Hermit Crabs

[crash274]

The miss's has been keeping these for most of her life. There have some pretty specific requirments for their care, and unfortunatly most people use them as "throw-away" pets. She is a member of several clubs that rescue them from homes that don't want them anymore.
 
She has a 40gal breeder tank set up for them, that they enjoy remodeling to their own specifications, a mess.

 

 
 
 
 

 

[Chad]

Excellent. These were some of my very first pets and I have a special place for them. So much so that I got my daughter into them. She has a small colony of 6 and would get more if she had the room. One of the fist things I told her was, "Two hermit crabs does not a colony make!" As a result of my love for the land lubbers I keep a variety of species in my marine tank (7 species to be exact). Point is...I share her love for them.

 

[crash274]

She has all Purple Pinchers right now. Thinking that for this Christmas I'll set her up a Strawberry tank. Those are so pretty.
 
Someday I'll do a marine tank, have plenty to work on now if you've read my "Tale of the tank" freshwater journal

 

[Chad]

I've never seen the strawberry (Coenobita perlatus) for sale here locally. They would be nice to have! There is a marine species that looks very similar (and grows huge) but they are so large and not reef safe that I could never keep on...well...maybe someday.
 
How many crabs does your daughter have now?

 

[crash274]

Its the wifes tank.... Sorry for the confusion. She's got 12 of them. Gets scary cause they all go down to molt at the same time now. So the tank will look empty until they start popping up. She always worries that one will go canibal and wipe out the molters. Its happened before when one she rescued ended up being one that was captured in the wild when it was already too large.
 
Yeah, the strawberries I'll have to order from a supplier. I can get her a dozen of them for $200 but can only get them shipped in during the warm months. Makes doing it for Christmas a logistic nightmare I'll set it up at a friends house soon and keep it there until the day before.
 
If your reading this hun, your getting a new dishwasher.....

 

[Chad]

Ah...wife...12 is a great number. I would love to have that many.
 
If you get the strawberry do post photos...and yeah...way to spoil the surprise.

 

[Animal Lover 2000]

Cool cool cool I love hermit crabs and I have 4 Caribbeans (purple pinchers) in a 10 gallon tank

 

[xXLeafeonXx]

I got two ruggies and 1 pp I love them.

 

[Chad]

Here's a question I don't know the answer to...can you mix species? In a marine tank most marine hermits, except the larger ones, tend to get along pretty well except if they have to fight over shells.

 

[xXLeafeonXx]

You can but they need aleast 2 species buddy see I have 2 ruggies and one pp.

 

[Chad]

It's difficult to get anything other than purples here.

 

[xXLeafeonXx]

I know ruggies are really rare and expensive blueberries are almost impossible straws are not that uncommon and E are rare for me.

 

[miatiny]

I love hermit crabs. I use to have 27, mostly E,s with only 4 PPs in a 120 gallon tank but had to rehome them with the tank when we moved. I know have a 65 gallons tank with 9 PPs and 2 Es which are all rescues. I find them so addictive and interesting. I would love straws but I amtoo afraid of how delicate they are and scared they would have bad molts.

 

[Tongue_Flicker]

Are marine (as in the purely underwater saltwater types) hermit crabs easier or harder to maintain than a freshwater land hermit crab? Just curious

 

[Chad]

Having kept lots of crabs I find the small marine hermits the easiest to keep. BUT...big BUT...that's because I keep a reef tank. In that environment one just drops in the crabs and they do their own thing and require nothing more from the aquarist than extra shells.  They feed off of the left over fish food and algae that grow in the tank.
 
IF a person were to keep a tank just for the sake of keeping a marine hermit the keeping of the water would make them much more difficult than a simple tree or land crab. So if the crab is the only animal a typical land hermit is much easier.