Mating of the hermit crabs starts when the spermatophore is transferred from the male to the female. During the process, their shells are merged partially. This process is followed by the production of eggs by the female hermit crab. The size of the crab determines the number of eggs produced. Gill appendages are used to deposit the eggs on the pleopods. Eggs hatch after a few months during which they are stored to the left side of the abdomen of the female crabs.

The ideal place for hermit crabs to hatch is in the ocean or at least in the wild. Just before hatching which is after a month, you can find the eggs turning to gray from their brick red colour. Egg clusters will be passed on by the mother to the maxillipeds from the pleopods. Here again, clusters are formed and passed over to the claw tips.

From here, the female hermit crab flings them to the sea. The moment the eggs come into contact with salt water, the hermit crab babies hatch. The hatched zoeas float amidst the plankton. It takes at least six stages spread over two months for a larva to grow into a unique lobster/hermit crab combination called megalopa.

This is the stage when the zoea starts spending time outside the water inside the mollusc shells they find. Land living crabs resurface after the megalopa completes its molting process in the beach sands. The hermit crab babies by now have a lung structure that is suited to breathe in air and they will most probably drown if left in water.


Breeding hermit crabs in captivity is not quite possible as they require the wild ocean conditions where there is abundance of salt water and planktons. In order to successfully breed and raise hermit crab babies, these wild conditions have to be artificially reproduced and for this breeders must study in-depth the hermit crabs breeding patterns and rituals.

Unfortunately, till date no hermit crab babies bred in captivity have survived for more than ten days. With a little more study and research, it may be possible to create the perfect outdoor wild ocean conditions with the help of equipments in order to breed hermit crabs in captivity and raise their young ones.

Hermit crabs are sold all over the world in pet shops. Here you can find both hermit crab babies as well as adults. If you are buying the babies as pets, ensure you take good care of them. You may even have to personally feed them to ensure they withstand captivity and grow into healthy adults.

Share This Article

Hide Sites

In order to ensure protection from the weather elements, hermit crabs molt underground. They dig tunnels in the sand and enjoy privacy during the process. If you own a hermit crab as a pet and are looking to create ideal conditions for hermit crab molting, then provide them with a special place.

Molting tanks are available in pet stores. You can buy one and make a forest or sand bedding of six inches height. Ensure that the bedding is moist. Test for the right moistness by making a mound out of the substrate. If the mound stays put like when you build a sand castle, it is ideal for hermit crab molting.

Do not go near your pets during the molting process. Leave them alone and just squirt a little water through the squirting tunnel to keep them moist and happy. Just after molting, the crabs are not yet hardened. They will come out through the tunnel and it is highly recommended to leave them alone during the hardening process too.

After hermit crab molting, you will be surprised to find the crabs a little smaller in size. As the hardening process gets underway, he will start regaining back his normal size and shape. Do not be overtly anxious during your hermit crab molting process. This is a perfectly natural process and your crab will get back to shape after molting and hardening in a few days time.


Before they start molting you can notice a few significant signs and changes in their behaviour-

• They change a little in appearance
• They become sluggish in their movements
• Their eyes become foggy and hazy
• Their antennae will come to a standstill and will look different and funny.
• Your pet crabs will tell you that they are ready for molting by digging a tunnel.

However this may be a little misleading as crabs dig when they are not too comfortable too. For instance, if the humidity level is low or high or if the temperature is not ideal, they tend to dig tunnels. So, it is important before assuming that your pets are ready to molt, to check these aspects.

If the temperature, humidity is just ideal, then there are chances that he is getting ready to molt. You can smooth the tunnel he has dug a bit at night without disturbing him and see if he has come out to eat or drink in the morning. If there is a fresh hole that shows that he has surfaced for food or water, then you can be sure he is not going to start the molting process.

If on the other hand, you find that he has not surfaced, then it is time to move him into the molting tank to aid in the hermit crab molting process.

Share This Article

Hide Sites

Hermit crabs have a big appetite and they eat just about anything. Pet hermit crabs require a completely different kind of diet as compared to those that are left in the wild. In the wild they eat plants, rotting fruits, decaying meat and wood. In captivity, it is not really possible to recreate the natural environment. So the crabs adapt themselves to tamer food.

