r/hermitcrabs

Hi im 19, I just got these 3 hermit crabs 2 weeks ago at the beach after a little fiasco, I saw them at the beach last time I was there and did a bunch of research in hopes of getting one properly but at the beach 2 weeks ago a shop owner said he thought id be a good owner and basically handed me THREE in a tupperware 😭 they were in painted shells im sorry i just felt so badly for them

Im trying to do my best since they live in a 20 long (all i can afford rn) and my dad said he had hermit crabs as a kid and won't allow me to make the substrate deeper, he keeps saying it'll kill them and basically forbid me from making it deeper but ik they need deeper substrate 😭😭 I got that little hide to try to convince him to deepen it but he only pushed it up around the hide 💀 the small crabs can burrow fully but I haven't seen the big one go under yet so im worried

I got them some good powder food and soaking salt from etsy and the big one likes the food, and I also ordered them some better bigger dishes from luckycrabco they're just taking a while to come in so I put in the recycled dishes today just for the time being, im also going to take the sponge out once I get the good pools

All 3 moved out of painted shells the day I got them home and I'm struggling hard to make sure they're happy as they haven't moved now in probably 3 days, tank is 72 degrees ish, ive got one heating pad made for 20-30 gallons on the side but they're expensive and my dad also forbids me from putting a towel over the tank or anything since its a fire hazard

Plz lmk if theres anything that's stopping them from being happy, I can also understand they may just be stressed and hiding but my dad keeps telling me they're dead because of everything ive done 😭

Idk any help is appreciated, ive tried to give as much details lmk if I need more tysm!!

Also the hermit crabs are the two green shells in the corner next to each other, as well as the big one is inside the coconut

My daughter was gifted a crab from a friend that just returned from the gulf. We found out that it was found in the wild, on a rock, outside of the ocean. I’m having trouble identifying if it’s a terrestrial hermit crab (which she’s had before and is good at caring for) or if its a marine hermit crab that was just enjoying some fresh air before it was kidnapped and we have no idea yet how to care for it yet. Determining its species is vital. It was brought back in a plastic tank with ocean sand and bottled water. Considering it hasn’t died yet, I’m leaning towards terrestrial but the sand could have had just enough salt in it to keep it alive for a few days. Any help would be appreciated. We live about 9hrs from the gulf, so returning it is not something we can do right now.
I will try to get a better picture if he ever comes out of his shell.

Update: she was also told it has blue eyes…

I noticed their hammock is starting to grow mold. Is there anything I can do to prevent this? They love it and I'd hate to have to remove it for good.

hi all!
ive been obsessively building my hermits new home over the last few weeks and would love any advice or feedback to improve it and make sure it’s in good standing before i adopt.

(see photo attached)

im currently working on the topper but could use a bit of feedback & suggestions/inspiration for climbing & enrichment.
idk if they’ll like the different textured backdrop in the topper… ideally, i want to add more stuff on the wall.
im gonna add a sturdier vine & two coconut hides, but i cant help but feel like its still missing something???
DROP SUGGESTIONS BELOW!

also- im considering removing some stuff in the bottom base tank? is it too busy? would they prefer more open surface area on the sand? it’s a 75g base tank, and im adopting 6 (maybe 7) hermies.

Recently got another crab that was just slightly smaller in a d shape shell. Little less than 1.5 inches wide opening. Just a tad big smaller than my larger exact 1.5 inch opening crabs. These shells are 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 inches wide in the pics I put here. Do I need to get some 1 inch opening shells for them? It just seems awfully big on them especially when they curl all the way inside like the first picture!

Sooo, we did another thing today. This lil guy who will be named Smokey came home with us today. I visited a local exotic pet store today to see if I could find some goodies for my hermies at home and seen they had about 20 hermies (just like this guy) in not so great living conditions. I'm a fairly new hermie momma and seeing all those lil guys honestly broke my heart. My 6 y/o seen quite a few dead ones that were out of their shells (maybe surface molting as there was only about 1.5" of substrate in the tank and multiple limbs or exoskeletons just laying around)and said mommy we need to take some home. I said we have 3 and they are alot of work/responsibility but bless her little heart she said mommy if we don't save them they will all die. I contemplated heavily and walked away multiple times before finally deciding to get at least 1. This guy was in one of the nasty water dishes and seemed to be one of the most active ones. We have 3 PP currently and this one looks a bit different. Google says its an Ecuadorian, I guess I just want to make sure they will all get along? He is definitely one of the smallest we now have. I will do research as well but wanted to see if anyone had some insight on different kinds of hermies living together. Thanks in advance! Pictures of our newest and last hermie to join our family, I hope to give them a great long life.

Checked on them this morning to find this, quite a surprise. Camera caught the culprit (pictured) early this AM.

Hi everyone, I’m writing here out of spite and concern. To keep background information short, I live with my ex’s family temporarily and my ex-mother-in-law just came home from her beach vacation with a whopping SIXTEEN (16) hermit crabs (or another type of crab that uses these shells- I don’t know my specific animals like that), all crammed into a bucket, filled with water to where only 3 of them could be above the surface. I didn’t find out about this until over 24 hours after she got home with them.

She went on about her day today, keeping them in the bucket of water, but apparently bragging about them to the whole family and about how “she didn’t know what she’d do with them” in a silly way. She also tried to play it off as an accident, that she didn’t know any of the shells had crabs when she took them. Every single one of these shells has a crab in it. That is not an accident.

She went to an event tonight, still leaving the crabs in the bucket. I went to Petsmart and got what I could afford. A tank that is not big enough, some coconut soil, a salt water mixture, and some food. $50 I cannot afford right now. That’s a different story.

I have a friend that frequents the beach (same beach, or at least within like 20 miles) and she said they’d be going again this weekend and would be happy to take them all back there and release them. We live about 6 hours from where these crabs came from.

I’m wondering how I can go about making sure they live throughout this week, but also, I’m wondering if anyone has advice on how I can gently tell my ex-MIL that this is not okay. This is not the first time something like this has happened. They brought a bunny home one Easter and who knows what happened to that poor thing after a few months. I am also open to any comments that let me know I may be overreacting.

Pics attached of my setup for them at least for now. I’m not entirely sure that all of them are alive but I know at least half of them are. Each place has water and food in some form. I know it’s not adequate, not even close. It’s what I could manage for tonight. Every single shell has a crab in it. I am very upset. Thank you to anyone in advance for your thoughts.

i don’t feel like telling the whole story, but i now have this sand instead of play sand. will it work? it will be mixed with coco fiber as well.

First he conquered both bridges, then explored the climbing wall—and now he has officially claimed the hammock. 🥹
Watching him confidently use everything I built for them is the ultimate proud crab mom moment. The upper level belongs to Chili now!