a hermit crab wearing a badly broken shell

In: General

Importance of Seashells in Coastal Ecosystems Seashells play a vital role in maintaining the health and stability of coastal ecosystems. They provide critical shelter for marine life, including hermit crabs, small fish, and various microorganisms. Seashells also contribute to beach stability by helping to prevent erosion and maintaining the natural balance of sand movement. Additionally, broken-down shells add essential minerals like calcium carbonate to the environment, enriching the habitat for other marine organisms and promoting biodiversity. The Growing Trend of Collecting Seashells as Souvenirs or Decorations and Its Impact on Wildlife In recent years, seashell collecting has become increasingly popular, particularly among tourists who viewRead More →

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The Crab Street Journal: A Testament to Hermit Crab Care and Advocacy Introduction The Crab Street Journal (CSJ) stands as one of the most respected and comprehensive resources dedicated to hermit crab care and education. Since its inception, this website has served as a beacon for hermit crab enthusiasts, providing them with scientifically backed information, practical care tips, and a thriving community for sharing knowledge and experiences. The history, mission, and depth of content offered by the Crab Street Journal highlight its vital role in the broader hermit crab community. History The Crab Street Journal was established in 2001 by a group of passionate hermitRead More →

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Introduction Every year, on October 29th, we come together to celebrate National Hermit Crab Day. It’s a day not only to appreciate these fascinating creatures but also to raise awareness about the threats facing wild hermit crabs and the importance of their conservation. Hermit crabs are unique and often misunderstood animals that play a vital role in maintaining the health of coastal ecosystems. As we mark this special day, let’s take a closer look at the challenges these remarkable creatures face and what we can do to protect them. The World of Hermit Crabs Hermit crabs are fascinating creatures, known for their peculiar habit ofRead More →

In: General

These pages are meant for handing out to kids at any event (even with their Halloween candy!) to promote proper care of hermit crabs. One side is our infographic and the other side a fun image to color.Read More →

In: FAQ, Food and Nutrition, General
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REMEMBER NO SEASONINGS OR ADDED SUGAR Safe to feed: Turkey (chicken, quail duck) – all parts, raw or cooked. Save the neck and giblet bag for the crabs! Turkey bones (Crack them open so they can get at the marrow). Potatoes – any type, raw or cooked. No eyes or green parts of the peel. Veggies raw or cooked (no onions or garlic). Dark leafy greens must be cooked first to reduce oxalic acid content. Nuts ground, whole, chunks. Eggs – all parts, raw or cooked. Fruits Sour fruit will not be eaten (for example: they will not eat lemon) Oils pure and cold pressedRead More →

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Now free to the public! These presentations aired at the 2020 Crab Con International Conference. You can skip through the playlist to watch specific presentations or watch the Daily Compilation Videos – Titled Day One, Day Two, Day ThreeRead More →

Is it a Rescue Flow Chart

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written by Stacy Griffith and Rose Marie Senary Purchasing a hermit crab from a pet store is not a rescue. ANY purchase of wild caught hermit crabs feed the pet trade cycle and sentences more hermit crabs to the same terrible fate. By ignoring the fact that a pet store neglects the animals they sell and giving them your hard earned dollars, you are feeding the cycle. Corporate offices at major chains ignore the demands for better care because it would affect their bottom line. So long as people continue to buy wild caught hermit crabs and other pets from them, they will continue doingRead More →

business charts commerce computer

In: General

We’re collecting some info to help us plan Crab Con 2021! If you plan to attend please answer this brief survey:https://forms.gle/o1WRTY54Ex6EbfN97Read More →

In: General

(Photo credit: Sherri Werdebaugh.) Calling all US AND INTERNATIONAL MEMBERS who want captive bred babies. I am working with an international wholesaler of captive-bred Caribbean reef fish (ORA) who is interested in carrying MY captive-bred babies. If you live in the US OR live overseas, and have been wishing you could get your hands on some of my babies, I need your help! If you have a local saltwater fish store, or a pet store that carries saltwater fish, would you please contact them and tell them you’ve heard that ORA is going to be carrying captive-bred babies and you want to get on theRead More →

In: Biology, Crabitat, FAQ, General
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There seems to be some controversy and confusion regarding the need for UV-B lighting with hermit crabs. Due to the esoteric nature of our chosen pets, few studies are available to draw from which explicitly study hermit crabs. There is however a considerable volume of research regarding crustaceans, and more specifically decapod biology available to study.Read More →

