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November 2008:
"Flower Paradise" |
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| If you are a member of Hermit Crab Paradise, visit the link above to enter the competition. If not, please register first. |
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Survey #023:
What is your second storey made of? |
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| If you are a member of Hermit Crab Paradise, visit the link above to vote. If not, please register first. |
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| Say NO to Crabinacup sold at Walmart! Such humiliation and animal cruelty against hermit crabs must not be tolerated. |
| Say NO to the painted shells sold in many pet stores! Hermit crabs are not toys, nor are their shells. |
| You can help our protest by signing the petitions and joining many other crabbers in the battle for the respect of hermit crabs. |
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| If Hermit Crab Paradise has proven helpful to you, please link back to us! You may use the 90×90 icon above if you wish, but please upload it to your own server. We appreciate your support! |
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| The shell of your hermit crab is not part of its body, but "stolen" from a gastropod. Hermit crabs are not necessarily satisfied with the shell that they are currently wearing, so it's a great idea to keep plenty of spare empty shells in the aquarium if they do want to change shells. As hermit crabs moult and grow in size, they will need to find a slightly larger shell to wear. You may come across hermit crabs that are wearing oversized shells, so keep shells of all sizes and shapes. Hermit crabs don't always change into a shell the first time they see it. |
| A hermit crab's shell shields its soft abdomen, which isn't protected by a layer of exoskeleton. The shell also allows the hermit crab to carry water inside the shell to help prevent the abdomen from drying out. Hermit crabs have been known to store food, fat and extra water in their shells to prepare for a moult. |
| If you are uncertain of what types of shells that hermit crabs can wear, browse through the photos in our Seashells album in the Gallery. |
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| When you go buy some spare shells, have you noticed that quite often there are more painted shells for sale than the unpainted ones? From our past experience, hermit crabs tend to prefer wearing unpainted shells over painted ones, possibly because they were intimidated by some of the patterns on painted shells. |
| Feel free to adopt a hermit crab with a painted shell. Take them home and provide plenty of unpainted shells. It will not be long until you find that your hermit crab has changed shells. Besides, an unpainted shell is by far a much better purchase; a painted shell can cost several times more expensive than the hermit crabs themselves! |
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| They seem harmless enough for you to buy them, and even drag all the attention away from the unpainted shells. Some people believe that hermit crabs will love painted shells due to the bright colours. Well, the true fact is, most hermit crabs dislike painted shells. Don't assume that your crab is very happy with the shell it is wearing. You should provide a wide variety of shells to observe each hermit crab's preference of shells. |
| Removing the paint from a shell is not a difficult task. Before reading the instructions, please note that it is for empty painted shells, not occupied ones with a hermit crab inside. Grab a small container and fill it up with hot dechlorinated water. Dump the empty painted shell in. The paint will start to harden. Take the shell out and starting from the edges, dig your fingernail under the layer of paint to scratch it off. It may even come off in one piece. Let the shell cool down and dry it off, then put it back in the tank. |
| If there is a crab in the painted shell that you wish to remove the paint from, offer it with many unpainted shells and wait until it decides to change. Finally, take the painted shell to remove the paint and you will have an additional unpainted shell. |
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