Choice of food for your pet

Feeding your hermit crab is a task that requires a lot of attention. Choose healthy foods that contain enough essential nutrients for their healthy growth. Check with your vet before you feed them with hermit crab foods found in pet stores. Go through the labels with care to see that they do not contain harmful pesticides such as copper sulphate and ethoxyquin.

To make their diet more interesting, it is essential feeding them types of food in rotation. It is also necessary to keep them well hydrated by including a lot of water in their diet. There are many hermit crab recipes you can find online using ingredients such as peanut butter, potatoes, crackers, cereals, spinach and grapes.

Occasionally you can treat them to sweet food including baby food that is fruit flavoured. Some of the sweets they enjoy eating include bananas, apples, kiwi, mango, fruit medley, sweet corn, papaya and guava.

Methods of feeding a hermit crab

Food and water can be fed for crabs in seashells that are shallow. The shell is a great source of calcium that gets absorbed by the water and food. Water must be de-chlorinated before it is offered to your pet. Choose shells of the right size to make it easy for the crabs to enter and exit.


With a little practice, you can even handfeed them. Handfeeding hermit crabs require a lot of patience. First of all, get familiar with them over a period of time. Take a small fruit or vegetable piece and hold it in your hand, preferably your left hand. Gently coax the crab with your right hand to come out of its shell and place the food under its pinchers.

It is interesting to see how they taste the food with the help of their antennae. If the food is tasty enough, your pet will then use his claw to break the food. The food is then passed on to the mouth through the maxillipeds.

If on the other hand, the crab does not like the food or is not hungry, it will just play around with it and not actually eat it.

Hermit crabs are excellent pets to own and make a difference in the lives of people by spreading cheer. It is essential taking good care of them and feeding your hermit crabs with patience and in a hygienic manner to ensure their good health.

Share This Article

Hide Sites

Pet land hermit crabs are popular pets and they have their own unique personalities. They are low in maintenance and spread joy with their curious and active nature. Hermit crabs have a soft abdomen that is vulnerable. In order to protect themselves from predators, hermit crabs borrow empty shells from other sea creatures and keep moving on to bigger shells as they outgrow their existing ones.

Pet land hermit crabs in the wild are omnivore’s creatures. In captivity, they are not fussy eaters and can be fed with almost anything we eat.
These crabs are available in all pet stores today. As you purchase a couple of them as pets, ensure checking to see if

• They have all three pairs of walking legs,
• They are not infested with parasites or bugs
• The shell covering their thorax and head is not damaged.

If you already own pet land hermit crabs, ensure you purchase crabs that are close to the sizes you have to avoid any fight among them.
Internet is one of the best resources where you can find a host of information on hermit crabs and their requirements as pets. These fascinating hermit crabs thrive well if provided with healthy food, clean environment and proper care.

Environmental cleanliness is important to ensure healthy pet land hermit crabs. Aspects you must take care of include –

• Tank and its accessories
• Temperature of the tank
• Humidity level in the tank
• Substrate

Choose the right type of tank depending on your budget. Tanks are available for hermit crabs in plastic and glass. If you have two hermit crabs of medium size, ideally you must purchase a ten gallon glass aquarium.


Most of the pet stores have the plastic tanks with a sealed lid. Ensure that the lid is solid as a perforated lid may allow the humidity to escape from the tank and it is vital to ensure good health of your pet land hermit crabs by maintaining the required humidity level.
Pick up good quality water and food dishes and of course ‘furniture’ to make them comfortable. Land hermit crabs are highly active and love to go on climbing adventures. Enhance your hermit crabs home with a variety of interesting accessories such as climbing toys, artificial plants and small logs.

You can further enhance your pet land hermit crabs comfort by providing a small cave structure, a sealed and hollowed coconut and other similar shelters to provide them with hiding spaces. It is also important choosing the right substrate for the habitat. Choose from a variety of substrate material available including the fine grained sand, coconut fiber and fine grained gravel. Take care to maintain the temperature and humidity and you have the most comfortable habitat for your favorite pet land hermit crabs.

Share This Article

Hide Sites

Hermit crabs take their house wherever they go to. If they outgrow the shell they are living in, they venture out looking for new homes. There is sometimes fierce competition among them for shells. If you have a hermit crab as a pet, it is important to ensure that you provide them with a good hermit crab habitat.

