So I have two hermit crabs, and I love them, they are so much fun. Hahahaha. So I'd figure I'd inform you on how easy crab care is so you don't have to tell your children NO when you go to a pet store.

Rules.

1. NEVER LISTEN TO ANYTHING DEBBIE NOAH SAYS. She is a hermit crab expert. . .a hermit crab MURDER expert! She's the hermit crab lady on expervillage.com that looks like michael jackson.

2. Make sure your aquairium is big enough for your crabs. The little plastic box you get from the mall kiosk or boardwalk shop isn't going to cut it.

3. Don't give chlorinated tap water to the crabbies. It causes their gills to blister and ultimately they suffocate to death.

4. NEVER try to remove a crab from it's shell. It would rather be ripped limb from limb then be removed from it's home.

5. Don't ever put your crabitat in a window, or in draft. We don't want our crabbies to turn into crabsicles or crab cakes now.

Okay those are the big rules.

Now for how to set up the crabitat:

1. Make sure your crabitat is big enough for your crabs. I have two crabs and I keep them in a critter carrier that is roughly 5 gallons. However unless you live in a very humid climate, I suggest you use a glass our acrillic aquairium to house your pets (make sure you have a lid though, crabs are excellent escape artists.) And be sure to have enough room for the air exchange.

2. Place your substrate. My biggest crab is about an inch in a half tall, so I made my substrate three and a half inches deep. The sand you pick needs to be deep enough for the crabs to burry themselfs in. If you live in a cold climate, make sure the substrate is deep enough for the crab to burrow itself in and not get too close to the under tank heater.) I think that the best substrate is play sand, however if you can find CLEAN beach sand, use that, because it's loaded with the calcium and salt that crabbie needs. However if sand has a diesel or oily smell to it, throw it out or return it.

3. Give the crabs something to play on. Crabs love climbing, so a piece of wood or climbing grid would be adequate.

4. Hermie needs a hermie hut. Or anything he can go into and hide. They sell some nice ones made out of coconut.

5. Your crab is a living animal and therefore needs to eat. Crabs are scavengers, so they eat pretty much anything. They like something different in their dish each time you feed them, and they are paticulaly fond of tropical fruit and stinky sea life. If you go to http://www.hermit-crab.com you can find a good crab food recipie. Crabs also eat vegitables (be sure to give them carrots, as they need caroteen). And BE SURE TO WASH OF FRUITS AND VEGGIES BEFORE YOU PUT IT INTO THE CAGE! Crabs can be killed by pesticides. A personal favorite of my hermit crabs is when you mix strawberry and banana pieces (just pinch it off) and make a mini fruit salad. You can put your food into and shallow non-metalic container. Crabs need fresh and salt water. NEVER put table salt into crab water. Use sea salt.

6. Spritz your crabs everyday, once a day, with non chlorinated water.

7. Clean your cage once a month.

8. Anytime you get a new crab, give all of your crabs a non chlorinated bath. You do this my putting a dishrag into a bowl and soaking the rag with the water. Place the crabs ON TOP of the rag and let them smell eachother. Keep an eye on the new crabs because you don't want any fights now.

9. If you're hermit crab burries itself, do not dig it up. He just might be molting. It's best not two disturb your crab, unless it's been more than four weeks, then sniff the cage to see if it stinks. If you smell dead fish, it's time to discard of the crab.

10. Never keep one hermit crab alone. Despite their name, they are actually social animals.

Thanks for the tips! I'm interested in keeping a small pet around my college dorm, but I don't want it to be too much trouble. I've never considered keeping hermit crabs around, but now I'm going to look into it

Believe it or not, I had to make a report on hermit crabs several years ago as a school project.
I learned quite a few things about hermit crabs then, but did not know several of the interesting and insightful things you know as a first hand owner.
Now you make me want to get one! (although I am known to fail at taking care of even goldfish)

My Daughter has gotten hermit crabs at the mall when we lived in Washington, The came with the shells all painted up and decorated and in a little plastic box. They didnt live very long both times she got them. But she was told that they could live in the little plastic box that they gave them with. Whick was not very big at all.. Maybe 2 inches bye 2 inches. Now I am figuring from reading your post that thats why they did not live very long, They needed more space.

Another thing to keep in mind is their diet.

Crabs NEED lots of calcium. They also need carroteen.

Crabs that have carroteen deficient diets have dull shells (The shell's color changes slightly each time the crab molts) and a crab is just plain in trouble if it's diet is calcium deficent.

To give the crabs the needed carroteen, I grade baby carrots and put it in their dish. I use the hermit crab food recipie on www.hermit-crab.com to give them their needed calcium.

Feed them lots of BRIGHT veggies and fruits, but I cannot stress to you enough how important it is to make sure that the fruits and veggies are free of pesticides. Also don't let grabs get a hold of seeds or pits.

But since they are omnivores they do need a source of protien. They are praticularly fond of anything fishy, or any kind of non poisionous crustation. Crabs are cannibles, it's a proven fact. That's why it's important to isolate a crab when he is showing signs of molting. This is because for some reason, hermies find a freshly molted exoskeleton simply irresistable.

And that's another thing. If the hermit crab molted it's exoskeleton, DO NOT discard it. When the hermit completes his molt he will eat his exoskeleton for the calcium in it. Do not replace the hermit crab back in the main tank untill he becomes active again, which is after he eats his entire exoskeleton and his new exoskeleton has hardened. This is because if you wait untill any point prior to that, he will be extremelly vulnuarble to the other crabs.

I have 4 hermit crabs (Ecuadorian). Its more than a year now i kept them. 20g tank is their home with a one sided 10 inches sand and river pebbles covered the other half.

Currently they are deep in the sand preparing to be molted and i will only get to see them again in 2 weeks time.

Your information is really wealthy but isnt specific enough. There is a calculation for the substrate preparation, crab height + 2 inches = height of sand substrate needed. The standard height is 5 inches and 8 inches for ruggies / pp / strawberries.

Overall, very nice guide on hermit crab keeping. Hope more new owners pop up soon