Actually yar, all sushi related. My first one is Sushi lor. Cuz it's the first time I rear things from the sea besides fish. Then the second is unagi. He's quite dark despite he moult a not ehence his name. Got takoyaki lar. She's medium sized but likes big shells. Maker her look round. then Wasabi lor. She's a mean feisty crabbie. She tried to pinch me when I help her up. But she looks really pretty.

At the moment hermit crabs both land hermit crabs and sea hermit crabs are not available in aquarium shops.

According to some traders, land hermit crabs aren't difficult to keep for hobbyist. However to them(the petshop business owners), it is a business environment where there are many other pets for sale in their shops, therefore keeping hermit crabs alive and healthy seems to be an easy task, will also add loads to the everyday business operations. Resulting high death rate to the hermit crabs before they can be sold to customers.

Therefore resulting hermit crabs livestock is a "ONE OFF" business. Meaning the livestock arrive at the shop for sale, when it is sold out, then that's it. Try your luck in waiting and hoping for another batch of livestock.

Some hermit crabs are sold to real experience keepers like us, the crab happily live and blend in to our home environment, while others are sold to parents as a gift to their kids may result to improper care and the hermit crab die from stressful and non-adaptive environment that is cruel.

As for me, releasing them back into the wild, gives me a happy memories. I released them at night, and seeing them crawling on the beach rejoining other hermit crabs colony in that beach is really an experience that money can't buy.

This post has been edited by blitzboy: Apr 25 2008, 10:54 PM

I thought the Jusco home centre got sell hermit crabs?

You mean that shop that links with Eneos car care shop, on the lower floor ,right ? Yes they do sell hermit crabs. As I said before unlike some pets that are regularly available, hermit crabs are not always available in pet shops. One my last visit to that shop, they only put up the shells on the display, no more hermit crabs for sale. That was somewhere in March 2008.

This post has been edited by blitzboy: Apr 26 2008, 09:50 AM

OIC. Maybe I mistaken lar. I saw shells in the display tank so I thought it was.

Some pics of my marine hermit crabs.

Photos are blurry due to algae growing on the tank glass.
Algae are also natural food to the hermit crabs.

Some are open for adoption for a small price. For more information please click here.









This post has been edited by blitzboy: Apr 28 2008, 02:52 AM

I thought algae was bad for hermit crabs? That's why we have to keep their tank nice and clean?

for land hermit crab, yes algae is is problem because it makes the tank dirty.


however for sea hermit crab, it also sometimes feed on the algae

I bought 5 at pasar malam. within 2 weeks all die...

i think those sold at pasar malam are land hermit crab. Normally they are quite hardy and able to survive harsh conditions.
At the beach, it is full of sand and it is very cold at night and very hot at day, still land hermit crabs are able to survive.

Pls share with us a photo of how your hermit crabs are kept at your home?

This post has been edited by blitzboy: May 4 2008, 03:59 PM

Hi everyone! Believe it or not ... i've just discovered this forum after more than a year of having my own land hermit crabs.

Just quickly ... does anyone knows where Beta Discovery from 1U have moved? I need to get the crab food : HAGEN CRABWORX. My hermits won't eat other pellets except for this. Just a few days ago, i tried feeding them with my cat food from Blackwood. Am also feeding them fruits and others at same time. Please help...anyone ... much appreciated!

Let's see if i can upload the pics here. I've not done this before ... duhhh



Attached thumbnail(s)

my hometown is fishing village, last time when trapping crab, 4 sure will get hermitcrab as well.

well, if any1 of u wanna get free hermit crab, can PM me. if i go back hometown, will get it if any1 interested....

Yes Betta Discovery have moved to B1, besides the POS Malaysia. They still sell hermit crabs. Hardly see any small ones these days.

Also nice crabitat you have there. Hagen Crabworx, i used to have those pellets and iirc, betta discovery sell those. Recently i see Hikari brand crab pellets more than other brands i know.

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Added on May 7, 2008, 11:21 pm@hyrl - Those sand looks familiar. Are those the Reptisand that is sold in a tin can in 1 ~ 4kg?

