The Crab Street Journal

When a home, apartment, or other building is treated for insects, pesticides used elsewhere in the structure may reach an established hermit crab habitat through airborne droplets, vapors, dust, contaminated hands, or residues carried on supplies. The hermit crab habitat itself should never be sprayed, fogged, dusted, or otherwise treated with insecticide. The goal is to prot...

This media archive preserves photo and video documentation of land hermit crab mating behavior and reproductive observations. The original Coenobita clypeatus mating media was published by Stacy Griffith on All Things Crabby in July 2018. Because All Things Crabby is currently offline, the media has been moved to The Crab Street Journal for preservation and educational use.

A hermit crab’s exoskeleton must perform several jobs that appear to conflict with one another. It must be hard enough to resist impact, stiff enough to support the body, tough enough to resist cracking, and flexible enough to permit walking, climbing, feeding, grooming, breathing, and withdrawal into the shell. It accomplishes this by varying its structure across the body.

Most land hermit crabs sold through the conventional pet trade began life in the wild. They were collected from coastal habitats, moved through wholesalers and distributors, and eventually sold in pet stores, tourist shops, online marketplaces, reptile expos, or private sales. Small-scale captive breeding has become possible, but captive-bred land hermit crabs are not yet pro...

One of the most alarming things a new keeper may see after a molt is what appears to be a hermit crab eating part of its own body. The crab is usually consuming its shed exoskeleton, called the exuviae. This is normal postmolt behavior. The exuviae contains minerals and organic material that the crab can recover rather than lose after molting. Unless there is an immediate saf...