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How to Find a Hermit Crab. Although hermit crabs are sought after as pets, they can be fun to observe in their natural habitat. They might be difficult to find because of their camouflage and their tendency to run when disturbed.

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Everything you ever needed to know about your pet land hermit crab but didn't know to ask!

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Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

Hermit crabs account for one-fourth of crustacean species and typically hang out at rocky or sandy areas in temperate or tropical oceans from the deep sea to intertidal zones. These shelled creatures feed on plankton and detritus, or small organic particles. Depending on the species, most hermit crabs range from 2 to 6 inches in size; however, some giant hermit crabs have reportedly reached a length of 8 inches.

Body

A hermit crab's distinctive characteristic is his shell, which protects his soft abdomen that curls into the spiral shape of the shell. A hermit crab's shell is held in place by little grippers called uropods. Tiny scales cover the uropods and legs to provide traction. In addition, his longitudinal abdominal muscles contract to press against the inner walls of the shell for further stabilization.

Shells

When a crab grows too large for his shell, he begins the search for another. A hermit crab will never kill to obtain a new shell. He simply looks for a vacant home. When the crab finds a possible candidate, he will inspect the size, shape, weight and mobility of the new shell and even try it on. If the new shell doesn't meet the crab's expectations, he will remain in his old shell until he finds a suitable replacement. It is important for beachcombers, tide poolers, divers and other explorers not to collect shells near the homes of hermit crabs. Since hermit crabs rely on these empty shells for new homes, removing empty shells may be detrimental to a crab's health and survival.

Activity

Since hermit crabs are nocturnal, they are most active after sunset; if you have a hermit crab as a pet, that's the time to observe him drinking, eating, cleaning or interacting with other crabs. A dark, cloudy or rainy day could also coax him out of his shell. Wild hermit crabs are most active from 8 p.m. to midnight, and their activity is very limited once daylight rolls around. Crabs enjoy climbing, so if you have a pet hermit, you should consider providing him with items he can explore. But be careful -- hermit crabs have been known to crawl out of their cages that aren't properly enclosed.

Pets

When most people think of the word "pet," they lean toward the fuzzier canine or feline variety, but hermit crabs also make great companions. Just like dogs and cats, hermit crabs can be curious and playful. Owners have observed smaller crabs grasping the silicone sealant of their aquariums to climb, claw over claw, up the corners of their homes. Also, hermit crabs make great pets for anyone with allergies. Since hermit crabs are crustaceans, they do not carry any dander or potentially harmful bacteria or allergens.

Photo Credits

Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

Author

Dorothy Stephenson is a writer with experience in travel, health, nutrition, equine science, real estate, history, green living, fitness and agriculture. She has written for publications such as "EQUUS," "American Farrier's Journal," "Today's Diet and Nutrition," "Military Officer" and "The Washington Examiner."

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Hermit crabs account for one-fourth of crustacean species and typically hang out at rocky or sandy areas in temperate or tropical oceans from the deep sea to intertidal zones. These shelled creatures feed on plankton and detritus, or small organic particles. Depending on the species, most hermit crabs range from 2 to ...

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Harry the hermit crab has the same problem as all of his kind; his soft belly leaves him vulnerable to the elements so he must seek out his own sea shell for safety. But unlike other hermit crabs, Harry lives in Legoland, Windsor, in the UK, and the staff there had a novel approach to his problem - designing a red, yellow and blue LEGO shell-shaped home for him to call his own!

This issue of how best to provide for domestic soft-bellied hermit crabs has posed a curious challenge to designers. While hermit crabs will - in their natural habitat - generally set up sticks in a discarded sea snail shell, keepers of domestic hermit crabs often offer a selection of sea shells to find one that suits the needs of their crustacean. One company, Makerbot, offers 3-D printed custom shells for creatures outside of their natural habitat.

But after Harry shunned many of the regular sea shells he was offered, the staff of Legoland decided to reach for a material close at hand. Legoland's Liane Riley told the UKPA: "We decided to give Harry a wider choice and the model makers here created a special Lego house just for him... We weren't really sure if he'd actually move in, but he rejected the sea and snail shells on offer and seems very comfortable in his new home".

You can check out a video of Harry strutting his Lego-Striped stuff here.

Via The Guardian

Images Screen Capture from " Harry the Hermit Crab Comes Out of His Lego Shell - video," by the Guardian, except for Second Image (cc) Arnstein Rønning via Wikimedia Commons.

