What causes stress on hermit crabs and what can I do to reduce stess or prevent it?

Answer 1

First of all DONOT SPRAY ANYTHING ON A HERMIT CRAB especially from PETSMART.. oh my God why would anyone give that deadly advice?!? Also do not use huan salt for your crabs that is toxic to them and a sure death sentance they only can have marie/oceanic salt from a quality salt water aquarium store. all natural ocean salt not immitation.

Stress is caused by a number of factors.. one, temperature and humidty may be out of range. You must have that in check.. 76-85 degreesF and humidty 75-85% relative. They breathe through modified gills and only a warm and humid tank will allow them to properly breathe.

Also pre-molt is very stressfull...they need good food and clean water.
You need to keep more than one crab as in the wild they live in warm humid troical conditions in colonies of 100 and more.


If there is no sand or coco-fiber for them to dig in.. that can cause stress.. not enough extra shells of the right type and size and also stress will occur.

ANOTHER big stressful thing is overhandling... they are not a regular pet that need or even enjoy too much human handling.... they are an exotic species of land crustacean that only thrive and live for years with ideal sustained tank conditions. And no over handling.

Bathing is also not recomended because it causes stress.

Make sure you have both fresh and marine/oceanic de-chlorinated waters in seperate 1/2 inch or deeper pools so they can fully submerse themselves and enjoy the water which they often do.

Make sure you also offer more than just commercial pellet foods since they ARE ALL filled with artificial ingredients and chemicals... THey need human grade fresh fruits, veggies, meat, fish and chicken... as well as grains.


We take a very naturalistic approach to hermit crab husbandry... we have had 23 successful molts this year alone which is a 100% success rate.. we own 43 hermits right now...have owned and worked with hermits for 10 years and studied and researched them for 15 yrs.

We have studied the effects of stress and it's causes and the above items that I have given you are the most common causes. If you make sure the tank conditions are in range, by using a solid or glass lid.. have 12 hours of lights and 12 hours of dark they will be good. Using both dayglo and nightglo lights are an amazing way to keep your crabbies happy.
Substrate and food and water is their life fource as well as the extra shells.. at least 3 per crab. Anything that comes into contact with the crabs must be cleaned with de-chlor water and NO CHEMICALS. Make sure each crab has it's own area where he or she can hide out if needed and be alone. Hidies like 1/2 cocoshells and 1/2 logs are good...plenty of climbing areas too.. they need both coola nd warm areas within their tank.

Our oldest crab is 15 years old.. and we also have a 10 year ols and 2 seven year old crabs.... we have ideal sustained tank conditions 24/7 with a very natural setting with no dropped limbs, no agressions and 100% stress free hermit crabs.

Answer 2

You can never really tell with hermit crabs... but make sure he has fresh water (maybe put a little uniodized salt in a pool) give him a sponge to drink out of, a few shells to look through, a rock to climb and a friend. Dont over crowd the cage though. And clean it regularly. If he moves around hes probably pretty happy but dont freek if he doesnt; he may be getting ready to molt or change shells. Good luck!! And just to warn you... they live forever if you take care of them!!

Answer 3

I had hermit crabs in my aquarium several years ago(salt water ) and they were very happy and even mated and had young.But you have to have a dry area for them to roam around as well,and you have to have a lot of empty shells of all different sizes,as they grow out of one size,then move into another.hermit crabs are crabs and are not meant to live out of water all of the time.They usualy live in areas where there are tidal movement.It is cruel to just keep them in a dry aquarium or a box,and watever you do,never put them in fresh water-unless of course they are a fresh water species,which i am not sure if there are any?I had a very large aquarium,with a split level with rocks that they could climb up on and an artificial litte beach.they spent most of their time in the water,and you have to provide shelter for them in the water so they can drag another shell into,when they are ready to move house as the fish will attack and eat them when they come out of their shell.

Answer 4

theres is this spray that you can use ist called HBH aquapure safe soak and spray and u spray it on ur crabs every few days u can get it at petsmart at the reptile section