In: General

Help us spread our message! Most hermit crabs are purchased as a beach vacation souvenir from a shop that does not provide any care information. Some of these new owners find their way to our community and get the help they need. All of them are shocked, many feel duped and angry that they were not informed of the true expense of keeping hermit crabs. Imagine when they discover that a hermit crab’s life span rivals humans. So how can we reach these folks before they make a purchase? An ad on the boardwalk! A fun but educational and informative ad to quickly drop someRead More →

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 The Choya Log – A Journal for Keeping Hermit Crabs As a hermit crab owner of 15+ years I created the book I needed and I hope you will enjoy it too. Custom made pages for specifically for tracking your hermit crabs and crabitat. Over 200 pages of crabby goodness in full color. No pre filled dates allow you to start your planner any month of any year and still get a full 12 months of use. Use the monthly calendar pages to track details like daily tank temperature and humidity, who is digging or resurfaced. Week day pages allow you to document noteworthy behaviorsRead More →

The Post Purchase Stress death cycle created by Mary Milhorn

In: General
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Currently we use the blanket term PPS as a way of explaining why hermit crabs die so soon after purchase. PPS or Post Purchase Stress The use of the word stress has always bothered me as it implies a mental or emotional state of mind. Really the method is designed to reduce post purchase death due to physical stress on the hermit crab’s body due to lack of care prior to coming home with you. I also don’t like the term ‘destress’. Really it should be more like recuperate or recover. I would like to move away from using the term destress. It again impliesRead More →

In: General

This year’s winner by random drawing is Sherri W! Read her Testimonial Sherri’s prize includes: $20 credit for shells with Ken Lipe 1 Crab Con 2019 t-shirt 1 Pewter Hermit Crab necklace from TaylorCustom.com $25 prize pack from Cholla Queen – Courtney Iris KarrRead More →

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We turn 18 years old on October 17th 2019! To celebrate we are giving someone a prize pack! $20 credit for shells with Ken Lipe 1 Crab Con 2019 T-Shirt 1 Pewter Hermit Crab Anatomy necklace from www.TaylorCustom.com Courtney Iris Karr has donated a $25 prize to the winnings!! Entering is easy! Write a testimonial about CSJ and submit a photo of your favorite hermit crab before October 31st Midnight CST and you will be entered to win! Winner will be drawn at random. Submit Your Testimonial Here*~*Submit Your PhotoRead More →

In: Crabitat, General, Product Reviews
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To successfully keep land hermit crabs as pets owners must provide a tropical environment that is both warm and humid. In order to maintain the proper heat and humidity gauges are required. The most popular product among hermit crab owners is the Acurite Temperature and Humidity Digital Monitor. This unit has proven to be reliable and a great value for the money. Most gauges don’t last long in the high humidity of a hermit crab tank but the Acurite out performs other more expensive gauges. Your Acurite Temperature and Humidity Monitor should be located inside of the tank but not touching the substrate or directlyRead More →

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I’m honestly not even sure where to begin. Was Crab Con a success? Yes! Was it fun and amazing? Yes! Will we do it again? Yes! Most of my emotions leading up to the event were doubt, anxiety and excitement all mixed together. Today, I am proud, heartfull, thankful, amazed, impressed and inspired. More than once on Saturday I started to tear up, I was just so happy. For me, this event could not have happened without a lot of support from a lot of people. I am so very thankful for: My momma for being my helper, my product bagger and my pet sitter. MyRead More →

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The Local Reps team warmly welcomes their newest member: Kim V joins the team from Indiana! Kim says: Hi! I’m Kim so glad to be here as a local rep! I’m from Northwest Indiana (chesterton, IN). I am a stay at home wife due to health issues. Animals have always been in my life from when I was a little girl to when i was a teen and we started rescuing greyhounds. Around then is when I really saw what behind the scene things happen to animals especially  their treatment. So when I got into hermit crabs 2 years ago when my husband and IRead More →

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CSJ is excited to announce the return of our hermit crab lesson plans! The lesson plans were originally created by Vanessa Pike-Russell. They’ve now been updated and expanded upon, including visual aids! As with everything on CSJ, these are available free of charge to anyone interested. DOWNLOAD  We look forward to your feedback!Read More →