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Harry the Hermit Crab Gets A Lego Home of His Own

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Harry the hermit crab has the same problem as all of his kind; his soft belly leaves him vulnerable to the elements so he must seek out his own sea shell for safety.

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australian land hermit crab image by Vanessa Pike-Russell from Fotolia.com

Land hermit crabs prefer to stay on the sand for the most part, heading for water periodically to take a drink or a quick dip. Land hermit crabs are designed to live outside the water except for reproduction, their bodies require hydration inside and out. Keep the right kind of water available for your pet.

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Land hermit crabs prefer to stay on the sand for the most part, heading for water periodically to take a drink or a quick dip. Land hermit crabs are designed to live outside the water except for reproduction, their bodies require hydration inside and out. Keep the right kind of water available for your pet.

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Jeffrey Hamilton/Lifesize/Getty Images

Imagine how tired you'd be of eating the same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner, day after day after day. If you're feeding your hermit crab the same food all the time, he's likely to be a little tired of it. Sheldon would probably enjoy a little variety in his diet.

Variety is Nice

In their natural environment, hermit crabs dine on a variety of foods, including decaying wood, grasses, plants, fallen fruit and things washed on shore from the tide. They're not fussy and are usually open to trying just about anything that gets their attention. You can experiment with Sheldon and offer him a few things from your breakfast plate, such as some scrambled eggs, or try a piece of popcorn on movie night.

Foods to Feed

There will be some trial and error to learn what Sheldon likes, but most hermit crabs have a sweet tooth. The Hermit Crab Patch notes that baby food is popular, particularly fruit flavors such as fruit medley, apples and bananas, mango fruit, guava fruit, sweet corn casserole, sweet potatoes and apples and applesauce. If you want to avoid baby food and use fresh fruits and vegetables, try blueberries, mango, banana, pineapple, grapes, sweet potatoes, carrots, corn, spinach, apple and broccoli heads. Walnuts, peanut butter, fresh rose or sunflower petals, honey, oatmeal and wheat germ offer a nice change to fruits and vegetables. Sardines, blood worms and meal worms are appealing, as is the meat you eat. If you give Sheldon meat, make sure it's not seasoned with any spices or table salt.

Foods to Avoid

If you don't eat processed foods, you can probably share much of your food with Sheldon. However, if you eat processed foods, keep them to yourself. The sugar and table salt in them can be harmful for him. If you give him edible flowers or grasses, make sure they're from flowers that haven't been treated with fertilizers or pesticides, which can make him sick. If you aren't able to feed him organic produce, the fruits and vegetables he eats should be washed with dechlorinated water.

Things to Think About

Since hermit crabs are game to try anything, you should be cautious of what you put in Sheldon's crabitat. Although pretty, painted shells can be dangerous for crabs; eventually the paint will chip off and he may ingest the flakes. You may want to keep some commercial hermit crab food on hand to ensure he gets the nutrition he needs. Some crabs will stash food in their crabitat, which mimics hermit crab behavior in the wild. Keep an eye -- and a nose -- open to make sure it doesn't stay in the cage too long and start rotting.

Photo Credits

Jeffrey Hamilton/Lifesize/Getty Images

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Imagine how tired you'd be of eating the same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner, day after day after day. If you're feeding your hermit crab the same food all the time, he's likely to be a little tired of it. Sheldon would probably enjoy a little variety in his diet.

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Two Methods: Setting Up Your 'Crabitat'Caring for Your Crabs Community Q&A

Hermit crabs (affectionately called hermies) are great pets to have. They may not be as cute or cuddly as a puppy, but they are fun to play with and will teach kids the meaning of caring for another living creature. Follow these steps to set up a crab's habitat (a crabitat) and care for your hermie.

Setting Up Your 'Crabitat'

1. Keep the substrate clean. Dirty substrate can lead to mold which can be harmful to your hermit crabs. Change it every 6 months. However, every month you should do a brief check to see if there is any mold growing, or an ant or mite infestation. If you see either of these things, change the substrate immediately. It's a good idea to "spot clean" any dung and food the crabs have dragged from the food bowl or buried. You should only clean the substrate when your hermit crab is not molting (a crab who has burrowed underground and is going through a process to shed and regrow it's exoskeleton). Never move a molting crab.

If you want to go the extra mile, you can sterilize your sand substrate. Sand can be sterilized in the oven. Put the sand in a large roasting pan (one used only for this purpose!) and place it in the oven. Set the temperature to 250 degrees (F), (120 degrees Celsius) and let it be for about 2 hours.

