I was just wondering if anyone else has hermit crabs as pets - hermies are my first pet (since I am allergic to everything basically) and wanted to see who else has this lovely critters!

Also all my hermits are currently molting so I miss them!

I've been a cat owner my whole life, but I had hermit crabs for about a year or so. Wonderful little guys. My cousin picked them up for me and my brother (Mine was named Watanuki and my brother's was Alister) and man I loved those little critters. I used to watch them for hours and Alister would give me little crabby 'hi-fives' if I held out a finger to him. And he was super possessive of the half-coconut shell we gave them. Then one day the landlord had some guys out cutting down trees and the vibrations/noise stressed them out. Watanuki went first and Alister held on for about two more months before he also passed away. ;_; I was totally heartbroken. I love hermit crabs though. I want to get some more when I move out. My mom refuses to let us get anymore while we live with her. (She didn't like them to begin with, I think.)

They're such awesome, fascinating creatures though! What about yours? ^^ What are they like?

I've been a cat owner my whole life, but I had hermit crabs for about a year or so. Wonderful little guys. My cousin picked them up for me and my brother (Mine was named Watanuki and my brother's was Alister) and man I loved those little critters. I used to watch them for hours and Alister would give me little crabby 'hi-fives' if I held out a finger to him. And he was super possessive of the half-coconut shell we gave them. Then one day the landlord had some guys out cutting down trees and the vibrations/noise stressed them out. Watanuki went first and Alister held on for about two more months before he also passed away. ;_; I was totally heartbroken. I love hermit crabs though. I want to get some more when I move out. My mom refuses to let us get anymore while we live with her. (She didn't like them to begin with, I think.)

They're such awesome, fascinating creatures though! What about yours? ^^ What are they like?

Awe I'm sorry to hear about your hermies! :( It's always sad when a pet dies! And I wouldn't have been allowed to own my hermits when I lived with my parents either - my fam thinks they're kinda creepy!

I have four - two small ones, one medium-sized one and one who is really big! Here she is on my hand (Ove Glove to protect against blood blisters).

And my tiniest, Rosie :)

I'm so so so SO sorry lol, but I think they are so creepy looking that I could never possibly own one xD

What do you mean by protect from blood blisters?

Awww they're so cute! ^^ Looks like you have two different species there, but it's been a while since I read up on them and it's a little hard to tell. Your big girl looks like a Purple Pincher and Rosie looks like a Ecuadorian. Mine were Ecuadorian.

I think it might be in reference to the fact that they can pinch you. Which can cause blood blisters. It's always a good idea to wear gloves when handling them for that reason.

Yep, has it right! My biggest one gave me a HUGE blood blister so I wear protective gloves now! Don't want to drop her by mistake and hurt her! And I totally get it - they're a LOT like bugs so they're not for everyone :P

And I believe they're all actually Purple Pinchers as Rosie (and my other small fella) both have a nice big purple claw. I think (but don't know) that hermies are lighter when they're younger. Did your Ecuadoreans ever make the chirping noises?

Ahhh. It was a little harder to tell with Rosie because her claws are tucked under her in the picture. xD And yes, they did! Mine was particularly noisy which is how he got his name actually. (I named him after a very vocal anime character from xxxHOLIC.) My brother's mostly got vocal whenever mine decided to wander into the half coconut shell he'd laid claim to.

That's so cool! I'd love to have some chirpy crabs but they're harder to come by in Canada. And yes - Rosie was NOT being a very good model of her nice claws :P

I've been trying to find my pictures of them, but it was back in 2007 so I think at the time they would have been on myspace which I haven't used in so long I no longer recall my password to check. But yeah, I'd love to have hermit crabs again when I have my own place. ^^

Howdy! I've had a few! Exotic pets and such has been my on-again-off-again career my whole adult life. Hermit crabs are actually one of the critters I harbor the most inner-hate-rage with! (Not the animal, but with the owners haha)

I could go on a three hour tangent about how heinously hermit crabs are treated in the pet trade haha. Every time I see them in a mall kiosk or in a 4''x6'' kritter keeper with an inch of dry sand and no source of heat I want to reach into the mouth of the owner and pull out something important. Fire! Brimstone!

I frickin' love the little dudes though! So much personality to them. I admit that I try to forget what they look like outside the shell though. Those critters just ain't purdy naked!

I know!! Almost no one knows how to treat the little critters right! I got mine from a friend who had them in an inch of wood-chip bedding and was giving them tap water. When I had them all set up and happy enough to moult one of the three didn't make it because he was probably too sick after a year with their owner.

And there's an artist who makes glass shell and I can't help but think "WHY?!" because their bums are so gross! haha

There is a vendor at a fair that comes through that I detest. (We've been in a few heated chats...) He gives out hermit crabs and iguanas as prizes, telling people they can survive just fine on spare popcorn.

Noooo that's so sad :(

D: That's horrible. ;w; I won't even get started on how I feel about any kind of pet being given as a game prize. You see it mostly with goldfish, but small lizards and hermit crabs are also really popular for them. And it breaks my heart because I've never seen them kept in good conditions in those places.

And sometimes pet stores are just as bad. I remember when we went to PetSmart to get stuff for mine one of the workers in there referred to them as 'throwaway pets'. And how I shouldn't waste much money on them. >_< She upset me so bad I had to find someone else to help me find what I needed. I've also heard her telling parents that hermit crabs and lizards are "great first pets because they don't live long and you can use them to show your kids they aren't ready for the responsibility of pets". Ugh.

Absolutely, yeah. The big part of my "job" for a long time was providing reptiles/inverts for pet shops. I was super strict about what animals and to whom I sold to. I would make frequent surprise visits to the pet shops I provided for to make sure they were doing right. I saw some really jacked up crap. One pet shop kept frickin' dogs in big fish tanks lined up vertically on a wall with 5-6 pups of varying breeds in each one. It made my skin crawl. That's the big problem with exotics. They aren't "cute/cuddly". They don't have the same emotional spectrum as mammals. They tend to be a lot smaller/cheaper. So people consider them less relevant and they do become "throw-away-pets". I specialize in monitor lizards and it's awful. You can buy a baby nile or savannah monitor for 20 bucks any day of the week so people buy them for the bravado and kill them in short order for not tending to them. Misinformation, ignorance and an utter lack of given craps plague the exotic industry.

(I did say tangent, right...?)

x__x Just hearing stuff like that makes me cringe. I can't imagine it. I can't even kill spiders and I'm horribly arachnophobic. (I make my brother catch them and take them outside.)

There are good stories too. Like my twelve year old cousin had an iguana since she was eight and that girl puts so much time and love into caring for it. It's really great. But it's how she was taught in regards to animals. She was good with hermit crabs too. Hers actually lived longer than mine did, but then they had to move and they didn't handle it so well. :(

I have two hermies.

One named Henry, and One named Pumpkin. My oldest crab, Spooky died last year I've had henry for about 5 yrs..

I had hermit crabs as a kid and I adored them. I used to enjoy making them pinch me and letting them hang from my skin lol. I got my little sister one and it's grown into her having 4!