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We’ve had so many requests for shipping to Canada so we are pretty excited to announce our first step in that direction. Being able to print shipping from home and accurately calculate with the software I have has been a bit challenging. To get us up and running I’ve decided on a simple set up. All packages will be shipped via USPS First Class International with a maximum weight of 4lbs. Rates are based off the weights and prices listed here:               https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm#_c341   I hope this works smoothly but I do ask for your patience if we encounterRead More →

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CSJ and LHCOS is proud to announce the addition of a new Local Representative to our team! Heather K. joins the team from North Carolina. She is our second Local Representative in NC. Meet Heather: “I started Crabbing when I was around 8 years old and was given the general information that most pet stores/ beach shops give.  I had 2 hermit crabs that passed on after about a year.  Then 2 years ago, I got my son his first hermit crab from the beach shop and the crab unfortunately dropped all of his limbs and passed the next day.  I then began to research andRead More →

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I could not be more proud to announce that our team continues to grow! Two more amazing folks have joined our team. Please join me in a warm, crabby welcome for our newest Local Reps!! First up is Sara from Ontario. That means if you live in Ontario, she is your local rep. Given the size of Canadian provinces it is a bit challenging for one person to effectively cover the entire region but our folks will do their best to help you find local resources. “I live in Ottawa, Ontario. I’m a mother of two crazy kids and 6 crabs! There isn’t much IRead More →

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We are so excited to announce two brand new additions to our growing Local Rep Family!   First let’s meet Trevoria F. she joins us from Washington. That means if you live in Washington, she is your local rep and can provide information about resources in your area in addition to trustworthy hermit crab care advice. “My first experience with hermit crabs was in the early 90s, when I won 3 of them (Bobby, Peter, and Greg) at the state fair. Fast forward to early 2017, when I decided to get a “small simple pet” to keep on my desk at work. Bought a crabRead More →

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CSJ and LHCOS is thrilled to welcome Stephanie B. to our Local Representatives team! Stephanie will be a Local Rep for upstate New York. About Stephanie: A little bit about me: I live in upstate New York-at the tippy top in the Adirondack region. I’m a mother of two humans, eight hermit crabs, one betta fish, soon to be one bearded dragon, and one husband. I enjoy naps, reading, and relaxing hot baths-all of which rarely happen because I have two humans children, eight hermit crabs, one betta fish, and a husband. Like a few members here, I became a hermit crab owner/enthusiasts through myRead More →

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We turned 16 last week, did you know? Crazy isn’t it!? October 17, 2001 The Crab Street Journal was born on the internet so this year we are celebrating our sweet 16. What better way to do that than with our very own exclusive Huggable Hermie!? Mama Moose Creations partnered with us to create a one of a kind design to honor our birthday. The purchase price of this HH is $35 includes a $10 donation to CSJ. When you order you will receive exactly what you see pictured here. Your donation goes to help offset expenses incurred in running the website, promotion, contests, outreachRead More →

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What else would you call it when  you add FOUR new Local Representatives to the team? Please don’t judge my love for my LRs based on the cleverness of my writing. 😀 Some days I’m less creative and I’ve put this post off too long already. Let’s get to it and welcome four new wonderfully crabby people to our Local Representative team: Anna K – Missouri Ian G – Missouri Ronda L – Utah Yoa J – IndonesiaRead More →

Limited run enamel hermit crab lapel pin

In: General, Painted Shells
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  *CONTEST CLOSED FOR 2018* See you next year! Send us your empty painted hermit crab shells and you will be entered to win this limited run enamel hermit crab pin! We are collecting painted shells for a display at the St Louis Pet Expo. The goal is to fill this wire cage: Use this form to enter the contest. One entry per person Enter by mail No purchase required Open to anyone Mailed shells must be received by October 31, 2019 to be a valid contest entry. The drawing for the pin will be held a few days AFTER the St Louis Pet Expo.Read More →

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Another new addition!! Welcome Jeanne S. to the local reps program! Jeanne will be covering her region of West Virginia, USA. Jeanne joined our group and immediately fit right in. She is eager to help and usually one of the first to welcome a new member to the group. We are excited to have her on the team! I asked Jeanne for a little introduction… “My son wanted a pet in 1988 so my in-laws got us a hermit crab . Herman lived 3 months in a critter keeper I saved his shell . Still have it. Flash forward to 2005, a friend went toRead More →