There are five hundred different species of hermit crabs. Some of them are terrestrial and some aquatic. Terrestrial crabs are predominantly found in the tropics and the aquatic crabs live in shallow waters.

When the popular myth that hermit crabs will not survive for long in captivity was broken, they were popularly sought after by people as pets. It is found that under proper hermit crab habitat conditions these crabs can live for even up to thirty years as pets.

As you purchase your pet hermit crabs and are looking to create an ideal habitat for them, there are a few aspects to be considered.

• Hermit crabs indulge in a lot of climbing and moving around and therefore need a lot of space.

• Avoid plastic enclosures and use aquarium tanks. Ideally a ten gallon aquarium tank is enough for two medium sized crabs.

• Make sure to keep the lid of the enclosure tightly sealed as these creatures are famed for their adventurous escapes.

• Maintain a warm temperature in the enclosure. It is highly recommended not to place the tank close to a window or under direct sunlight to avoid getting the enclosure too hot for them to handle.


Create the ideal substrate

Ideally, the substrate in the hermit crab habitat must be made of coconut fiber and sand. Remember to grind the fiber to a fine powder before filling the tank. This substrate enables your pets to burrow with ease and is also very easy to clean and maintain.

Alternately, you can also use crushed coral. Take care not to use wood chips or gravel as this could hurt the crabs.

Maintain the right levels of humidity

The hermit crab habitat must have the right humidity level at all times. Even on land, hermit crabs breathe with the help of modified gills. In order to ensure that they do not suffocate due to extra dry gills, it is essential to provide enough moisture for them to breathe comfortably. The most preferred relative humidity level is between 70 and 80 percent.

Temperature level in the hermit crab habitat

To ensure that your crab is healthy and happy, the temperature of its habitat must be maintained between 72 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Very high temperatures could damage your crab forever and continuous exposure to low temperatures will slow their metabolism rate making them weak and sluggish.

Taking care of the above aspects, create the ideal hermit crab habitat and ensure you provide a safe and comfortable home for your pets.

Share This Article

Hide Sites

Hermit crabs in the wild usually thrive in the ocean. While the land hermit crabs live on land, the ocean varieties thrive in shallow waters. These pet crabs have a very soft and vulnerable abdomen which they protect from predators with the help of shells. These shells are borrowed from sea creatures like the sea snails and they help the crabs remain moist.

In the wild habitat, hermit crabs live for about twenty two years. Surprisingly, it is found that these pets live even for thirty years in captivity if well taken care of. In contrast to their names, hermit crabs prefer living in groups of even hundreds. This is the reason why it is necessary to get at least a couple of them to keep each other company.

Where do hermit crabs live? They can live in a healthy manner if provided with an ideal habitat. As hermit crabs are from tropical climates, they require a lot of moisture. They capture moisture with the help of modified gills. By feeding them with a balanced diet and ensuring hygienic conditions, you can be sure your crabs will live in a healthy manner for a long time to come.

A glass aquarium is the ideal home for hermit crabs. A ten gallon glass aquarium is ideal for a couple of medium sized crabs as they require a lot of space to move around. Provide them with toys and accessories that they can climb to add joy to their living. Also make sure to provide them with hiding spaces.

Habitat conditions that severely impact and shorten their lifespan include –
• Lack of food and water
• Predation
• Exposure if they escape
• Persistent lower temperature
• Dehydration
• unsanitary living conditions

Take care cleaning your hermit crabs living space at least once a month. Completely drain the tank after shifting them to a temporary shelter. Remove the substrate and rinse the tank without using any detergent. Place back the substrate and other accessories before leaving them back in the crabarium.


It is not really important to ask where do hermit crabs live? It is vital to ask how they live. If you want to provide your hermit crabs with a good life and ensure maximized lifespan, here are a few aspects to take care of –

• Hermit crabs are highly sociable. Keep at least two or more in the tank.
• Provide them with nutritious food complementing it with commercial food supplements
• Place a lot of shells of different sizes to enable them to choose one after each molting. This will also ensure there is no undue fight between them for shells.
• Maintain absolute cleanliness and latch the lid of the tank firmly to ensure they do not escape.
• Last but not the least, provide them with both salt and fresh water sources and maintain the required temperature and humidity level.

Share This Article

Hide Sites

Food, food containers and water containers are a few of the standard supplies you must purchase for your crab. Hermit crabs are the least fussy eaters and they eat just about anything you feed them with.

