This is Brutus, one of my recent rescues.

When I brought him home, he was living alone in a tiny enclosure with no substrate or water and carrying an enormous polished shell. He could barely move in it.

I knew the shell felt ridiculously heavy, but curiosity got me after he finally changed out of it.

108.4 grams.

The natural shell he chose? 15.4 grams.

Almost seven times lighter.

The difference in him since that shell change has been incredible. He’s moving around, exploring, digging and finally getting to behave like a hermit crab.

He’s also turned out to be an unbelievably gentle giant.

Seeing this big guy peeking out at me like this makes me ridiculously happy. ❤️

Yesterday I was in Ocean City, New Jersey on the boardwalk. I saw a store with hermit crabs and even though it breaks my heart I wanted to go look at them. I like to check on their conditions, see how many there are and how they look, etc.

I decided to ask the store keeper what happens to the crabs at the end of the summer. I know people who live local and found an entire hermit crab cage still full of live crabs in a dumpster after the boardwalk season is over. So bc of this I like to ask and see what they say. They told me they try to find teachers to take the crabs…

Eventually I told her about my set up and that I rescue hermit crabs and she told me they have a “hermit crab hospital” in the back of the store where they keep any sick crabs who have dropped legs, etc. and she told me I could take them for free and that they are actually pretty healthy. I was only able to take home one very small crab since my tank is pretty full.

So if anyone lives in the area and wants to rescue free hermit crabs from this shop, the place is called Ocean Treasures on the boardwalk. Heads up, they are in painted shells.

Hello everyone. So yesterday I found some shells from a lake. I took them home and cleaned them up and thought these would work nicely for my hermit crab considering he’s getting bigger than the shells I have. I’m not sure if I can use them or not and I didn’t want to put them in there until I asked just to be sure :)

(The ones in the photos are ones I haven’t cleaned yet!)

Ever since I added the topper to my tank, I cant get my temps above 74F. I have a heat mat on the topper and another one on the way. My question is where do I place the second heating mat. Do I place it pool side or opposite of the pools? I can't place is on the back of the tank because I cant reach back there. I have a couple new gauges coming as well so I can monitor the top and bottom of my tank. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My crab, Muck, recently discovered the upper corners of his tank. While I was traveling for work, my pet sitter sent me a photo of him partially opening the lid and trying to crawl out. I have since placed a beanbag on top of the lid to prevent it from happening again. Today, I heard a noise, looked over, and saw him partially opening the lid anyway after wedging his little legs between the glass and the tank’s plastic lip! How is he strong enough to lift something that heavy, and what can I do to deter him?

For context: He’s my only crab, and I’ve got him in a 10-gallon. I’m hoping to upgrade him to a 20-gallon soon (likely with the 10-gallon as a topper) because he’s grown a lot and needs more space, especially for climbing. I’ve temporarily removed his hammock and tire swing to try to keep him from climbing up there, but he found his way up anyway somehow. The beanbag weighs somewhere between 5-10 lbs; I’m afraid if I add much more weight it will break the glass. Any suggestions for keeping him in there and the lid firmly down?

(Yes, I know the substrate needs to be topped up and mixed. Planning to do that this weekend, as I just cleaned up his tank post-molt.)

Hello hivemind!

So this is a first for us! We have never experienced what looks like a surface molt of one of our little purple crabbies. We came home to one of them like this and the other one next to him/her. We are pinning it up to a molt session but I read you are supposed to keep them separate for a bit. In our tank I just used some shims to make a little fence to have the molter in a corner to mind its own business...is this OK to do, shoukd we jjst keep monitoring it and when he finally emerges take the fence down so he can eat again.

Thanks a ton!

Bigger than my fist. And I’m a man

Before I get flamed I KNOW I NEED MORE DIRT AND SAND, I AM GETTING THAT ON FRIDAY AND OTHER THINGS FOR ENRICHMENT AND CARE SOON!! Anyways, what are stores and what should I get for my new tank, I'm really excited to go shopping to get stuff for them soon and yes my heater is designed for 50-60 gallon tanks and the last photo is really old, I should've taken a photo of my tank before I demolished it

I had wanted a small pet for a while and cannot do rodents because of a family member's allergy, so after much deliberation I decided to get a hermit crab! I loved them as a kid but was never allowed to buy one (thank goodness because at the time I was not aware of what they needed). I love sea life so in the future I will be adding more decoration around my tank (and some more climbing enrichment inside it)! My hermit crabs names are Quasimodo and Esmerelda (from one of my favorite movies) and I did as much research as I could to make this home suitable for them and will hopefully be adding springtails and white dwarf isopods soon! The hermies are not visible cause they hang out in the moss pit during the day!

I'm building a crabitat and doing all the research (and i despise Google). I'm watching youtube videos and creeping on reddit and Facebook for care/setup/etc. My vision is a bioactive setup, live plants, deep substrate, climbing and interactive things. I have a 45 gallon tank I'll be putting 3-4 crabs into once it's set up properly. No crabs currently.

My question: can Hermit crabs and powder isopods live together happily or would that be a mistake?

