New Land Hermit Crab Terrarium

[andyjs]

I recently decided to give land hermit crabs another try since I haven't had them since I was a little kid (and that didn't go very well). I started off with three Caribbean or Purple Pincher crabs and I'm really liking them so far. This time I actually feel like I know what I'm doing with both fresh and saltwater pools and the right temps and humidity and everything.

The setup is a 29 gallon with a cork bark background (former planted lungfish nursery tank) which the crabs love climbing. Substrate is playsand and Eco Earth (about 5:1 ratio by volume). I even included a little artificial burrow made from a plastic container (idea I saw on a hermit crab forum) which will be filled with moss)

The burrow

and some pictures of one of the crabs checking out new shells and otherwise exploring

This crab is extremely indecisive about shells tonight. In the last hour or so, he's gone from his first shell, to a second, then to a third, then back to the first, back to the third, and he just changed back to the first shell for at least the third time. It seems like he doesn't know what to do with the new shell selection

 

[Inka4040]

Very cool setup! They are really interesting little critters.

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Really nice setup! So what are you using for a heat source?

 

[andyjs]

I've got a UTH and I'm experimenting with putting it on the sides or the back and seeing how it does with temps

 

[andyjs]

I just had my first successful molt with these new guys. When I kept them as a kid, I never had the conditions right for them to survive a molt. Normally, they bury in moist substrate for a couple weeks or so (sometimes over a month) to complete the molt. My two larger crabs disappeared into the sand almost 3 weeks ago. Around the same time, the smallest crab squeezed himself into a crevice in the cork bark wall and just stayed there until yesterday. I was getting pretty worried about him, but now he's back out and apparently pulled off a molt while back there.

 

[andyjs]

I've now had all three of my original crabs molt successfully! The smaller one took a little under 2 weeks. The two larger crabs took 5 and 6 weeks to molt! It was starting to make me nervous not seeing them for so long, but all three are now back and active and eating like pigs (comparatively...hermit crabs barely eat anything compared to most pets I've kept. Their favorite foods seem to be spirulina flake and dried fruit, but they also seem to enjoy snacking on the cork background).

Also, having the period of not seeing any of them for almost 2 weeks, I decided I needed more crabs, so I picked up two more really small ones. I'll post some updated pics soon, but one of the new crabs has disappeared, so he might be working on a molt as well.

 

[stephybabe88]

I am really excited to see this thread! I keep hermit crabs too, but haven't seen much on here about them. I'll be looking around a little more now. My crabs would be soooo JEALOUS of your set up. A couple of mine have molted too (none of the ones I had as a child ever molted either so it sort of surprised me). Super awesome!