HCA: Hermit Crab Association

We found a 75 gallon tank and stand Friday on Craigslist. We were looking to buy an entire set up of the same size new anyway so we managed to save a good bit. This morning consisted of scrubbing the stand and tank. We had to get the mineral build ups off from under the top. After about 6-7 hours of scrubbing, mixing, and decorating this is the outcome.

We added about 250lbs of sand, about 1/2 half of a large bag of Eco Earth coconut Fiber, and about 6 gallons of distilled water mixed with Instant Ocean.

We ordered a larger Ultratherm from the Bean Farm since the one on the back was originally purchased to cover the back of a 10 gallon.

We also tried deeper water tubs so the crabs can fully submerge if they want. We also added a different temperature/humidity gauge since we were having getting completely different reading on the 3 we had.

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Oh wowww! I love this set up I really like the tower with all of the seashells encrusted on it

ғɪᴠᴇ ᴘᴘs: ᴋᴏᴀ, ᴍᴏᴊᴀ, sɪᴀᴍ, ᴏᴢᴀʀᴋ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴄʜᴇʟʟᴀ

That looks awesome!!! Great job! What lucky hermies!!!


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hermiwormi wrote:Oh wowww! I love this set up I really like the tower with all of the seashells encrusted on it

ғɪᴠᴇ ᴘᴘs: ᴋᴏᴀ, ᴍᴏᴊᴀ, sɪᴀᴍ, ᴏᴢᴀʀᴋ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴄʜᴇʟʟᴀ

Thanks, my wife Xenocrab made that shell tower and another similar one a few months ago. We didn't have room for this one until we upgraded to a bigger tank.

Looks awesome. Bet your crabs are going to love it!

Wow! Really nice!!

That looks beautiful:)


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So far we put our 3 large rescues in it and only one partially explored. One was fighting to fit into a coconut hut so I had to open the hole up for him. I'm sure there will be a bit of tweaking in the next few weeks.

I'm hoping my scheduling works out for Thursday! I will have more pictures to post sometime that evening!

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I'm in LOVE! what a nice set up!

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My plans for today actually worked out for yesterday. We were super excited to be able to pick up these guys yesterday to get them rather than have them shipped! I'm still not sure who is who or what their names are yet. I wanted to get more pictures today but they are currently playing in the sand now!


I found these guys while trying to find E's. After reading they are are a mail order pet place I was a bit iffy about the place. I sent multiple emails back and forth about them and the possibility of picking them up. Once I was assured they would only be packaged up to get them from their facility to our meeting point. I'm assuming their warehouse must be the batcave because I figured that would be easiest place to meet. I ended up driving about 500 miles round trip to get these guys. We met at a local hospital and the one dude was waiting for me with the 6 guys I purchased. If felt sort of like a drug deal you would see in the movies only with hermit crabs! I looked them over quickly before putting them in a 10 gallon tank with food, water, humidity and substrate for the 4+ hour ride home. None appeared to have broken limbs and all but one came out to say hello. After getting them set up for the ride home I stopped for gas. While waiting for an available pump I looked back and one of them was out of his shell changing into a new one! As everyone says these guys went straight for the salt water. Just about the entire ride home I could hear them clunking around in the tank.

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Awww, it's so funny how straws look exactly like strawberries. Dots and all! I've heard that it's more difficult to care for them than other crabs. Is this true?

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This picture makes their name so darn literal!

I have heard they can be tough. I also heard they have their special needs but aren't bad as long as they are met. They were not a spur of the moment purchase. With the 75 gallon we made some tweaks to our set up in order to make sure everything was set up before we purchased them. Gotbutterflies has been a big help. She answered a lot of questions I had making sure everything is good. We only had them home and in the tank for 23 hours now so it's hard to say how difficult they are.

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Motörcrab wrote:This picture makes their name so darn literal!

I have heard they can be tough. I also heard they have their special needs but aren't bad as long as they are met. They were not a spur of the moment purchase. With the 75 gallon we made some tweaks to our set up in order to make sure everything was set up before we purchased them. Gotbutterflies has been a big help. She answered a lot of questions I had making sure everything is good. We only had them home and in the tank for 23 hours now so it's hard to say how difficult they are.

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LOL. The picture of the crab near the strawberry made me laugh so hard! Keep us updated on these beautiful exotics

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Diablo pulled the strawberry out of the dish and has been munching on it. He's the biggest and the only one I named so far. The other guys are all about the same size and in the same type of shell also currently digging and hiding. Names will come once they resurface. I'm sure in the next few weeks I will have a lot more questions on them. Right now they just need to destress from being at the store and 4+hour car ride home.

Beautiful!

Did you check these guys for mites? Also, did you dip them in the fw pool so they didn't smell like intruders to the PPs you have in the tanks?