Introduction
Everybody knows that everyone needs to have pets, such as reptiles, amphibians, dogs, cats, etc. Actually, there is a pet that still doesn't really famous in our modern civilization, it is Hermit Crabs. For me, Hermit crabs are divided into two, according to their habitat, they are Land Hermit Crabs and Marine Hermit Crabs. In this post, we only talk about Land Hermit Crabs.
Actually, they are not mollusc or snail, but they are classified in:
Genus: Coenobita brevimanus
Do you know about Birgus latro or sometime we call it as "robber crabs"? They are actually in same family with Land Hermit Crabs. They just look familiar, but Birgus latro doesn't need to carry their own shells in their back.
Now, I want to explain some basic of Land Hermit Crabs care in Tropical Areas....
Habitat
As we have known, Land Hermit Crab's habitat is on a sandy tropical beach. They are awaken at night to scavange and gather foods such as sea debris, dead fishes, crabs, seaweed, fruits, and anything that exist in beach.At noon, they will sleep under tree, leaves, or sand. Unfortunatelly, we don't have any beach near our house or in front of our house...so you must make a miniature of beach inside your home. We called it as crabitat. Word "Crabitat" is came from word "crab" and "habitat", it means that this habitat is used for any crabs species.
Starting to take care Land Hermit crabs isn't difficult enough to make you stress. You just need to have an aquarium, bucket, fiberglass pool or a pool to take care them. You just need to notice that your Land Hermit Crabs cannot escape or climb out from your crabitat.
Use media to make your crabitat looks like a miniature of beach and sweet. Also, you can add decorations such as corals, wood bark, old leaf, coconut shell, plants, or unused bottles. These decorations not only to make your crabitat beautiful but also make your crabitat has more space for Land Hermit Crabs to hide and rest at noon.
Food and Drinks
We have known that Land Hermit Crab is omnivore which means that they can eat anything (vegetables, meat, fruits, etc). So, feeding Hermit Crabs don't seem to difficult because we can find those sources so easy. But, the problem is we must give them a lot of various foods each day so they can choose which one that they need to eat.
For drinks, you can give them two bowl of fresh water and sea water in the same day. If you don't have any access to sea water, you can use fish salt (you can find them in fish or pet shop, this salt is used for fish) by dissolved them in fresh water.
Shells
Land and Marine Hermit Crabs need to carry their own shell or house. This shell could protect their own abdoment and also protect them from predators and physical attack or damage. For Land Hermit Crab, their shell use to keep humidity in their abdoment and body by keeping water inside and reduce any evaporation in their body.
Molting
Molting is a process of changing or discarding the old exoskeleton. Molting is important because this process is used to grow bigger and bigger, also regrow lost limbs. This process is the most vulnerable process in Hermit Crab because in this moment, they are weak, their exoskeleton isn't hardened enough, high stress, and exhausted to fight against intruders.
So, what characteristics of Land Hermit Crabs that nearly want to get molting are?
1. We can see through their eyes. If their colour of their eyes are more greyish or a grey coating on their eyes, it is a sign that they are going to molt
2. If they are unactive or rarely to go outside when the night comes, it also a sign too
Land Hermit Crabs Species
If you are a newbie, you can start with Coenobita brevimanus Coenobita rugosus Coenobita violascens if you live in Asia, but if you live in America, you can start with Coenobita clypeatus and Coenobita compressus. For Coenobita perlatus, this species is the most difficult Land Hermit Crab to take care because their sensitivity are higher than other species, so this species isn't for newbies.
reff : http://dragongingers.blogspot.com/2015/06/how-to-take-care-of-land-hermit.html
Everybody knows that everyone needs to have pets, such as reptiles, amphibians, dogs, cats, etc. Actually, there is a pet that still doesn't really famous in our modern civilization, it is Hermit Crabs. For me, Hermit crabs are divided into two, according to their habitat, they are Land Hermit Crabs and Marine Hermit Crabs. In this post, we only talk about Land Hermit Crabs.