Once every two to three weeks, boil all the shells and dishes in your tank in a pan of dechlorinated salt water. Doing this will insure that that mold and bacteria will not grow and harm your crab. Allow the bowls and shells to cool before placing them back in the "crabitat".

2. Get climbing-toys. Hermit crabs love to climb! In fact, in the wild, they will climb large rocks exposed by low tide to search for food. choya logs or stumps are great for this. Choya is not toxic, and has holes in it for them to grab on to. You can lean it in a corner of your tank, just don't place it too high or your crabs will climb out. Lego's and hemp nets work well too. Hermit crabs are sometimes called "tree crabs" because they will climb trees to eat insects and vegetation. Do not, however, buy painted toys, as paint could be harmful to crabs if it is ingested.

Natural toys: Natural rocks and seashells that you pick up at the beach are great things to scatter around the "crabitat." Clam shells even make great food dishes. Just make sure to boil them in boiling water so that they become sterilized before you place them in the tank.

Plastic toys: Plastic plants made for reptiles are great for crabs to climb and hide in, just remember to use the lid of your tank so the crabs can't climb out. Make sure they aren't eating the plastic, and remove it right away if they are!

Never use reptile "half pine logs", as pine is an irritant to the crabs and can be toxic.

3. Provide your hermies with water. All species of hermit crab need to have access to both freshwater and saltwater. You will need to provide two water dishes for the crabs. Hermit crabs need to balance the salinity of the water in their shells; the dishes should be at least deep enough that your crab can get water in its shell (C. Perlatus, A.K.A. Strawberry hermit crabs, need to be able to submerge themselves), but make sure they are able to get out. A good way to do this is to provide them with a sloping water area, where one part is shallow and easy to climb out of, while the other is deep and they can submerge themselves in the water. Line the area with rocks or something they can grip on. Plastic is too slippery and they will have trouble climbing the slope.

If you have large and small crabs together, you can put small rocks or a small natural sponge in the water dishes so that it is deep enough so large crabs can let water in its shell, but small crabs will not become trapped in the water dish and drown.

You can buy aquarium salt for marine fish (not freshwater fish) from most pet stores and a little goes a long way. Never use salt intended for human consumption because the anti-caking agents can be harmful. Most hermit crab brand salts are also table salts. Pre-mixed "hermit crab water" does not have the correct salinity. Use a brand like Instant Ocean, Oceanic, etc.

Caring for Your Crabs

1. Provide shells for your hermie. When hermit crabs grow, they need bigger shells. It is important to keep plenty of extra hermit crab shells similar to your crabs' sizes in the tank at all times. Once a month or so, rotate a few undisturbed shells out with different styles of shells.

Purple Pincher Hermit Crabs prefer the shells with round, circular openings. They will choose circular openings over the oval openings. Ecuadorian Hermit Crabs will prefer an oval opening, because they have flatter abdomens.

Never buy painted shells! Although companies may claim the paint is safe, the paint can chip off, and if the crabs eat it, it can be toxic. Most hermit crabs, when presented with a choice, will pick a "natural" shell over a painted one, even if it's not the right size. See the Warnings for information on what kinds of shells to avoid.

2. Provide a steady and varied diet. Hermit crabs are scavengers by nature and will eat almost anything. Beware of commercial food, as it has many preservatives, such as copper sulfate, that may harm your little hermit. Don't feed them anything spicy, hot, or with preservatives in it.

Hermit crabs love silver sides and shrimp that are fresh, freeze-dried krill, blood worms, etc., and other seafood. You can normally buy these fishy foods at your local grocery store.

If you cook, set aside a piece of steak or chicken, non-marinated to grill lightly for the crabs. They also eat raw meat.

If you have more than twenty crabs or so, try getting a fish head from a local fish market. They are usually happy to give them away. You can put all of your crabs in a large tank or a large clean Rubbermaid storage container, (clear, no lid, or lid with VERY large holes cut in it) drop in the fish head, and a water-bowl, and leave them in there to eat for a few hours. You will mostly likely not want to do this very often, since the stench is pretty bad, but your crabs will love you for it!

3. Know what fruits and veggies hermies like. Aside from eating meat, hermit crabs also love different fruits and vegetables, among other scraps (they are scavengers after all.) Remember to change their food almost every day or night. Hermit crabs love to bury their uneaten food, and this can cause molding and is messy.

