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Hermit Crabs

Hermit Crabs acquire empty shells to protect themselves from predators. Hermit Crabs can be popular aquarium pets because they feed on algae and debris. Questions regarding care of pet hermit crabs are welcome here.

1,632 Questions

Why do people love hermit crabs?

because love to have them as pets. most people dont know this but hermit crabs are very loveabul.they are really cool pets

and becasue they are fun cool pets

What can your hermit crab eat?

The best diet for a land hermit crab is basically what you feed yourself (with the exclusion of highly-processed foods and sugary snacks, of course). Land hermit crabs are omnivorous and therefore eat just about anything. You can feed them meat, fish, vegetables and fruit (yes even citrus fruit!). Crabs also like tannin-rich foods, such as oak leaves and tree bark. Before giving your crabs these things as food, make sure they are thoroughly cleaned by washing in water (no soap) and allowed to dry -- crabs like their leaves crunchy. Hermit crabs love try different foods. In fact a study found that they prefer to have a different food each time they eat. Of course, this isn't always possible, but you should offer your crab a variety of foods. Some other foods your crab should enjoy are: • Fruit, especially tropical fruits such as the crabs would find in their native habitat: mangoes, coconuts and papayas. Just be careful they don't get ahold of any fruit "pits." • Vegetables of all kinds • Meat. Make sure it is well-cooked and that there is no sauce or butter on the meat that could cause them problems. In particular, hermit crabs like to pick meat off of bones. They also enjoy steamed shrimp tails and any sort of dead crustacean. Yes, they are cannibals, it is a studied and proven fact. It is recommended that meat be put into the crabitat at night and removed in the morning to discourage flies and other, unwanted scavengers from visiting the crabitat. • Nuts, applesauce, raisins, trail mix, peanut butter, honey, cooked egg, cereal, crackers, washed grass, and popcorn are some of the miscellaneous favorites people have reported their crabs enjoying. • Dairy foods may be given to the crabs in small amounts and not too often. Some people notice their crabs are partial to 'junk food' such a corn chips, sugary cereals and pretzels. Though they may like these foods, they should of course be limited to occasional treats.

What is the average length of a hermit crab?

All hermit crabs vary in size depending on their age; young ones will probably be around half an inch or so, and full grown ones can get to be about a foot and as big as a melon(in the wild). If they're breeded, they will only grow to be about half a foot (the size of a baseball).

Is it mad if hermit crabs sleep all day?

That depends on what you mean by "sleep." Hermit crabs are nocturnal, which means they usually come out at night. The reason they are nocturnal in their native habitat is because it is too hot for them to come out during the day, though you will see them out and about on overcast days.

When hermit crabs are kept in captivity and their conditions are perfect, they will occasionally cease being strictly nocturnal and will roam their cages during the daytime.

A hermit crab that stays in its shell, and does not move all winter is probably dead. Winter is a hard time for most hermit crabs, because most hermit crab owners do not understand that hermit crabs must be kept in humid conditions, at temperatures above 75 degrees. When the temperature gets below 65 they start to slow down and will eventually die if they stay cold for too long. If their cage is not humid enough, they will suffocate to death because they require humid air to breathe properly.

As a side note, the plastic boxes most places sell as hermit crab cages are TERRIBLE for hermit crabs. A person interested in owning and caring for hermit crabs should be ready to spend at least $50 (preferably more!) on a good home for them, a glass aquarium with a snug-fitting glass lid to hold in humidity, and a reliable heat source.

What does a boy hermit crab look like?

They are very tiny bugs that you could most likely see when your crab is walking or just out and about. Sometimes you can see them around the cage and they look like little whit or brown grains of rice

How do you tell if a hermit crab is a boy or girl?

Sexing a hermit crab is not simple because you need to be able to see under the 3rd pair of walking legs. A female crab will have a tiny hole on the side of each of her third walking legs - all the way at the top of the legs where they meet in the middle. These holes are called gonopores and are where the males deposit sperm.

Do hermit crabs stay in their shells when they molt?

Yes, the hermit crab remains in it's (outer) sea shell/home when it molts. However, when the hermit crab molts it sheds it's old exoskeleton much like a snake sheds it's skin, pushing the old exoskeleton out of the sea shell, and forms a new exoskeleton. The new exoskeleton is soft at first and takes time to harden. The hermit crab's "tail and belly" section remains soft and vulnerable requiring a hard outer shell/sea shell for protection.

How much does a hermit crab cost at ocean city Maryland?

they cost 3 to 15 the 3 is a medium or big size 15 is the really big ones

What do hermit crabs do when they are scared?

Usually they withdraw into their shells and if you continue to touch them they will open their big pincher to let you know that they are prepared to fight if need be.

How many types of hermit crabs are there?

