Hermit Crab Paradise has joined the esteemed ranks of The Crab Street Journal's Sister Sites to become the 9th (active) member of the Crustacean Care Coalition. Hermit Crab Paradiseis committed to providing current, accurate care information and abiding by the Code of Ethics of the program.

Hello everyone, my name is Wai and I am from Australia. The very first time I saw land hermit crabs was on the day a primary school friend brought in his single hermit crab to run around the classroom floor. Roughly two years after that encounter, I adopted Toejam and Earl on 18 May 2003. As a result of deeming the care advice from any pet store as quality, I learnt things the hard way; a process which involved the death of many hermit crabs up till now. It was not until Toejams death in the critter keeper with wood shavings 11 months later that I realised something was probably wrong. I proceeded to do some reading on a certain hermit crab website and created Hermit Crab Paradise on 18 April 2004 to publish what I had learnt. I adopted nine more hermit crabs over time, but they all died by July 2005. My parents forbid me from adopting any more until I finished high school, so I used the time to focus on researching online. To my surprise, I realised how many mistakes I had made in the past and that the money spent on adopting more hermit crabs should have been used to buy better supplies. On 16 November 2008, I commenced crabbing again with greater success. With the help of many other experienced crabbers, everything on Hermit Crab Paradise was rewritten to reflect todays quality land hermit crab keeping techniques.

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Zoea 1

Little shrimp-like baby 36 hrs life (Please view full size) [Singapore]

Posted: 12-Oct-2003  - Resolution: 400 x 300

On occasions one may find that when they do an antenna count they seem to be missing a hermit crab? Where possibly could it be? All empty shells have been looked into, including doing the precaution of turning the shells upside down and placing water within them. There have been occasions when a hermit crab has changed shells and fits so far down within it they are impossible to see. By placing water within the shells and turning them hole side up, if the shell moves hole side down a crabber knows there is a resident within it.

When you find a pet store that conditions for hermit crabs are less than ideal, your first reaction is to get mad. Get mad at the store, get mad and possibly say things to the person working in this area. You might tell them what you think of their store and march out! That was my gut reaction too. I was so angry and was in tears. I was told by the “acting manager” his hands were tied and there was nothing he could do. So I left the store.