How big do hermit crabs grow?

Question

thinking of getting one as a pet need some guidance

Answer 1

Here is an answer I posted on a question similar to yours:
Here are the minimum requirements for a hermit crab:
A minimum 10 gallon glass tank with lid that will retain humidity, hermit crabs need humidity or else they will DIE, they breathe through modified gills and they need to be kept moist. The humidity in your crabitat (crab habitat, it's what us crabbers call it) should always be between 70 and 80, to tell if it is at the right temperature you will need to go to your local petstore and buy a hygrometer, you can usually buy ones meant for hermit crabs, they come with thermometers and hygrometers. The temperature in your crabitat should always be between 70 and 80 Farenheit. To help keep the humidity up in your crabitat you can buy natural sea sponges (natural ones only!) or Flukers Terrarium Moss, you will need to run over to your local dollar shop to pick up a spray bottle (never used, ones meant to mist plants) and you will also need to go to your local grocery store and buy a large jug of distilled water (hermit crabs cannot drink tap water because of the chlorine, it will kill them!!) the bottle cost like 99 cents and last forever! You will also need to go to Wal-mart, Lowe's, or Home Depot to pick up a bag of playsand to place in your crabitat, you need at least 4-5" of playsand in your crabitat, Sunny will need this in order to molt, this is a process in which they shed their exoskeleton (basically their skin), it is very important that they are abble to dig down in order to molt because they need a dark place, molting is VERY stressfull for your hermti crb so you must be carefull not to disturb him while he is molting. He could be burried for 2 weeks to 3 months depending on his size, never dig up a crab if you think they are molting, they are only dead if you smell a VERY strong fishy smell. Now for food, all commercial hermit crab foods contain ingredients called ethoxyquin or copper sulfate, this is lethal to your hermit crabs so I suggest you feed him fruits and veggies, for a list of safe and unsafe hermit crab food please visit http://www.epicureanhermit.com/...... if you would like to buy organic hermit crab foods you can go to www.hermitcrabaddictionstore.c... Vicki sells amazing foods that my hermit crabs LOVE. Now some websites will tell you to bathe your hermit crabs, I must warn you that this is extremely stressfull and harmefull to your crabs. If you place one freshwater (distilled water) and one saltwater (distilled water mixed with aquarium salt) in their cage they will bathe themselves when THEY feel it's necessary. Be sure to place something in the dishes so that your hermit crab can get out, they can drown. One of the most important rules in hermit crab keeping is never have only one, please go and buy another because hermit crabs live in colonies of up to 100 in the wild and they will get lonely and die if kept alone for to long. Hermit crabs are taken from the wild so that they can be our pets, that is why they are so shy. I would not recommend taking your hermit crab out more then once or twice a weeks because they get really stressed out and sometimes lose their limbs! There aren't any games you can play with your hermit crab unless you want him to get really stressed out and die. It is much healthier for your hermit crab and much more entertaning for you if you have loads of stuff for them to climb on in the crabitat, like choya wood, driftwood, plastic vines, ect. Do not put anything metal in their cage because it will rust (because of humidity) and make them ill. Your hermit crab will need at least 3 NATURAL (painted shells are nto good for them, do you know how they are placed into there? they are frozen then taken out of their natural shells and shoved into painted ones! Only half live through the process, also painted shells chip and your crab will eat the paint and die, if your crab is in a painted shell there is nothing you can do about it except place lots of similar sized natural shells into his crabitat for him to choose from, once he has moved into a different shell remove the painted one) shells in your crabitat per crab. You will also need some fake plants and hidey huts for him to hide in and feel secure, the cocohuts are good. I'm pretty sure I have covered the basic care of hermit crabs. If you want you can join www.crabstreetjournal.com it is a forum for people that like land hermit crabs, I am a member of the staff there and my name if Serena. There are loads of members there willing to help you out :) I myself have 8 hermit crabs, 4 Equadorians Hollie, Abbie, Moschino, Fitch, and four Ruggies, Percy, Zeek, Polka , and Dots. If all this information and care is to overwhelming for you and you don't think you can care for Sunny then please sign up for the adoption program at www.crabstreetjournal.com and the people there will arrange for him to be taken to another home :)

I hope I've helped!
-Serena


they grow to the size of a baseball.

Answer 2

i have kept hermit crabs for five years now. If you are looking for a Farley inexpensive handle able pet they are perfect. Hermit crabs range in size the most common size sits at about four inches across. You may come a cross much larger one but i would stay away from those. When you go to the pet store try to ignore what they are telling you as in many cases they a trying to sell you much more than you need. pets smart on line store sells a HERMIT CRAB KIT for 14 all you need is food. or you can just got to a small name pet store and buy a similar size tank crab sponge food and substrate and some extra shells but the kit is your best deal. honestly even a shoes box or gladware would work provided they have some rocks to climb on. they make great pets get one!!!!!

Answer 3

not too big. you can keep a single hermit crab in 10 gallon tank, and the biggest one i've ever owned was as big as... one of those rolls at red lobster. but they wont get so big that they'll be too heavy to carry and stuff.

Answer 4

Between 1 - 2 inches long. Check the link out.

Answer 5

1

Answer 6

They can get quite large--check out this site for excellent care info and pictures:
http://www.hermit-crabs.com/index.html

Answer 7

as big as ur fist some can get bigger i have two sometimes they get so big they dont need a shell anymore! =)

Answer 8

Ask Santa Claws...

Answer 9

About this big

Answer 10

How you getting one?Nobody can find them.