I was changing the water in my hermit crab tank when I noticed this little guy sitting naked by the water dish. I gently scooped him up and grabbed some shells, then placed them in the empty water dish. After checking things out he decides to reshell.

Heather says:

I've only had my hermies for a month, so I'm still a rookie. My very favorite, the fiesty, brave, friendly little baby molted last night. I found Sprout this am, laying in the food dish, upside down and drawn tight into her(?) shell, with what appeared to be her legs and claw on the outside - I thought she was dead at first, then realized she was intact inside, very pink in color. She won't come out to see me AT ALL (she usually comes WAY out of her shell when I talk to her). I recently bought her a shell that I thought would be small enough, but it was hard to gauge at the store and now I'm afraid it's too big. Should I separate her and the new shell from the others (I have 5 total in a 10g tank), leave her alone, turn off the lamp (I don't have an undertank heater), or what? Right now I have her sitting on top of the salt water sponge, with the new shell nearby. Please help!! I want her to make it through, but I'm sure I have no idea what I'm doing.

Wimblee says:
You should isolate her within the main tank to protect her from the other crabs. Do not disturb her any more than normal. The way to protect her is to use a 2 liter bottle with the top and bottom cut off and push it down to the bottom of the tank so it forms a little cell around her. Light is good in a normal day/night cycle. If she fits in her current shell she won't necessarily change just because she molted. Make sure to offer some food in case some other crab ate her exo. She is very exhausted and fragile right now so disturb her as little as possible.

Heather says:
I threw her exo in the trash, but then pulled it out to show my boys when they come home from school. I had no idea they ate it!!! So glad I asked.

Wimblee says:
Yes its very important that they eat it. It may take her a day or so to eat it though so don't take it away

What is IRL?

Cynthia asks:

I have three crabs I got from the Crabbage Patch, and while they are very healthy, they are a bit shy and usually shell up when people walk by. I have a rescue crab I got free off a local paper, and that guy doesn't care if people walk around or not, and he's usually out and about.

Is there a way to make the shy crabs more comfortable? Should I handle them? (I don't usually handle the crabs.) Or just have more people walk by so they get used to it?

Wimblee says:
People have definitely had success with handling their hermit crabs, even to the point of being able to hand feed them. I have read that frequent handling along with speaking in low tones can tame a shy hermit crab. I practice hands off crabbing so I've never experimented with ways of overcoming their shyness. I have found that PPs/caribbeans seem to be less shy. Jumbos seem to vary some are super aggressive and outgoing and others are very reclusive. Most of the exotics I have owned have been shy. When I had Rugosus' they seemed to be mostly outgoing and were definitely the easiest to photograph. My E's are the worst! No matter where my tank was located they freak out when you walk by or approach the tank. Right now my tank is in a low traffic room AND on the floor. I don't think this location is necessarily ideal for taming your hermit crabs. Any time you are approaching your hermit crabs from above they are going to naturally retreat. In the wild physical contact, aside from mating, would involve shell stealing or predadation. hermit crabs don't seek human contact like dogs and cats.

If you want to continue your hands off approach and reduce agitation, you might consider putting more plants and ground cover in your tank.

http://www.foreverpurple.com/lhccare/shy.php

A recent email question got me to thinking about how my approach to pet stores has changed since I began crabbing. When I first started keeping hermit crabs I blamed the pet stores for the death of my hermit crabs because their set up was less than idea. Over time and with the help of researchers like Sue Latell we have discovered that the physical stresses endured from the time of capture are really to blame. Most pet stores don't have a perfect set up and if they did, they may find that their number of deaths goes up. This will be explained in greater detail if you read the articles below. So now my opinion is if the store has a clean set up with fresh food and water, that's probably as good as we can expect.

Trisha writes:

Hello! My name is Trisha and I live in the St. Louis area. I did a search trying to find a place to buy hermit crabs and somehow or another it led me to your site. Do you live in the St. Louis area? If so, is there any place around here that you recommend for buying hermit crabs? I don't feel real good about the conditions of the petco near us and I'd rather find a better place to buy some crabs, if possible.

I really like your blog - and I'm not just saying that, you have lots of good information.

Thanks,
Trisha

Wimblees says:

Sadly not all petstores even have a standard set up for the hermit crabs. Our Petco (Fairview Heights) is decent, another one nearby (Glen Carbon) is better. Our Petsmarts are the same, one (O'Fallon) is pretty good and the other (Glen Carbon) is horrible. If you can find a petstore that offers at least a standard set up, even though not ideal, I would go ahead and purchase your crabs there. There are ways you can help increase the chances of survival once you get the crabs home. Thanks to some extensive research conducted by Sue Latell, and some field tests I participated in, we now have a method to help ease the transition from store to home in a way that minimizes physical stress. I will provide you with a link to that article which is located on my other website The Crab Street Journal.

In cold weather, be sure to take a cooler or some other insulated item with you into the store. Exposure to frigid temps can be lethal to an already stressed out hermit crab. If possible keep your car running so it's warm as well. A warm towel would be fine so long as we aren't talking super hot. I don't know if you sew at all but you can make a super easy warmer with some fabric and uncooked white rice. Just make a pouch or bag of fabric and fill it with rice and stitch shut, then toss in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute at a time until it's good and warm. It will hold the heat for quite some time and it's reusable and earth friendly :)

Look for active crabs when buying and yes trying to get them the day they come in is a good idea so you can begin feeding them well.

Sue Latell developed a method for introducing and acclimating new hermit crabs to your existing crabitat. This eases the transition from pet store conditions to proper conditions and helps prevent over stressing as the body tries to adapt to the new conditions. You can find the two articles relating to that here:

http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modules/news/article.php?storyid=23
http://crabstreetjournal.com/xoops/modules/news/article.php?storyid=22

I'm so excited! At first I was going to simply take a still photo of my large PP hanging upside down to each Starfruit but then I remembered the new Sony Handycam. I ended up with a pretty cool video showing the mandibles, or mouth parts, working like little hands to take the food from the claw. There is some camera jostling and such but I don't know how to edit it out. I feel like it's worth it though. The video is currently uploaded to the CSJ YouTube channel.

In 2006, an editor from World Book's Animals of the World contacted me to ask for permission to use some of my photos. Permission was granted and the photos are found in the 2007 volume titled Purple Pinchers and Other Hermit Crabs.

It was a great honor to be invited to participate in such a well known encyclopedia series. I never did post photos from the book so here they are:

Check out the entries for the 2009 My Crabby Valentine E Card contest below and then visit our FORUM to vote for your favorite.

Daethian:

Be my crabby valentine

MrFelixOB:

My Crabby Valentine

Spidtat:

Crabby Valentine

Grant:

Come over to The Crab Street Journal and vote on your favorite Calendar Crab and your favorite Crabitat of the Month. There are lots of entries this month for both contests. If you want a chance to win some great prizes join us and submit your photos for next month. We give away real prizes every month and you get to chose yours. So it's all totally free and fun!

Here is a video of my tank from today and a few still images: