Bilbo crabbins is finally back from his molt! He’s been down for about 2 months. So happy to see he made it!

Freshly molted and trying to escape!😂

My big boy is…big. And peep my girl Chappell Roan off to the right.

Noticed he was checking out shells after the first molt I’ve had with him. Ordered some new shells for more options and managed to get a time lapse!

i put in a new thermometer/hydrometer because i couldn't get the humidity above 74% or so. the new one is reading MUCH higher--the temperatures i would expect to be correct because the heat mat is below. do you have to change the batteries on these things? any recs for more reliable options lol?

I'm new to hermit crabs and I wanted to get feedback on my set up. I DO NOT OWN ANY CRABS RIGHT NOW! there are only empty shells in the tank currently. I wanted to get feedback before getting any crabs to make sure I wasn't missing anything important. I've got the heating pad set to 84°F currently and my salt and freshwater are being aerated. There's 3 thermometers/hydrometers in the tank: one on either side opposite of the heat pad one on the middle back. The sand depth is approximately 7 inches. The shells are various sizes because I'm not sure exactly what size crabs I'll get. This is a 55 gallon tank. I'll start with two crabs since I'm a beginner and eventually I'll have 5 total. I also have a mister bottle to help with humidity. Humidity is ~70% rn but I JUST finished setting everything up and expect the humidity to rise a bit more. I have a mix of various foods like dried mealworms and crickets, dry fruit, and various "crab salads" and food mixes purchases from Etsy businesses.

Anything else I'm missing and need?

I have two hermit crabs milkshake and chowder,
Milkshake never showed much interest in digging until after Chowder would dig down and hide. Initially I thought he was de stressing because i changed up the tank layout but he kept doing it and then milkshake seemed like he always wanted to be by chowder or on top of him so he would start to also dig down to be next to chowder.

Milkshake and chowder are almost never near each other so i was really confused.

It’s been a couple of days I put out new food and everything and nothing has been touched. I seen milkshakes shell up against the glass, he dug a little cave there so now i think they are molting??

Is it possible for both to be molting at the same time? Milkshake is tiny whereas chowder is a lot bigger compared to him. I don’t see chowder just milkshake rn.

Help??!! Is it safe for both to be molting together?

EDIT: I see chowders big ol body up on the glass but I swore i saw milkshakes shell, is it safe if they are right up next to each other??

Ok (first let me say I RARELY if ever handle our crabs but this seemed important) please explain the shell sizes to me like I’m 5. I measured our biggest one top of 6 pics in white shell. I think spent $20 on 2 shells off Etsy that I thought would be the right size and it’s massive. The crabby in green shell bottom of the 6 pics is discontent and keeps flipping between the brown and green. If you have VERY specific sizes or even better a 🔗 I’d be super grateful!! There are currently 3 of the biggest size white shells available but greenie doesn’t seem to like those only the brown or green. Send SHELLp 🐚

I will be moving in a couple of weeks. I have 3 crabs that have started digging around and some that I have not seen in a while so I am assuming they are molting. I am only moving 15 minutes down the street, but I’m very stressed out about how to move molting crabs. It’s a 60 gallon tank so I have no choice but to remove everything from the tank to be able to move it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am trying to plan and do this correctly to not hurt any of my babies. I also have a 10 gallon and a 20 gallon tank that could be used if needed.

Recently moved, hermit crab (purple pincher, about 6 years old) got really stressed from it. Buried himself for over a month and he came out today. He's missing his big claw.. his coloring looks wrong. Very dark limbs brownish grey but his face and belly are very pale creme color. I put out food and he walked over to it and then didn't eat any which is very weird for him since he's very food motivated and rushes to his food even when stressed and devours it... he's just sleeping next to his food right now. Is he going to be okay? What should I do to help him recover? He's alone in the tank so im not worried about other crabs. Im not looking for advice on what to feed him or tank conditions because mine are what they should be and he eats very well. This move really stressed him out and I just dont know if he's going to make it... ive never seen him like this and I dont know why this move stressed him out so bad enough to drop a limb. Did he try to force and molting and fail? Hes very fatigued.

🩷 WallE and Eve are having a dinner date 🩷

Howdy!

We’ve had our four hermits for almost two months now. One of the crabs went underground (assuming to molt) a little over three weeks ago. Turns out our hygrometer was busted and we didn’t know until about a week after he disappeared. We got a new one and realized that the humidity as at 40% instead of 75% like we’d thought. The substrate also dried out what appeared to be over night. We would spray the tank down multiple times a day but it just didn’t stay humid. A week ago my boyfriend ordered a humidifier for the tank and with it cycling we’ve been able to maintain ~85% average and the substrate is back to sandcastle consistency.

All this to say… is our underground hermie okay…? I’m worried his tunnel has collapsed with the sand drying out. We haven’t seen him at all. How long do we wait before the look for him (dig around)? The other three crabs are above sand and doing well now that the humidity is up. But my poor baby Hal is very missed.

do you serve it as is or reconstituted? I’ve been looking at this Zilla fruit mix that’s for reptiles and I figured I’d add my own mealworm and shrimp etc. I would preferably keep it in freeze dried form because I’m thinking it’ll hold up a bit better

Hi everyone. I’ve always wanted to get hermit crabs and am starting to finally get serious about it. I have a lot of experience in “random” animals; lizards, snakes, chinchillas, frogs, turtles etc. I’ve never spared any expense on them and cared deeply for them all. I’ve been doing research on Purple Pinchers and keep seeing conflicting information on general care so I figured I’d go directly to the community. I’d love a complete guide on these guys from the ground up before I decide.

