Croaking Crabworks

In: Biology
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Originally written by Vanessa Pike-Russell, updated 2018 by Stacy Griffith If you have heard it, you would think that it sounds like something between a frog croak’s, a chicken’s clucking and something else thrown in for good measure. “The land hermit crab sometimes communicates by a whirring-chirping sound, though not too often. These noises usually have been heard during aggressive encounters in the crabs’ natural environment and are seldom heard in captivity. The only behavior observed that may resemble aggression has been when one crab shakes or rocks another to drive him from a shell the aggressor wants. Even in this act neither crab isRead More →

A hermit crab building it's molting burrow. Photo Credit Matt Steele

In: Biology, FAQ
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Originally written by Vanessa Pike-Russell and Lisa Loseke updated by Stacy Griffith Arthropods (e.g., insects and crustaceans) must molt their exoskeletons periodically in order to grow; in this process the inner layers of the old cuticle are digested by a molting fluid secreted by the epidermal cells, the animal emerges from the old covering, and the new cuticle hardens. The molting process is a central, and nearly continuous, part of a crab’s life. A hermit crab may spend 90% of its time getting ready to molt, molting, or recovering from a molt. There are many dangers to molting including predation, difficulty in movement as musclesRead More →

In: Biology, Food and Nutrition
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Land Hermit Crabs are arthropods. Arthropods have a stiff cuticle made largely of chitin and proteins, forming an exoskeleton that may or may not be further stiffened with calcium carbonate. They have segmented bodies and show various patterns of segment fusion (tagmosis) to form integrated units (heads, abdomens, and so on). The phylum takes its name from its distinctive jointed appendages, which may be modified in a number of ways to form antennae, mouth parts, and reproductive organs. Land Hermit Crabs in the wild eat a lot of protein in the form of dead fish, prawns, seaweed, cuttlefish as well as other forms of proteinRead More →

In: Biology, Caresheets, General
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One of the biggest concerns when buying hermit crabs is early death due to PPS or Post Purchase Stress. The term PPS has been used commonly for many, many years in the hermit crab community. PPS is blamed for unexplained deaths of new crabs. The physical stress occurs mostly PRIOR to your purchase and how many of your new crabs die unexpectedly relies on how much stress was inflicted prior to purchase. The act of harvesting and shipping hermit crabs is very stressful as the crabs are denied humidity, food, water and warmth for long periods prior to shipping and during shipping. They mostly arriveRead More →