Who Are These 2 Old Crabs?
Who Are These 2 Old Crabs?
Who Are These 2 Old Crabs?
We are a mother and daughter team offering a healthy food alternative to the commercial pellets sold in pet stores. These pellets are actually toxic to the crab and do not provide all he had access to in the wild in order to thrive. We use a very wide variety of ingredients to create food "mixes" that are sure to keep your crab healthy and happy!
You won't find "healing foods" here. I admit, I used to use that terminology constantly. It's been widely discussed and researched and there really is no such thing as a healing food. They need ALL the things! I have since gone back to a more natural approach with colors and flavorings of foods and the crabs have a renewed interest. They are receiving foods to heal and foods to boost /darken their colors naturally. They know WAY better than I do about what vitamin or nutrient they are in need of so I let them pick! This also adds to the natural foraging they do in the wild.
Why A Hermit Crab?
Who Are These 2 Old Crabs?
Who Are These 2 Old Crabs?
A couple years ago, I was given a little hermit crab in a beautiful murex shell by a friend who was moving out of state. Classic story of a hermit crab that was bought on the coastal boardwalk for her young sons as a *pocket pet*. This poor little crab sat unmoving in his tank for 2 weeks. He had no heat and a soda pop cap full of tap water. I really wasn't understanding why sooooo many people got hermit crabs on the beach boardwalks. He didn't DO anything! I began researching hermit crabs and soon learned the information given to people for proper care of these fascinating critters, is completely WRONG. 😳 I found crabstreetjournal.org on a Google search. That led me to their FB group, Land Hermit Crab Owners Society. Sooooo much information on there! So many helpful people willing to take time and help. Once I sat up the proper tropical environment using LHCOS guidelines and began offering healthy foods, the newly named Sherman Crab came to life! Suddenly he was moving! Not just moving, but climbing and playing! Now I have over 500 gallons combined of crabitat and dozens of land hermit crabs. They play on hampster wheels and climb everywhere. They *talk* to each other and sleep in cuddle packs. I have purple pinchers, ecuadorians and strawberries. I find myself watching my crabs sooooooo much more than the TV. Please check out the above mentioned website and FB group to find a wealth of information, great crabby friends and ideas for your own crabitat!
Where Do Hermit Crabs Come From?
All hermit crabs you see in beach stores or pet shops across the country are caught in the wild. There are 500 to 600 species of hermit crabs, most of whom are native to tropical climates like the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and Australia. Most of the hermit crabs sold as pets in the US are purple pincher crabs or Ecuadorian hermit crabs. Purple pinchers are native to the Caribbean, South America, and the Florida Keys, while the Ecuadorian crab comes from the coasts of Ecuador and Chile. Below is a video that shows what occurs once they are "harvested" from their homes. Please watch but be advised it is not easy see. However, these videos really need to be shown to help spread the truth about what these magnificent little critters that can live over 40 YEARS! They are not throw away pets, pocket pets or good for children. They require quite a bit of care just preparing a proper tropical habitat.
WARNING! GRAPHIC MATERIAL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSda2pzAMGA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuwQKJCO9UQ
The Hermit House Captive Breeding Project hopes to change the current hermit crab pet trade by replacing wild capture with a sustainable captive breeding program. These captive bred babies are true miracles. The captive bred babies spend one year with breeder Mary Akers before they are big enough to adopt.
Adoption of Hermit House captive bred hermits crabs is now open to the public!
A few things to know before you apply!
- There is a fee to adopt.
- You are not required to be a LHCOS member to adopt but you must meet the minimum standards of care observed by our organization.
- You are committing to a life long pet when you adopt a hermit crab. Wild caught hermit crabs can live decades in captivity. Captive bred hermit crabs are expected to live even longer.
- Their shells will be about the size of a pea at one year old.
Only a couple of people have successfully bred hermit crabs and only ONE has successfully accomplished this in the United States. Many are now making false claims of captive bred babies, please do your research! I personally have several of these miraculous little babies that were born in captivity to Mary Akers. You can follow her journey on our facebook group and her instagram. Please support her cause! The more we learn, the faster we can help end inhumane wild hermit capture.
Here is a link to her Etsy shop!
Complete Guide to Proper Hermit Crab Care Can Be Found Here
If you’ve ever gone on vacation to a beach destination, there is a good chance you have encountered a beach shop with a cage or cages full of hermit crabs. There is also a good chance that you’ve found yourself compelled to bring one home. Why not? They’re hard to resist. They come in beautiful shells of all different colors and sizes. Their exoskeletons have varying degrees of purple, red, brown, lavender, and if you’re lucky—a strawberry red. Their sizes range from micro to jumbo. You can find them at just about every beach shop, pet store, and even the occasional toy store. Hermit crabs have become a common vacation “souvenir” for many beach-going travelers. They are marketed as “easy” pets and sold in tiny plastic containers with rocks or small metal cages. Most people do not know the plight of the hermit crabs. Most people don’t know that these unsealed homes ensure a long painful death by suffocation due to the lack of necessary humidity required to keep their modified gills moist. The average beachgoer doesn’t know that the pellets and “hermit crab food” mixes typically sold with them are full of preservatives and other toxins. Some lucky hermit crabs have owners that stumble upon information on “proper care” upon returning home. Unfortunately, much of the information readily available online is incorrect and pet stores also fail to provide proper instructions—generally placing profit above survival. If the hermit crabs are truly lucky, their owner will find The Crab Street Journal/Land Hermit Crab Owners Society and care enough to make the changes necessary for them to not only survive—but also thrive. - Written by Rose Marie Senary
Did you know the cute painted shells are toxic to them as well?
When you take a shell home from the beach, not only are you taking a hermits much needed home, but you may be taking home a marine hermit who was happily hiding. Please take only broken or pieces of shells!
Please click here to visit our group on Facebook called LHCOS, Land Hermit Crab Owner's Society.
LHCOS advocates to improve the lives of captive land hermit crabs and protect and preserve wild hermit crabs, their habitat and resources like shells.
There's albums of crabitat setups for inspiration, feeding ideas, complete care guides and so much more! Plus a bunch of really great folks who love to share photos and stories of our little crabby worlds!
If you're interested in adopting a hermit crab or six, please check out our adoption page! CLICK HERE
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