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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. Shown here you can see theyRead More →

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Volunteers needed August 16, 2017 in Ocean City, New Jersey to assist Local Representative Beth Carducci in handing out hermit crab caresheets. There has been talk of ending the pageant after this year. If that is the case we will shift our focus to another similar event. Pageant details: http://www.oceancityvacation.com/details/2288-miss-crustacean-hermit-crab-beauty-pageant.html Facebook Event Thousands of hermit crabs are doomed to death in the boardwalk shops, we want to help as many as we can survive after they are taken home. If you aware of an event involving hermit crab racing, pageants or carnival giveaway please email us at crabstreetjournal at gmail.com   The boardwalk giftshops are aRead More →

Coral's Color Boosting Crunchies

In: General, Recipes
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1.5 cups organic yellow cornmeal (I used Bob’s Red mill) 1 cup packed, freshly ground coconut 1 large very ripe (brown) banana 1 package very ripe strawberries (pint) 1 cup or so sunflower seeds 1.5 cups whole, with shell, dried river shrimp (I used chubbymealworms.ca brand) 2 tbsp beet root powder 2 tbsp carrot root powder 1 tbsp chlorella powder 1 tsp powdered nutra Rose or 2 teaspoons liquid nutra Rose 1 cup dried apple ribbons Soak/cook the cornmeal with treated hot water as per the cooking instructions. Blend the strawberries and banana together and mix with the cornmeal after it cools a little. MixRead More →

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That’s right, HUNGARY! We have our first European Local Representative joining us.  Please welcome Veronika Barany Berthane to the team! This mother of two became the owner of a couple hermit crabs when a friend of her child no longer wanted them. With a little bit of searching she found our Facebook group. After joining our group and learning all she could about hermit crab care she decided to help others in her region by translating our care practices and establishing a hermit crab care blog and a Facebook group in Hungarian. Veronika also posts pictures of her hermit crabs babies on Instagram.    From Veronika: IRead More →

Local Representative Indonesia

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There are no words to express how THRILLED I am to see that our mission of education is spreading. Sometime last year I was invited to join an Indonesian hermit crab group on Facebook. I selfishly wanted to not only see the photos of the gorgeous hermit crabs that are native but I wanted to see how they are kept as pets. Despite our language barrier our two groups quickly became friendly and intermingled. The members of the Kelomang Lovers Indonesia group were warm and welcoming and most of all quite curious about how we care for hermit crabs in North America.  We happily sharedRead More →

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Watch us grow!! Mike and Melissa are joining us from Florida. They plan business and family trips around hermit crab adoptions they find on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace (among others). Their largest rescue was 33 crabs from Naples who were all in painted shells. Recently the last to change is now in a natural shell! They not only rescue hermit crabs, but also work hands on helping others set up proper crabitats. One was for a Kindergarten class that they set up with the perfect crabitat and some hermit crabs for the children to enjoy. Michael works with the Reddit community to promote proper landRead More →

Join us at the Amazing Pet Expo in St Louis!

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That’s right kids we’re going to the Pet Expo again this year!! Thanks to a very generous donation from an amazing couple the expo is fully paid for!! I am so excited! I hope some of you nearby have a chance to come see us. Should be in early November. From the bottom of our crabby little hearts we thank you for your donations and for being part of our community!Read More →

flooded substrate

In: Crabitat, General
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A couple years ago when we created our Facebook group to go along with our website I was shocked to find so many people with flooding issues and bacterial blooms in their crabitats. The response to this was a false bottoms.  In 14 years of crab keeping I’ve never encountered this, so it’s on my mind all the time…where is all the water coming from? I think I may be on the path to the root cause – overly wet substrate at the beginning. When you take sandcastle wet sand, add wet ecoearth, add bubbler pools and heat and it’s no wonder the humidity inRead More →

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The Land Hermit Crab Owners Society is thrilled to announce the addition of FOUR new Local Representatives! Mary is joining us from Tennessee. Her super power is search. If the answer is out there, she will find it. She is a Facebook moderator for our group. Pam is joining us from Pennsylvania. She is part of the Hermit Emergency Response Team and contributes content to CSJ. She moderates our Google+ community Amber is joining us from Western Canada. She is a our food guru and also contributes content to CSJ and the Coenobita Species site. Anne is joining us from North Carolina. She is partRead More →