However old you are, land hermit crabs are ideal pets and easy to maintain. Once you set up the cage and equip it with the necessary hermit crab supplies, there is practically nothing more you have to do for them. They are not like cats and dogs that have to be bathed and taken out for long walks.

Hermit crabs do not mess up your home with fur and animal hair. Your clothes and furniture are always safe. It is for this reason that they are ideal pets even for those who are allergic to pet furs.

Hermit crab supplies are limited as the demand of these interesting pets is less too. If you are lucky enough, you can pick up hermit crabs from the beach. Otherwise, pet stores are the best sources. Hermit crabs are also sold as souvenirs by stores along the beach.

Even though these stores offer you hermit crabs packaged in plastic carry cases, ensure that you create a perfect habitat for them as soon as you take them home. Include a lot of interesting hermit crab supplies to make them as comfortable as possible. Be sure to buy more than one crab as hermit crabs, contrary to their names love company. You will be surprised to find that they always travel in groups, sometimes even in groups of hundreds.

Apart from food supplies, other hermit crab supplies you can purchase from the pet stores include accessories that can help them enjoy climbing and create an environment as close to their natural habitat as possible.


There are various accessories available that resemble driftwood pieces. You can get them and place them in their cage. Pet stores also offer substrate material such as fiber for their habitat. Other supplies include shells in a variety of sizes. Hermit crabs as we know live inside shells borrowed from other aquatic animals.

If they outgrow their existing shells, they look for bigger shells to live in. It is therefore necessary to purchase shells of different shapes and sizes and scatter them about in the cage to provide your crabs with different options.

Sand for the cage bottom can be purchased from you local hardware or home improvement store. Hermit crab supplies such as sand must be free of debris and insects and completely dry.

Salt must be added to your crab’s diet to provide certain essential minerals and ensure good health. As you purchase the commercial foods from the hermit crab supplies store, ensure you go through the label with care to see that there are no harmful ingredients such sulphate and ethoxyquin.

Share This Article

Hide Sites

Carotene is essential to ensure that the crabs do not fade in color after molting. Calcium provides them with strength. Fruits and vegetables must be fed after ensuring that they are grown organically.
The easiest method of feeding hermit crab food for your pets is to purchase the popularly available commercial food from the pet shop. Dry food makes sure that there is no mess and are available in a lot of varieties.

In their wild habitat, hermit crabs enjoy eating an assortment of food varieties. You can experiment on the foods they enjoy and rotate a couple of varieties every day to make eating a joyful experience for them.

As you choose commercial foods, avoid those that contain ethoxyquin or copper sulfate. Information on the ingredients can be found on the wrapper. Feeding dry hermit crab food for months together can get very boring for your pets. You can supplement them with certain juicy food bits to add life to their meals.

Here are a few food ideas apart from commercial food –

• Get them delicious freeze dried foods such as crickets or meal worms.
• Choose from a range of frozen foods such as plankton, shrimps, krill and blood worms. Any item that is suitable for fishes can be offered for the crabs.
• Bird seeds are packed with nutrition and are small in size enabling them to eat with ease.
• Browse through the bird feed section to choose from a range of foods such as vegetables, fruits, dried nuts and crushed bones of cuttlefish.


Other hermit crab food options include foods that we normally eat. It is essential to remember that our food must be supplemented by commercial foods from the pet store to ensure that they are not deprived of essential nutrients. Some of the foods we eat that you can feed your hermit crabs with include –

• Peanut butter
• Peeled grapes
• Coconut, bananas, apples and pears diced
• Bread, crackers and cereals dried
• Cool, cooked potatoes
• Shredded lettuce
• Shredded spinach

Hermit crab food must be healthy and nutrition packed to ensure that they do not become weak or contract any disease. Taking care in choosing the right kind of hermit crab food and feeding them on time ensures that they lead a healthy and long life. You can go through various websites that offer information on hermit crabs to learn more about their food habits and requirements.

Hermit crabs are wonderful pets. It is essential taking good care of these exotic pets and providing them with a comfortable habitat and a good life.

