Did you accidentally bring home a land hermit crab or a marine hermit crab?

We often find people searching our site for care information on what are actually marine hermit crabs and not land hermit crabs.

We are a group dedicated to the care of land hermit crabs and provide no care information on marine crabs. Their needs are drastically different from a marine hermit crab and we are not able to provide assistance beyond what is in this file.

Please note: In most areas of the U.S. it is ILLEGAL to collect wild life without a proper permit.

Land hermit crab C. clypeatus Photo credit: Mike Vukoder
Land hermit crab C. clypeatus Photo credit: Mike Vukoder
Thin stripe marine hermit crab Photo credit Cheryl @: NoahProject.org
Thin stripe marine hermit crab Photo credit Cheryl @: NoahProject.org


Shown here you can see they are significantly different.

Where did you find it?

Marine hermit crabs are found at the waterline or in tide pools, land hermit crabs are usually found on dry land and further away from the waterline.

Only one species of land hermit crab is native to the U.S. and they are ONLY found in Florida. Any other hermit crab you find in the wild is a marine hermit crab.

You must act quickly!

Marine hermit crabs require a saltwater aquarium setup. They can only live a couple days outside of the saltwater and need to be returned to the ocean immediately.

If you are not able to return the crabs to where you found them you may be able to find a local fish store that is willing to take them.

We do have a rescue in Florida who is willing to return marine hermit crabs to the ocean if they are shipped overnight.

If you choose to keep them you must act fast to setup the proper environment.

This site should help:

http://animals.mom.me/raise-saltwater-hermit-crabs-1251.html