Hermit Crab Care

A healthy adult hermit crab can live about 2 to 3 weeks without food as long as it still has water and a safe, humid environment. Hermit crabs have a slow metabolism, so they handle short fasts well – especially during molting, when they may not eat for weeks. But water matters far more than…

To keep a hermit crab tank humid, use damp substrate, add shallow water dishes, mist lightly when needed, seal the lid, and keep humidity at 70% to 80%. Humidity is one of the most important parts of hermit crab care because they breathe through modified gills that must stay moist. If the air gets too…

The safest way to get a hermit crab out of its shell is to never force it – instead, let it come out on its own. You can gently encourage a crab by warming its shell slightly or offering a shallow, warm dish to soak in, but you should never pull. A hermit crab grips…

Yes, hermit crabs make noise. They produce a chirping, croaking, or clicking sound that owners describe as a mix between a cricket chirp and a tiny frog croak. Scientists call it stridulation. If you hold a chirping crab, you can actually feel the shell vibrate in your hand. It is one of the most surprising…

Yes, hermit crabs can pinch, and larger crabs can pinch hard enough to bruise or even break the skin. But here is the good news – they do not pinch to be mean. A hermit crab pinches because it feels scared, is trying to hold on, got startled, or is stressed. Once you understand why…

Feeding hermit crabs costs about $5 to $15 per month, and it can be even less if you share fresh food from your own kitchen. That makes hermit crabs one of the cheapest pets to feed. They eat tiny amounts, they love leftovers, and most of their favorite foods are things you probably already have…

Hermit crabs stop eating because of stress, molting, wrong temperature, low humidity, new environment, boring food, no salt water, loneliness, or illness. The good news? In most cases, the fix is simple and your crab will start eating again once you find and solve the problem. Hermit crabs do not starve themselves on purpose. If…

Hermit crabs cannot eat onions, garlic, citrus fruits, table salt, commercial pellets with preservatives, dairy, chocolate, candy, pesticide-treated produce, and anything seasoned or processed. While hermit crabs are natural scavengers that eat a huge variety of foods, the wrong item can make them seriously sick or worse. The good news is that the unsafe list…

Saltwater hermit crabs eat algae, seaweed, leftover fish food, detritus, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, nori, bristleworms, and pretty much anything else they find on the ocean floor. They are true scavengers – nature’s cleanup crew. In a reef tank, they spend most of their time grazing algae off rocks and glass, picking through the sand…

Feed your hermit crabs once a day, in the evening, with about a pea-sized amount of food per crab. Offer a mix of protein, fruit, vegetables, and calcium – and switch it up every night so they get variety. That is the short answer. But there is a lot more to feeding hermit crabs well,…

Hermit crabs can eat carrots, sweet potato, spinach, kale, broccoli, zucchini, corn, peas, bell peppers, cucumber, pumpkin, squash, and many more. Most vegetables are safe and packed with vitamins and minerals that keep your crabs healthy and colorful. In fact, brightly colored vegetables are especially good because they contain carotenoids – the natural pigment that…

Hermit crabs can eat coconut, mango, banana, watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, papaya, apple, pear, cantaloupe, peach, raspberries, kiwi, and many more. They have a real sweet tooth and fruit is one of their favorite things to eat. The great news is that almost all fruits are safe for hermit crabs. Just wash them well, cut…