In 2017, Mary Akers, LHCOS Vice President and founder of Hermit House, launched a captive breeding lab in her home. After bringing 204 Coenobita clypeatus babies to land in 2018, she founded Crab Con, the only annual conference devoted to hermit crabs. Crab Con 2019 took place in Lockport NY and attendees traveled from all over the country to adopt the captive-bred babies.
Mary continued to raise zoea in her home but also began mentoring other would-be hobbyist breeders to replace wild-caught hermit crabs in the pet trade with ethically raised captive-bred hermit crabs through her non-profit organization, Hermit House.
In September of 2021, Hermit House Breeding partnered with Josh’s Frogs and the first HHB captive-bred Coenobita clypeatus entered the retail pet trade in October of 2021. Josh’s Frogs sold all of their inventory in the first day.
Change IS coming.
Read more about Mary Akers and the Hermit House breeding project on her website.
Adopt one of Mary’s captive-bred hermit crabs.
You can read more about the mechanics of breeding and other hobbyists who have had some success in captive breeding on our affiliate website Hermit Crab Breeding.
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