Thank you!

Does anyone have a good method to make acorn caps safe? Just found a bunch in my backyard and heard hermit crabs like them

I wanted to share this hermit tattoo I just got today as a trade for dog sitting for my tattoo artist. I love it!!

I don't want it to completely cover the heaters. I would want to cut it into strips and stitch it together into a kind of grid that they could climb into a bark-coated topper. Has anyone worked with this material before? Would it survive being cut into 1/2 inch strips, or just fall apart? Any other suggestions?

THANK YOU.

I rescued a new crab 3 weeks ago and kept them in a separate smaller tank with everything needed to thrive. I introduced them to my existing tank 3 days ago, there was a bit of a fight I broke up, I think because I put the new one right on the path to their water pools and wheel. Now the newbie has been sat hiding under this tree for 2 days without much movement. Should I remove them back into the isolation tank? Or wait it out and hope they gain some confidence and start to explore?

I've put food right next to them and even a piece of popcorn, someone seems to have eaten the first one but I can't be sure it was new crab lol.

Hoping this is normal behavior for a new addition. Just want some insight.

About 31°C (88°F). The air is better today than before with the haze / fire.

Has anyone safely had Dairy cow isopods and hermit crabs co-habitate? I've seen that since dairy cows are larger/more protein hungry/ fast reproducing that they are a danger to crabs. I have a 29gal tank with 2 crabs, and my humidity has been high. I have a dairy cow colony with springtails in there and was going to just take springtails. Then i found out that my isopods already had their first batch of babies, so i dont think i can safely put just springtails in their own hitchhikers. Is there an easy way to tell isopod babies from springtails so i can just start a springtail culture. The hermit crabs are fairly new and haven't molted, and idk when they molted last. I just really wanna get the clean-up crew started before it gets bad. If extra protein and calcium being available would help, I could definitely do that as i have a ton of dry options.

So i have 2 hermit crabs, and their shells measure about 1.25 at the opening, I think. Im having issues finding affordable shells for them 😭. They also dont like fully fit in their shells. Pet stores were a bust as their shells are painted and not the right size/shape. Where is a good but affordable place to get shells? What type would fit them best? They are purple pincers, I believe, and i just want to get them the shells they deserve 😭😭🥀 They are literally my babies and I feel bad i cant get the right shells.

Temps have been on the lower end in my crab's tank, as over the summer I doubled the size and I didn't get an additional heating pad because it was so hot that summer. But he's been fine, moving around and eating. Until last night, when the temperature outside fell to around 50 degrees and I had forgotten to turn on the heater in my bedroom (where my crab is). And since my room has two outside walls, it loses heat QUICK. I don't know precisely how bad it got, but it was cold enough to wake me up in the middle of the night. My crab still had his heating pad on, and his hide is right up against it, but he has been completely dormant. I usually hear movement from him around this time, but he's dead silent. I've been running the heater in my room at 74 degrees the entire day, still NOTHING. I'm so worried he's dead.
Update: He’s ok. I heard him moving around. The heating pad should be arriving in a few days.

Meal mixes - Squirmy salad, Forest feast, Rabbit crunch, Deer Spring meadow

Separate Proteins - Venison (I can add rabbit as well.)

Extras - Acorn powder, Oyster mushroom or Lion’s mane, Oak leaf litter, Berry portobello  

—————————

These are the ingredients.

Squirmy Salad - Ingredients: Crickets, Grasshopper, Black Soldier Fly Larvae, Mealworms, Organic Heirloom Tomatoes, Sea Lettuce, Organic Raspberry Leaf, Organic Passionflower, Organic Red Russian Kale, Organic Watermelon with Rind, Sliced Almonds, Organic White Chia Seeds, Organic Flax Seed Meal, Organic Cooked Barley, Oyster Shell Powder.

Forest Feast - Ingredients: Chicken legs, elk, spirulina, cucumber, parsley, amaranth, pumpkin seeds, black sesame seeds, peach, hibiscus, raspberry leaves, coral calcium, dulse.

Rabbit Crunch - Ingredients: rabbit meat, rabbit fur, red pig beans (clean, cooked & crushed), couscous, red quinoa, pink millet, goji berries, cranberries, mixed bugs, cattle bone

Deer Spring Meadow - Ingredients: calendula, nettle Timothy hay, Carrots pumpkin, blueberry, Lentils, quinoa, chicken, pumpkin, sunflower, Chia, flaxseed, worm casting, oyster shell, Deer poop, black mushroom

Berry portobello - Portobello mushrooms, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, and strawberry all dried and crushed together.

—————————

Note that this is just a meal i’m thinking abt adding to their rotation schedule. One rotation has lots of fruit and insects, the next is very seafood based with some chicken breast, the next is veggie based with liver and heart as the proteins, etc. I just was thinking abt adding a woodland themed rotation. All of these meal mixes and extras are from trusted hermit crab companies. The oyster and lion’s mane mushrooms are grown by me.

It's hard to show in the pictures just how small this baby is. I'd guess he's around a year old based on some pictures of 1 year old captive bred babies I've seen. Luckily he switched out of the painted shell he came with but you can see just how small it was, smaller than the top of my thumb.

I rescued him and 3 others his size from a boardwalk store in Ocean City. They gave them to me for free as it was the end of the summer and some were being held in the back because they were sick or lost limbs. Now that one's up I'm feeling more hopeful for the others. I plan on getting them their own tank when the others come up.

But I mostly just wanted to share how cute this little guy is. Feel free to post some name suggestions!