Hermit Crab Sea Shell

By Nerijus Antanavicius

Hermit crabs are unique for their habit to scavenge abandoned sea shells, and carry them around. This is done to protect from predators and to regulate moisture levels, thus making a sea shell a essential part of a hermit crab.

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Hermit crabs tend to change their shells when they get bigger. If a hermit crab has to use a shell too small for him, his growth speed will decrease, and chance of being eaten by a predator increase, because the crab won't be able to withdraw to the shell.

When multiple crabs want the same shell, fights between them might occur. Hermit crab can literally kill another crab for his shell, that's why it's so important to have many shells available for your crabs.

Shell changing rates

The rate at which hermit crabs change their shells differs, some like to wear them even when they are getting small(for example Ecuadorian hermit crabs), while some species constantly change them(for example Caribbean crabs) ..

Choosing the right shell for your crab

The first thing you have to do is decide what size your crab needs. The sea shell opening should be about ¼ bigger than the crab. Keep in mind that you crab should be able to completely withdraw to its shell, and cover the opening with its pincher.

When you figure out what size is the shell needed, forgot about beauty of the shell. After all, it's not you who will be wearing it, so think about the comfort of the crab in it.

There are four types of shell openings-slit shape, round, oval and D-shaped. You should provide several shells with different openings ant slightly different sizes, so that your crab could find the perfect fit. If the shell will be too small, the hermit crab won't be able to completely withdraw to the shell, and if it's too big, it will become hard for the crab to maneuver with it. Take a good look at the shell you are buying, they can't have any holes or cracks in them.

You should be careful about painted shells, even though they look so pretty. Some say that the paint on them might affect the health of the crab, or that the paint layer will make moisture managing harder.

 

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Anonymous said…
Excellent Job!
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April 28, 2009 at 2:45 AM
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