Do any of your hermit crabs escape on a regular basis?
By ulderich
@ulderich (18)
United States
February 21, 2007 1:50pm CST
I've had hermit crabs off and on for years, and I have had a couple escapees, but it was never anything serious. Well, one crab I have now knows how to escape using the sponge in the tank.
The crabs are in a 5 gal fish tank with their wood and sponge, etc. This natural sponge is fairly large (not the little dinky ones), and when the sponge dries out, one of my crabs knows how to move the sponge to one of his shell food or water bowls and then gets the sponge to stand up and he can just reach enough to get to the lip of the top of the tank. I caught him once as he was just a inch away from escaping and then a few weeks later he did escape. I found our cat batting him around in the same room. (She wasn't hurting him but I'm sure he thought he was going for a ride...ha ha). If she hadn't have found him, it's hard to tell where he would have went and not been able to be found.
Anyway, I guess I'm going to have to cut the sponge so he can't stand it on it's end anymore. Right now I have a cloth place mat covering the majority of the tank's top (with enough room on each side for fresh air). The cloth keeps the humidity in, though. This crab is just a sneak!
1 person likes this
4 responses
@highflyingxangel (9225)
• United States
17 Mar 10
I've never had any of my crabs escape. In fact, the lid that I have for the tank can lock down so it's not easy for them to push it up. They will hang upside down and climb around on the lid so I know there is no problem with them escaping. I like to keep it that way. An upgrade might be in order, moving to a 10 gallon tank with a better fitting lid.
@rdolphingirl (361)
• United States
22 Mar 10
I have crabs as well, have had them before also, and NEVER had any escape.
A few years ago I had some in a 20gal high tank, they did climb up the silicon in the corners some but never got to the top.
The tank I have now is actually a reptile tank, with a latching screen cover on it (from when I had a snake) so I know they can't get out.
I have three right now, all small though and not very active during the day. I do hear them at night some before I go to bed, when its dark of course!
I would strongly suggest a tank with some sort of lid they can't get out of though as they need water/humidity and will likely die if they get out and can't be found quickly.
~Rachel
@Yestheypayme2dothis (7874)
• United States
27 Feb 07
I have had crabs as big a nice sized kitten. It would walk all over the place. I just love hermit crabs. I am imagining you cat playing with the hermit crab. Too cute! I read that you could put a hermit crab in a hamster ball and they can crawl all over the place, but actually it does not work. The crabs I have now are not powerful enough to make the balls move, so that they are constantly moving their claws and the ball does not move. Then they become neurotic and move as fast as they can and till nothing. It really upsets them so I do not use it. I guess I will have to get a hamster now. My crabs for the most part are shy. They like to change their shells in privacy. The one crab I bought the other week, changed his shell within 5 minutes of arriving home!
@ulderich (18)
• United States
27 Feb 07
Well, no more than I posted this, I went home that evening and the crab was at it again! :) It's neat, but I'm going to have to make sure that there is no way he can crawl out again. I would hate to find him two weeks later all dried up.
The largest crabs I had were about baseball size. I used to let them crawl around the room. I wouldn't let them go around the whole house because they were harder to find (it's amazing in what places they can get since they are small and can climb).
I have gotten to see a couple of my crabs switch shells. It's so neat to watch. A great bit of my crabs have switched within an hour of getting them settled in. This summer my husband and I got a couple crabs the day before we left the beach, so I had them in the tub for the night with their sponge, wood, etc, and we went out to eat and came back and had two switch into the new shells we had cleaned and put in the tub with them. :)
@SheliaLee (2736)
• United States
15 Mar 07
None of ours have escaped so far, my son and daughter together have 10, but we have a mat in their tank that they like to climb on a lot and we have to really make sure that the lid is good on the tank in case they should try. My husband and I enjoy the crabs as much as my kids do.
@hermitcrabheaven (645)
• United States
24 Jun 07
My hermit crabs haven't escaped yet. Once I found one of them on the lid of the iso tank. He was inside of the plastic wrap I had around the lid (to hold in moisture). I didn't see him right away, and was freaking out. The tank was on the counter, & all I could think of were the worst things imaginable.
I have seen them try to escape when I'm giving them their weekly bath. They like to team up. They climb up top of each other to make themselves taller, so they can get over the edge of the dish. They are just too cute!
