My hermit crab wont change its shell. It has overgrown its old shell, how can i encourage it to change shells?

it also has a piece of shell missing in it. i only got it two weeks ago.
Answers:
There is not much you can activly do to make it change shells. Best bet is the following.

Make sure the tank has the proper temp and humidity.. 76-82 degrees F and 75%-85% relative humidity.

Then make sure you have at least 4 shells per crab in the tank at all times. they must be the proper type, size and shape. Smooth on the inside, no rough edges, no holes or cracks. If you have carribean or purple pincher hermit crabs their faves are, Turbos, Murex, Pica and Japanese snail shells. They like round openings.

The size and shape of the opening is most important, making sure the opening is 1/4 of an inch larger than what he is in now. They need to be cleaned with dechlorinated water and left moist.. then the crab shloud change as long as they are the size that he is looking for.

I wish your crab luck!!
jenn
hermitcrab_rescue@yahoo.com

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make sure there is a large variety of different color shells available. They will often grow accustom to the one they have, but if you give them bigger more colorful ones they will like to change. My mother in law had kindergarten kids color like 50 shells and he changed often.

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The search for a perfect seashell continues throughout a hermits life. It is always in search of the perfect fitting shell or it has outgrown the one it is in. We have found that when new shells are introduced most hermit crabs check them out and will change with in a 24-48 hour period.

Having a good supply of changing seashells for your crab is extremely important to maintaining a healthy crab. If a hermit crab does not have a new shell to move into and has out grown the one they are in, they will find some other hollow cover to substitute. While it might be nice to see a hermit crab walking around with a soda cap on their back, they will not survive for long since a cap cannot maintain the moisture a hermit crab needs for survival.

A hermit crab will move into a wide variety of seashells. The key is to pick a seashell that has a slightly larger opening then the one they are in now. Some seashells are very large in size, however have very small openings on them. An optimum seashell would be one with an opening just about the size of the hermit crabs large claw. Seashells for crabs can be purchased here

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Turn The Poor Thing Loose At The Beach GEEZ

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One Size Does Not Fit All
land hermit crab seashellFor each crab I have a few shells which are just a little bit bigger than their existing shell. When the crab moults (approximately once a year) they need a choice of shells to move into. The change in body size may be small but it will be important that your growing crab needs a choice of shells. They will be very crabby if they do not have bigger shells for bigger bodies.

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It might still be adjusting to the move. Also, and I know this sounds wierd, they are left or right-handed (actually left or right-reared) depending on the whether the first shell they ever had spiraled to the left or right. If you could put your left fingers into the opening of the shell following the internal curve and your thumb on the spire (sharp, closed tip, not the open tip), it's a left-handed shell. Right-handed is the opposite. Make sure it has the right sort of shell.

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The hermit crab is a type of crab that doesn't have a very hard shell. Not a true crab, it uses other animals' old shells for protection; they especially like old whelk shells. As the hermit crab grows in size, it must find a larger shell.

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Anatomy: Hermit crabs are invertebrates, animals without a backbone. They have an exoskeleton, an outer shell that provides support for their body but does not provide much protection from predators. They vary widely in color, from red to brown to purple, with stripes, dots, and other patterns. They have ten jointed legs; the front two legs have large, grasping claws (called pincers or chelipeds) and the rear pair of legs are very small. They have a flattened body, sensory antennae, two eyes located at the ends of stalks, and a soft, twisted abdomen (which the hermit crab keeps hidden inside its shell).


The Knobbed Whelk (Busycon carica) is a gastropod, a soft-bodied invertebrate (animal without a backbone) that is protected by a very hard shell. This mollusk is found in shallow waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of North America from Massachusetts to northern Florida.

The shell: The Knobbed Whelk has a spiral shell with knobs (or spines) along its shoulder. The whelk's mantle, a thin layer of tissue located between the body and the shell, creates the shell. The whelk builds the hard shell from calcium carbonate that it extracts from the seas. The shell is up to 9.5 inches (24 cm) long. The shell is light gray to tan, and often has brown and white streaks.

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it will move when it wants to, it's not stupid, it's not going to stay and get smooshed. Maybe he doesn't like the other shell, or maybe he's trying to get as much use as he can out of his old shell, have a perfectly good, big enough shell ready for him and he will move when he feels like it.

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Hm. I agree with some other posters; it's a good idea to have a variety of shells available. I can usually tell when Bill (my crab) has outgrown his shell, but it's impossible to tell how comfy they really are in there. Perhaps some crabs prefer a snugger environment? Everyone is different. I hope your little friend does well.

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put a lot of options of shells in there so he will find the best fit 1 for him.

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Hurry or else it will die! That is why my hermit crab died.

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Most hermit crabs will move out of their shells when they want to. Unless the hermies are in a shell that is painted and they can not move out of the shell at all, then they will not die due to the shell.

Depending on what size of hermies you have Most of the hermies love the Brown Peth Turbos, Green Turbos, Japanesse Land Snails, Whale Eye Shells. You can go to www.shellhorizons.com you can see what kind of shells I am talking about on there.

Once you have the shells, boil them in the hermie salt water (some sort of Marine Salt or Sea Salt NEVER human salt), leave a bit of the water in the shells but dump out most of it. Let the shells cool in some sort of container that is big enough for the hermies and the shells and while you are letting them cool, give the hermies a bath.

To give the hermies a bath, you use water that you have added declor to get the chlorine and other metals out of it. Then need to get Stress Coat and add one drop of it to the bath water (the declor and Stress Coat can be purchased at any store that sells fish). Turn the water on and put your wrist under the water. When the water feels neutral to your wrist, then you put enough water in a container that will cover the hermies shell with the hermie in it. Put the hermie in upside down, that will usually get the hermies to come out of their shell and move around. That is the main way that they clean their shell is by moving in and out and getting the water to circulate. Also the little legs that help hold the hermies in thier shells will clean the inside of the shell out. Leave the hermie in the water for about one minute and then take it out and put it in another container with extra shells that have some warm water in it. This will usually get them to change shells more often then any other time.

Some hermies like the shells they are in and will not change. Others will want to change several times a day. It will depend on if they have shells that are big enough for them and if they like that kind.

Sabrina
60 hermies since July 2004 and 2 Raccoons May 2006.
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/oimsofunny.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hermieswap.