This post has been edited by onscreen: May 7 2008, 11:21 PM

Hi Onscreen! Thanks for your reply! Yeayyy! This is good news ... i shall rush down there tonight and 'borong' all the Crabworx before they move again. Will look into other brands you mentioned.

Sadly, last night ... my biggest hermit named Zulu in the pic above (with stripe shell) died. Not too sure why, he was eating well and all. This is sooooo stressful for me. I bought Zulu from Betta Discovery last year.

Oh yeah! The sand? Nope .. it's not Reptisand. It's PEE DEE sand ... <LOL>. We went to PD and brought back 3 pails of beach sand. We even brought back about 20 hermit crabs!!! Need to go to PD again and replenish new sands. My hermits just love their crabitat. I've had about 5 crabs molted in that substrate. I've also bought beach sands from shops selling marine fishes before getting PD sand.

Onscreen ... is Reptisand good or bad?

Ciaoooo and hope to hear fr you again...

If you go collect sand from the beach be sure to collect the sand from the very clean beach and not from those beach filled with rubbish made by those irresponsible people.

Collecting beach sand is a good idea to built a crabitat that closely replicate hermit crab's natural habitat. It will be a good also to stick an aquarium fan on the top edge of the tank to produce aireation, because hermit crabs do respond to sea breeze in its natural habitat. I believe the windy condition has a positive effect to keep the temperature low, and not too warm or too humid, and your hermit crabs are always active.

This post has been edited by blitzboy: May 14 2008, 01:43 AM

Geez blitzboy made a good point there on the wind. Will try that tomorrow.

Reptisand is actually a processed beach sand and its baked before packed. Reptisand is used in reptiles but its recommended for hermit crabs as well since it have good humidity control and water absorbtion that would keep the sand wet for quite sometime.

Betta Discovery recently no longer sell pellets for hermit crabs. So far from my search, pet shops around in PJ, Pets Family and Pet Lovers Center carry some hermit crab pellets and hermit crabs related items like shell shaped food dish, Reptisand, climbing decorations etc etc.. though stocks is rather limited.

LOL..i thought in malaysia only got ruggies? got straw or PP?

and btw, do you really think the wind thing is a good idea? well, aeration is good. but hermies need high humidity (75-78 %) in order for them to breath easily. They cant breath well from dry air. So the whole wind thing will just make the air even drier.

This post has been edited by prophet007: May 15 2008, 12:33 AM

Hi onscreen.
Thanks for supporting my idea. i wish to invite all hermit crab lovers & keepers to try out this simple experiment.

1. First take one of your hermit crab out from it's crabitat.

2. Held it in your hand, and the hermit crab normally will be hiding in the shell.

3. Now, try blowing some air into the opening of the shell. Blowing it little by little from your mouth.

4. The hermit crab will react to the wind entering shell, and the wind passes through its legs. In a matter of seconds the hermit crab will show itself and try to free itself from your grip, because you are holding its shell.

This post has been edited by blitzboy: May 15 2008, 12:37 AM

well, maybe the hermies DO react to the wind. so what? i mean in the tank, they need high humidity and IMHO, the wind will just decrease the humidity drastically.

hyrl: just asking, i saw only one water dish in your tank. Is that fresh water (tap water) or salt water?

blitzboy: seriously, your tank was very nice. But do you know that you were keeping them in a wrong way?

First of all, there was too little sand, and I dont think the hermit crabs can have a nice dig and molt perfectly.

Secondly, 40 crabs in a 2 ft tank? That was seriously overcrowded.

Thirdly, you only had one water dish inside your tank and I have no idea whether it was salt water or fresh water. But FYI, hermit crabs need both salt and fresh water in order to survive.

Fourth, the cover of your tank cant even contain humidity. and if you put a fan on it, I must say that your hermit crabs were suffering as they cant breathe easily.

No offence, but if you really want to keep land hermit crabs next time, please do a bit more research.

This post has been edited by prophet007: May 15 2008, 01:01 AM