Share This Article

Hide Sites

Hermit crabs are the easiest to maintain and flexible pets. They are not choosy eaters and can live on anything you feed them. Left in the wild, hermit crabs thrive on leaf litter, fallen fruit, decayed wood, grasses and plants. As a pet under controlled conditions, hermit crabs require a lot of calcium and carotene for good health apart from their regular food. Carotene ensures that their colour does not fade after molting.

It is highly recommended to include organic vegetables and fruits in your hermit crab diet to eliminate any health problems. Hermit crab diet must essentially include the following –
1. Include a lot of vegetables such as corn and carrots rich in carotene
2. Feed them with a lot of raisins, peanut butter, honey, nuts, cereal, crackers and apple sauce
3. Hermit crabs enjoy eating fruits such as papayas, mangoes, coconuts and bananas.
4. Post molting, they must be fed with dairy foods such as cheese to enable them to bounce back to good health
5. You can occasionally feed them with meat taking care not to add sauce or butter
Hermit crab diet can also include a variety of supplements found in pet stores. They sell hermit crab foods such as seaweeds, brine shrimps, escargot, frozen fruit, fish food flake and freeze dried shrimps that are healthy and nutrient filled. You can feed your pet crabs with these foods too.


Internet is a treasure house of many different hermit crab recipes. You can make your hermit crab diet exciting and interesting by taking efforts preparing food for them that are rich in calcium and carotene.
Other popular and nourishing hermit crab diet choices include crab food granules or pellets and fish flakes. Water you give your pet crabs must be de-chlorinated. Provide enough fresh water and salt water for your crab to drink as well as to soak in. Break up your hermit crab diet with exotic treats of cooked meat pieces and fresh fruits and vegetables.
Crabs enjoy eating marigold petals. Find some ground dried petals and add to their food after ensuring that no pesticide was used for growing them.

Vets will advise you against certain hermit crab foods that contain harmful ingredients. Be sure to check the labels before you purchase any commercial food for your crab. Find out information on what exactly your pet hermit crab diet should be and you are on your way to providing them with a balanced diet to ensure good health.
Providing them with healthy food ensures that they live a long, well fed and contented lives eating delicious food. Cook up some exciting recipes and add excitement to their diet. Hermit crabs are wonderful pets to own and do not require any maintenance. It is a great pleasure taking care of them and feeding them with the right food to ensure optimum health.

Share This Article

Hide Sites

Hermit crabs are found in a riot of different colours such as orange, red and brown. Most of them feature spots on their bodies in purple color and look very attractive. Hermit crabs usually molt once in eighteen months and during this process shed their exoskeleton and grow another one. They have a total of ten leg joints and a couple of claws in the front. Their abdomen is soft and vulnerable.

Hermit crabs live in shells that they borrow from other sea creatures. They choose the right size of shell, live in it until they outgrow and then come out to look for a larger one. As a hermit crab owner, you must ensure there are a variety of shells of different sizes in their cage for them to choose from if they have to move out of their present ones.

Ocean is the hermit crabs natural wild habitat. Some of them like the land hermit crab live on land too. Many efforts to breed them in captivity have failed. Younger crabs molt frequently as compared to the adults. On an average they molt once in eighteen months.
Provide your hermit crab pets with a cage that is easy to climb as they are fond of climbing. You can also place driftwood inside their cage to help them come out of water if they want to.

One of the most striking facts about hermit crabs is that they eat just about anything you feed them with. If you do not want a faded crab post molting, then it is highly recommended to feed them with a diet rich in carotene and calcium. Other foods they eat include fish, fresh fruits, vegetables and meat. You can also occasionally treat hermit crabs with foods such as raisins, popcorn, tuna fish, peanut butter, crackers, potato chips and grapes.


In captivity, hermit crabs live for even fifteen years. Being nocturnal creatures, they tend to make a lot of noise during night time. It is therefore a good idea keeping them away from your bedroom.
Hermit crabs are adorable pets that are entertaining and low on maintenance. It is essential maintaining hygiene by cleaning their cage on a frequent basis. Maintain the temperature in the tank between 70 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once a month, make sure to clean the tank by removing the gravel and rinsing it without soap. Be sure to set up the crabarium once again after it dries completely.

Hermit crabs can be trained by just holding out your hand and allowing it to crawl on it. The more you play with them the faster they get acquainted with you. Pick them up holding the back part of the shell to ensure they do not pinch by holding on to your hand.

Share This Article

Hide Sites