The Easiest Pets: Hermit Crabs

Hermit crabs, interestingly enough, are not actually crabs, but they do live in the ocean.

Down the Jersey Shore, I often see stores selling hermit crabs and offering up those little clear containers for kids to keep these amazing pets inside of.

But, my hermit crabs don't live in one of those little homes. They live in an aquarium. And truthfully, it is the center piece of the living room.

Unlike fish, they live in this without water.

Read more below about how I care for my hermit crabs.

So You Want a Hermit Crab?

Here Are Important Details On How To Care for Hermit Crabs

About once every three weeks, you'll need to completely dump out the old gravel (or sand) that lines the bottom of the aquarium. Clean the aquarium while hermit crabs enjoy a nice bath and walking around, and then refill the aquarium with fresh gravel. I never let it go below once inch deep.

Right now I have seven hermit crabs, but there was a time when I had thirteen, so this aquarium was full!  They enjoy this amount of space, and they do get along with each other.  Sometimes at night, you can even hear hermit crabs "talking."

Why am I down to seven? Well, hermit crabs in captivity don't always live very long.  Some, I've heard of living over ten years, but for me, my oldest is now five years old.  The shortest time a hermit crab of mine has ever lived was two years.

Besides the gravel, as discussed above, you'll need to buy food for hermit crabs, have a water bowl (only use spring water, not water from the faucet), some type of house or wooden home they can hide under, and lots of toys for them to climb on!

Yes, hermit crabs like to play! Some of my hermit crabs walk around and up and down climbing sticks for over an hour before stopping to eat or rest!

Because hermit crabs molt, you'll also need a few extra shells laying about for them to change into when they finish with they're other shell. Be sure they are either equal to or larger than the original shells.

The hermit crab aquarium makes such a nice decoration for the living room in a home. Whenever we have guests over, especially kids, they always stop to comment on the hermit crabs.

They live a lot longer than the typical fish, are super easy to care for, and fun to watch. Because you only will need to buy new hermit crab food about every two months and the gravel every three weeks, they are very inexpensive. Why not get a hermit crab today?

* Created October 19th, 2010 KG