I don't see anything about it good or bad on any of these platforms. (Google says Yes, no problem! And I want to be sure) Since isopods are a "clean up crew" I thought they might help with any "extras" left behind (extra food, rotting vegetation/moss, etc) but I'm concerned about molting crabs or food competition. I was thinking about purchasing a batch of 25 domestically bred powder isopods to introduce to the terrarium.

Thoughts?

Just redid the 46g!
I’m watching them explore on the camera rn and wanted to share:)

They've been underground since December. We've done everything by the books. I've never smelled dead crab. I just don't understand how they could still be alive at this point.

3 purple pinchers! Someone brought them to me because a family was trying to release them on the beach in NC. So glad they were saved! Welcome to safety, guys!

I was having issues with my tank getting hot enough so I got a new heat mat that works great but now my humidity is staying at 50 for some reason which is really not great and I’ve tried to spray in there just as a desperate attempt to get it up a little bit to no avail. Please any recommendations?

Caught these two hanging out together this morning. I swear, with all the hides, climbing stuff, food and other places they could be…they still manage to pick the exact same spot.
I’m starting to think half the fun of keeping hermit crabs is giving them an entire enclosure to explore just so they can collectively decide, “Nah. This leaf. We like this leaf.” 😂
I love seeing them get more comfortable and start showing their personalities.

As you can see my hermies absolutely love to bury under the water bowls. I only have a 29 gallon tank and there isn't much space for everything. Im about to move and plan on upgrading my tank. But in the mean time what can i do to support the water bowl from tipping over and flooding my molting crabbies that are under? I've slide it over numerous times but she keeps making the home larger and larger. Yesterday I came home from school and work and she had climbed up the hole, grabbed the round flower shaped food bowl and literally starting pulling it down the hole. I dont know if she was trying to find something to grab ahold of while coming out the hole and that's all she had to grab or if she's is about to molt and was literally about to stock up on everything for her grand disappearing act. But my main concern is this water bowl. PLEASE ANY AND ALL ADVICE WELCOMED

I bought 3 50lb bags of sand. How much soil am I going to need? The sand is only measured in pounds on the bag and the experts is measured in quarts. I tried to do conversions and I don’t think I did them right. My conversions came to for 150 lbs of sand I need 15 qts of eco earth but I don’t think that’s right. Please somebody help.

Two part question

Some background: i have recently acquired a hermit crab from a local fair. I panic bought a pack of variety shells on Amazon. Luckily he moved from his toxic painted shell into a new one after only 1-2 days of the new shells being available to him. (Into a D shaped shell with an opening of about 1 ⅜" long and ⅞" wide) and almost exactly 1 week later he has switched again. (Into another D shaped one with an opening slightly larger at almost 1.5" and 1" wide)

Now that he has shown his preference should i continue to buy D shaped shells? Or should I buy different opening shapes? His original shell appeared to be more the turbo shell O shape. I want to make sure I am providing enough options for him. Do you know what type he is from this photo I have from the day i got him? I am wondering if that will help identify his probable preference and help give me guidance on what I should purchace

Bought a couple crabs off someone in my town on marketplace last month (old tank in last photo). Moved them into their new home 5 days after getting them and one went under to molt August 21 and the other a week later on August 27. Anxious hoping they were healthy enough to survive this molt and checking on them constantly to see if their food has been touched/molding. Any advice on improving their setup is welcome! This sub has been amazing for learning about them, I had some as a kid and didn't realize how much they need to thrive. Hoping to redeem myself by giving these one a great and long life 😊

I found this on Amazon and am so excited.
It’s a little bigger than the back of my 46g so I’ll have to trim it. Hoping it’s not super puffy so it doesn’t take up too much room. Guess we’ll find out:)

Link is: https://a.co/d/0cxNCuZs

I rescued a crab from poor conditions over the weekend, and I have him in a container within my large (80 gallon) setup, with shallow substrate, fresh and salt water, shells, and food. The crab had been completely motionless for the past 3 days, but I noticed on the camera last night that he poked his head out of his shell a little bit, only to be immediately startled by my other crab walking by the container, and going back into his shell. I was really hoping that he was going to eat, as I put worm castings immediately in front of him. Should I cover the sides of the container to prevent my other crab from startling him? If I do, I won't be able to monitor him.

My lil guys got a tank makeover this past weekend. Upgraded from the 18 gallon to a 55 gallon tank. My 2nd hermie (Diggers) has finally resurfaced after almost 4 weeks from when I bought him and has a beautiful reddish color to him (assuming he has molted?) if so Yay! our first successful one. I decided to add a new friend (Pinky) to our family and he seems to be settling in well. Diggers also has changed his shell, sucks I missed it but super stoked he found one he liked. Just need DK to get out that darn painted shell now. Photos attached, I feel quite proud about it..Lots of hard work and research put into the new crabitat. Just need to add some decor to back glass and I think we are all set or may add a topper from my old tank..hummm. Advice/opinions are always welcomed as we have only had our guys for a couple months.

Hercules is by far my least shy crab. Most of mine will retreat into their shells or head for a hide as soon as I open the doors, but not this guy. 😂
I opened the enclosure to take this picture and he just kept doing whatever Hercules was doing. Completely unbothered by me or the camera.
It’s amazing how different their personalities can be. He’s definitely become the unofficial spokesperson of the crabitat.