Land hermit crabs are often misunderstood and commonly kept in conditions that do not meet their biological needs. This page introduces the most important concepts every keeper should understand before purchasing, housing, or attempting to care for a hermit crab.

If you are new to hermit crabs, start here.

What Are Land Hermit Crabs?

Land hermit crabs are terrestrial crustaceans that breathe through modified gills and require warm, humid environments to survive. Despite being sold as easy or disposable pets, they are long-lived animals capable of surviving for decades when properly cared for.

Hermit crabs are not solitary, decorative, or low-maintenance animals. They are social, intelligent, and highly dependent on specific environmental conditions.

Wild-Caught by Default

All land hermit crabs currently available in the pet trade are taken from the wild.

This includes crabs sold in pet stores, beach shops, souvenir kiosks, and online marketplaces. Captive breeding at a scale that supplies the retail trade does not exist at this time.

Wild collection removes crabs from their natural ecosystems and exposes them to significant stress, injury, and mortality long before they ever reach a store shelf.

Understanding this reality is essential to ethical decision-making.

Why Hermit Crabs Need Shells

Hermit crabs do not produce their own shells. They rely on abandoned gastropod shells for protection, moisture regulation, and survival.

Hermit crabs depend on natural shells for protection, moisture regulation, and growth. In the painted shell trade, the primary harm is not cosmetic — it is the process used to force crabs into artificial shells.

Documented footage from a Brelean Corporation facility, published by PETA, shows hermit crabs being forcibly removed from their natural shells and dropped into bins containing only painted shells. Crabs are not given a natural shell choice during this process.

The natural shells removed from the crabs are often cracked or broken open to extract the animal, rendering those shells unusable. This destroys viable natural shells that could otherwise support additional hermit crabs.

Once painted, shells cannot be safely stripped or restored to their natural state. Paint may drip or pool inside the shell during application. If a hermit crab moves into a shell before the paint has fully cured, the crab can become trapped inside.

Over time, paint may also peel or flake, contaminating the habitat, food, or water. The toxicity of this material can vary depending on the type of paint used. Some sellers claim their paints are “non-toxic,” but this does not address the risks associated with forced shell removal, shell destruction, curing failures, or environmental contamination within the habitat.

For these reasons, painted shells are incompatible with ethical hermit crab care.

Providing a wide selection of natural, unpainted shells in appropriate sizes is not optional — it is a core welfare requirement.

Environment Is Everything

Hermit crabs cannot survive long-term in small plastic habitats, wire cages, or dry environments.

Key environmental needs include: • Warm temperatures

  • High humidity
  • Deep, safe substrate for molting
  • Access to both fresh and marine-grade saltwater

Without these conditions, hermit crabs experience stress, failed molts, limb loss, and premature death.

Many crabs die slowly from improper housing rather than visible injury.

Molting Is Not Optional

Hermit crabs must periodically molt in order to grow. Molting is a vulnerable and dangerous process that requires privacy, stable conditions, and deep substrate.

Improper conditions often lead to: • Failed molts

  • Cannibalism
  • Crabs being mistaken as “dead”
  • Crabs being dug up and killed during molting

A crab that cannot molt safely will not survive long-term.

Diet Matters More Than Most People Realize

Commercial pellet foods do not meet the nutritional needs of land hermit crabs.

Hermit crabs require a varied diet that includes: • Protein

  • Calcium and minerals
  • Plant matter
  • Leaf litter and foraged foods

Chronic protein deficiency is a leading cause of aggression, cannibalism, and poor health.

Food is not enrichment — it is a critical component of survival.

Social Animals, Not Solitary Pets

Hermit crabs are social and communicate through scent, touch, and behavior. Keeping a single crab in isolation causes stress and abnormal behavior.

However, group housing must be done correctly. Poor conditions combined with multiple crabs increase the risk of aggression and injury.

Social needs do not replace environmental needs — both must be met.

Why “Easy Pet” Advice Is Harmful

Much of the commonly shared advice about hermit crabs is outdated, incorrect, or dangerously incomplete.

Examples include: • Small habitats being “good enough”

  • Dry environments being acceptable
  • Pellet food as a complete diet
  • Painted shells being safe

These myths persist because hermit crabs often die slowly, making the connection between poor care and death easy to ignore.

Education is the most effective form of harm prevention.

Before You Continue

If you are considering keeping hermit crabs, or already have them, the next step is learning what ethical care actually requires.

LHCOS exists to correct misinformation, promote higher standards, and advocate for the welfare of land hermit crabs beyond individual homes.

Next Steps

Learn what ethical hermit crab care looks like in practice: • Ethical Care Overview

  • Habitat Standards
  • Common Myths & Mistakes

Why This Page Matters

Hermit crab suffering is not inevitable — it is preventable.

Proper care starts with accurate information.

How to Read Ingredient Labels

When choosing foods for land hermit crabs, ingredient lists matter more than product claims.

Start by looking for specific red flags.

Avoid products that list:
• Copper sulfate — toxic to invertebrates
• Ethoxyquin — a synthetic preservative toxic to invertebrates

Be aware that ethoxyquin may not appear as a standalone ingredient. It is sometimes included in fish meal or other stabilized ingredients and may not be disclosed separately.

Marketing terms such as:
• “complete diet”
• “non-toxic”
• “vet approved”

do not guarantee ingredient safety for invertebrates.

When in doubt:
• choose whole, single-ingredient foods
• prioritize transparency
• avoid unnecessary preservatives

Ingredient awareness is a core part of ethical hermit crab care.