A borrowed home
Its back half is soft, so it lives in an empty sea shell and carries it everywhere.
Minibeasts · Time every day
Land hermit crab
Crustacean · from tropical shores
A reddish crab that lives in a borrowed sea shell, with two eyes on stalks, long feelers and one claw bigger than the other.
- Size
- Up to 10cm across, with the shell
- Lives for
- 10 to 30 years
- Suits
- Keepers who enjoy building a warm, humid tank
Scuttles after you, shell and all. Move your pointer and see.
Good to know
Six things about the hermit crab
Moving house
As it grows it swaps to a bigger shell. Crabs have been seen lining up in order of size to trade shells down the queue.
A claw for a door
It pulls right inside and blocks the entrance with its big claw.
Not a hermit at all
They live in groups of a hundred or more in the wild, and need company.
It buries itself to grow
To shed its skin it digs down and stays hidden for weeks. It is not dead: leave it be.
Thirty years
Looked after well it can live for decades, though few do.
The real thing
Photos of the hermit crab
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
Looking after one
Keep several in a heated, humid glass tank with deep damp sand to burrow in, climbing branches, fresh and salt water, and a choice of spare shells. Never painted ones.
Before you get one
Hermit crabs are sold as throwaway holiday pets, which they are not. They need careful heat and humidity, and can live for decades.
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