Actually, they are not mollusc or snail, but they are classified in:
 |
| Coenobita brevimanus |
| Kingdom: | Animalia | |||
| Phylum: | Arthropoda | |||
| Subphylum: | Crustacea | |||
| Class: | Malacostraca | |||
| Order: | Decapoda | |||
| Infraorder: | Anomura | |||
| Family: | Coenobitadae |
Do you know about Birgus latro or sometime we call it as "robber crabs"? They are actually in same family with Land Hermit Crabs. They just look familiar, but Birgus latro doesn't need to carry their own shells in their back.
 |
| Birgus latro (Source: Google) |
Now, I want to explain some basic of Land Hermit Crabs care in Tropical Areas....
Habitat
 |
| A white sandy beach, a good place for Land Hermit Crabs to live |
As we have known, Land Hermit Crab's habitat is on a sandy tropical beach. They are awaken at night to scavange and gather foods such as sea debris, dead fishes, crabs, seaweed, fruits, and anything that exist in beach.At noon, they will sleep under tree, leaves, or sand. Unfortunatelly, we don't have any beach near our house or in front of our house...so you must make a miniature of beach inside your home. We called it as crabitat. Word "Crabitat" is came from word "crab" and "habitat", it means that this habitat is used for any crabs species.
Starting to take care Land Hermit crabs isn't difficult enough to make you stress. You just need to have an aquarium, bucket, fiberglass pool or a pool to take care them. You just need to notice that your Land Hermit Crabs cannot escape or climb out from your crabitat.
Use media to make your crabitat looks like a miniature of beach and sweet. Also, you can add decorations such as corals, wood bark, old leaf, coconut shell, plants, or unused bottles. These decorations not only to make your crabitat beautiful but also make your crabitat has more space for Land Hermit Crabs to hide and rest at noon.
Food and Drinks
We have known that Land Hermit Crab is omnivore which means that they can eat anything (vegetables, meat, fruits, etc). So, feeding Hermit Crabs don't seem to difficult because we can find those sources so easy. But, the problem is we must give them a lot of various foods each day so they can choose which one that they need to eat.
For drinks, you can give them two bowl of fresh water and sea water in the same day. If you don't have any access to sea water, you can use fish salt (you can find them in fish or pet shop, this salt is used for fish) by dissolved them in fresh water.
Shells
Land and Marine Hermit Crabs need to carry their own shell or house. This shell could protect their own abdoment and also protect them from predators and physical attack or damage. For Land Hermit Crab, their shell use to keep humidity in their abdoment and body by keeping water inside and reduce any evaporation in their body.
Molting
 |
| Molting Process |
Molting is a process of changing or discarding the old exoskeleton. Molting is important because this process is used to grow bigger and bigger, also regrow lost limbs. This process is the most vulnerable process in Hermit Crab because in this moment, they are weak, their exoskeleton isn't hardened enough, high stress, and exhausted to fight against intruders.
So, what characteristics of Land Hermit Crabs that nearly want to get molting are?
1. We can see through their eyes. If their colour of their eyes are more greyish or a grey coating on their eyes, it is a sign that they are going to molt
2. If they are unactive or rarely to go outside when the night comes, it also a sign too
Land Hermit Crabs Species
They are spread around the world and live in tropical and subtropical hemisphere. These species are:
- Coenobita brevimanus
- Coenobita rugosus
- Coenobita violascens
- Coenobita cavipes
- Coenobita perlatus
- Coenobita spinosus
- Coenobita variabilis
- Coenobita brevimanus
- Coenobita rugosus
- Coenobita violascens
- Coenobita cavipes
- Coenobita perlatus
- Coenobita spinosus
- Coenobita variabilis
- Coenobita clypeatus
- Coenobita compressus
- Coenobita rubescens
- Coenobita scaevola
- Coenobita pseudorugosus
 |
| Coenobita perlatus |
reff : http://dragongingers.blogspot.com/2015/06/how-to-take-care-of-land-hermit.html
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