Hermit crabs love fresh fruit like pineapple, apple, pears, grapes, cantaloupe, watermelon, mango, papaya, strawberries, bananas, etc. Wash your fruit thoroughly before you cut it, to avoid pesticides.

Crabs will go crazy for coconut shavings.

Hermit crabs will also eat natural peanut butter on whole wheat toast, hard boiled eggs, egg shells (boiled), popcorn (plain, unsalted and unbuttered).

Avoid anything from the Allium species of plants (onion, garlic, etc.).

Try not to make any loud noises or sounds while handling them. It can stress them out.

Adopt or buy crabs that are lively, not lethargic. Lethargic crabs may be sick. However, some crabs may just be stressed or naturally shy, not sick.

A dead fishy smell could indicate a dead crab. Other causes of an odor could be if you fed them seafood recently.

Crabs like to bury food, so change the substrate once a month or so (unless you see a crab dig under the sand).

When your crab pinches you, it's not because he's mean, but because he's either scared of falling from your hand or hungry. Put him back and wait a while to pick him back up. Don't discipline your crabs when they pinch you. They are only doing what their instincts tell them to do, and will not understand.

Hermit crabs can't breed without special equipment. They must have a tropical climate and most importantly the ocean in order to breed. So unless you have a 100 gallon (378.5 L) tank set up expressly for the purpose, you will never see a zoea (hatchling).

Fill your tank with half water, and half sand. Use un-chlorinated salt water.

Don't feed hermit crabs before a long trip in a car. They can get motion sick, which can cause them to die.

If you are scared or worried that you might get pinched by the crab, try putting gloves or socks on your hands.

Hold your hand over or on a table while holding a hermit crab. This is less scary for the crab than holding him over a 4 foot drop.

If you think your crab is dirty, soak it in room temperature water for 1 minute, then, let it dry for 5 minutes.

If you see your crab start to be less active or their eyes turn white, that means they are molting. Put them in the same tank but put them in a good spot and mist it with distilled water. Wait one or two days and the crab should be fine. Don't blow on the crab or touch it. Its new skin that's very sensitive, so don't mess with them that much until they get their color back. That takes about a month.

Look in a pet store for hermit crab toys.

Don't use painted shells, they chip and then the crabs eat the paint chips. The paint is in fact toxic to hermit crabs. You should only use natural shells.

Most people believe hermit crabs are throwaway pets, but they can actually live for over 20 years if properly cared for.

Make sure that you have sand and not gravel. If you do have gravel, then the crabs can't burrow and could die easily.

Try playing with them every other day. Too much human interaction causes the crabs stress, and it is possible for hermit crabs to die of stress.

If you have two or more hermit crabs in one place and one is molting, make sure you separate them. The other hermit crabs will eat the hermit crab that is molting.

When you are first handling your hermit crab, keep him above something soft or very close to the ground. If you drop him, then your crabby should be OK. It is also good to put him back in his crabitat if you drop him so that he can recover.

Hermit Crabs are very social creatures. In the the wild they can be in groups up to 100 or more!

If your Hermit Crab hides away from you a lot, just give him/her some space. If you Hermie buries him/herself in the substrate, they may be shy or molting.

You can use a spray bottle to help keep the tank moist.

Some crabs like man-made foods like peanut butter, so test the waters with feeding them.

Give your Hermie water through a sponge because it makes them feel normal to be able to pinch the sponge while they drink through their antennas.

Do not bother your crabs while they are buried. They are either stressed, moulting or just having a break. Only if you smell a fishy smell, you should dig them up.

Don't use soap to clean crabitats or toys! Once the crabs and sand are removed, you can use a white vinegar spray and thoroughly rinse. Toys, shells (empty!), and choya logs should be boiled in salt water (to prevent mold) for cleaning and set out on towels to dry.

Don't drop the crab, because it could lead to injures or death.

If you have exterminators visit your house on a regular basis, do not have them spray that room. Put a towel under the door to keep fumes away. Put them in a closet for a few days if possible. They are not bugs, but are related enough that pesticides will harm them. and be careful.

If you are considering decorating with driftwood, "furniture" or wood items, or live plants, make sure to do your homework. Many type of wood and plants are poisonous to hermit crabs, such as Lucky Bamboo and evergreen trees.

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Hermit crabs (affectionately called hermies) are great pets to have. They may not be as cute or cuddly as a puppy, but they are fun to play with and will teach kids the meaning of caring for another living creature. Follow these steps to...