There are over 5000 species of Crabs in the whole world but only 4500 species are true crabs the other 500 crabs are hermit crabs which are not 'true' crabs.

According to The World of Animals. by Walters, Martin & Johnson, Jinny. (Published by Parragon, 2007) 6,793 different species of crabs are known.

In addition there are about 850 species of freshwater or semi-terrestrial crabs.

'True' crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, whereas hermit crabs [decapod crustaceans of the superfamily Paguroidea] are classified quite differently due to physical characteristics. They are not even closely related to 'true' crabs. For more information, see Related Links below ads...

What do crab eggs look like?

The King Crab reproduces all year long. A male may decide at any time to give a female a sperm sack, called "spermatophores" (Creationwiki.com 2008), which the female keeps until the time that she decides to use the sperm and create eggs that are stored in a special area called the spermathecae (Creationwiki.com 2008). When the embryos become fully developed, they hatch and immediately leave their parents to the sea floor, where they can feed on plankton (Adfg.state.ak.us 2007) until they mature and become adults.

What do Crabs and Shrimp eat?

crabs eat baby shrimp and other fish such as clown fish. shrimp eat plankton and other single celled organisms.

Can hermitcrabs eat fish food?

Not if they're land hermit crabs.

And probably not if they're saltwater/freshwater hermit crabs.

Land hermit crabs will drown in water over their eyes.

Water hermit crabs might fight or try to eat your goldfish and the bacterias from both animals will hurt the other animals.

It's better to keep them in separate tanks.

How do you get your hermit crab to come out from the dirt?

DO NOT pick him up out of the dirt. Digging under sand/dirt is a sign of molting. Look online and find other information on molting. If you are sure he is molting separate him from the other crabs if you have any right away.

How can you tell if your hermit crab has died?

Mine is dead. It is hanging out of its shell and is not moving.

Can female hermit crabs die in giving birth?

you do not take care ofyour hermit crabs cause i had one and it didn't last long sssooo take care of them cause if you don't they might not be adopted so go and look at them. Their young or the young in the tank...No.Females drop all their eggs into the ocean and the egg hatches and develops over time and then when the crab is ready he climbs onto land and lives there.

Do hermit crab's like bananas?

Yes, hermit crabs are scavengers and can eat all fruits, veggies, egg shell, egg yolk, egg white, SEA salted nuts, lean (not fatty) meats (NO seasoning), ect. . .

do NOT feed your hermies human food like pizza, twinkies, table salted foods, seasonings like on meat, ect. . .

How does crab survive in water?

Crabs actually breath in water much like fish. When they go to shores, they take sea water with them in their tiny lungs to breath oxygen from it. However, they must return back to water before the oxygen is over; otherwise, they suffocate and die.

Do hermit crab legs grow back?

Yes they do so dont be worried if one day a leg or something is on the sand. Sometimes you can see a little clear limb growing if u look really hard. But dont throw it away! I think hell eat it.

How long is the biggest hermit crab?

The Lobster Institute site says that the largest lobster in history was caught off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1977 and weighed 44 pounds, according to the Guiness Book of Records. But the 1970s are relatively recent, following many years of people eating lobster.

Before the 1900s, very few people ate lobster, and a lot of very large critters were crawling around. Because of their low metabolism and few predators that would want to tackle them after reaching a good size, they could have very long lifespans, continuing to grow all the while.

My wife and I now are in our 70s. When we were in our 30s, we lived on the East Coast, and enjoyed many summer trips in New England. I distinctly remember seeing a lobster's approximately 6-foot-long exoskeleton mounted in a restaurant on one of those trips, and the lobster's quoted original weight was 170+ lbs. No exaggeration!

The description accompanying the exoskeleton stated that it had been captured in the late 1800s.

Are hermit crabs decomposers?

No, they are scavengers/detritivores but they are not decomposers, Detritivores obtain nutrients from consuming decomposing animal and plant material in addition to feces.

Relationship between hermit crab and snail shell?

Snail shells are formed biologically as the snail grows up. Hermit crabs occupy empty shells and other containers, instead.

How many species of hermit crab is there?

hermit crabs have 10 legs...you only see 6 because the other 4 are inside the shell holding it on. They are much smaller and look quite different from the visible legs.

Two of their legs have pincers, while 4 are walking legs.

What animals eat blue crabs?



I found this on the "Louisiana Foods Seafood Distributer" website. "Cormorants are a well known pesky crawfish predator, but now there is another critter out there feasting on crawfish: raccoons. The number of raccoons in southern Louisiana apparently has skyrocketed over the last decade, ever since the region's fur industry went bust. The masked menaces turn over crawfish traps in shallow ponds and even haul up the lines attached to traps in deeper waters to eat both bait and crawdads." Homo Sapiens eat crawdads.