Why I Got A Hermit Crab

I decided to get a hermit crab because I couldn’t get a dog. I couldn’t get a dog because my Dad and little brother are allergic to them. So I went to the pet store and saw the hermit crabs, at first I thought they smelled like garbage and looked like a big bug. But now I think hermit crabs are the best animal in the world and they don’t smell like garbage anymore.

The first two crabs I got were purple pinchers. Purple pinchers are the most common hermit crab. The rare crabs are called Stawberry, Blueberry and Ecuadorian. If I ever got a Strawberry crab or a Blueberry crab, I would name them “Strawberry” and “Blueberry”.

If you want to know how to tell if you have a purple pincher crab, you look at it’s claw. If you have a purple pincher, the claw should look a little purple.

I like hermit crabs because they are very interesting. Hermit crabs are nocturnal, which means they sleep all day and are very active at night. At night it is so cool watching them eat and crawl around. Hermit crabs like to climb on things such as driftwood, plants, nets and each other. They also tunnel down into the sand. If you don’t see your hermit crabs for a very long time they might be molting.

Molting is where hermit crabs go down into the substrate (sand mixture) and shed their old skin and while they are down there they eat their old skin before they come back up. Smaller crabs will stay down in the substrate for at least 2 weeks. Larger crabs will be down there for more than 2 months. Sometimes hermit crabs will not survive molting. Besides molting they also go down into the substrate for fun or de-stressing.

So far I have 4 crabs in a 10 gallon tank. Their names are Madeline, Emma, Fireball and Alyssa. Recently Emma has changed into 4 different shells. She changed into a big shell that doesn’t fit her, but so far she likes it. The other crabs have all gone down to molt we think. They are all under the sand. Fireball has been in the substrate for about 2 months. I can’t wait until he comes back up because when you pick him up he comes right out of his shell and starts fighting you. He looks more red than the others and he is the largest crab we have.

I hope to have all my crabs more active in the day. We are thinking about upgrading our 10 gallon tank to a 29 gallon tank to give them more room and to buy a larger crab.

If you had a hermit crab, what would you name it?

Photo above: First day with my new crab Alyssa