pits.

So, I hope this helps prevent anyone else from having to suffer losses like this. It is truly heartbreaking.

So sorry!!


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It's not that E's are just straight cannibals, it's the fact that they are much more inclined to dig than purple pinchers, so they are more likely to come across each other underground. Like soilentgringa said, any crab will take opportunity if they stumble across it, like any scavenger would. And unfortunately, there will always be a chance a crab will stumble upon another underground, even with perfect conditions and deep sub. As far as the OP goes, I think Soilent probably nailed it on the head with Pps, so I will just leave it at that.

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Rawrgeous wrote:It's not that E's are just straight cannibals, it's the fact that they are much more inclined to dig than purple pinchers, so they are more likely to come across each other underground. Like soilentgringa said, any crab will take opportunity if they stumble across it, like any scavenger would. And unfortunately, there will always be a chance a crab will stumble upon another underground, even with perfect conditions and deep sub. As far as the OP goes, I think Soilent probably nailed it on the head with Pps, so I will just leave it at that.

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Thank makes sense I'm always nervous when my crabs play dig when someone is molting even with my 6 inches of sub.

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Thanks for the replies and kind words. I have at least 8-10" of good sub in a 55 gallon tank, which might have been ,and was, fine for pp's, but for the overactive E's, knowing now what I do, well, I would have just put them alone to begin with, but I think they need a lot more room, both above and below. They CONSTANTLY are on the move, day and night! Fun to watch, but a terror to molters. Lesson learned.

And have plenty of shells too. Maybe just never enough.