LHCOS advocates to improve the lives of captive land hermit crabs and protect and preserve wild hermit crabs, their habitat and resources like shells.
LHCOS Core Values
- Conservation & Community
- Advocacy
- Research & Rescue
- Education
Conservation:
Reducing plastics and improving and preserving natural habitats are part of our conservation efforts. Establishing a captive breeding program is also a vital part of our conservation efforts.
Community:
Our goal is to build a community of quality hermit crab care sites that can be relied upon for accurate and current care practices. The Crustacean C.A.R.E. Coalition program brings hermit crab care websites under the umbrella of LHCOS. The Local Representatives and Junior Local Representatives programs add a local focus to our program.
Advocacy:
Our goal is to raise awareness about safe practices. The Say No to Painted Shells campaign is one example. In 2016, LHCOS/CSJ began exhibiting at pet expos. With a crowd of 25,000 people we brought our message to the public in a big way. We returned to the expo in 2018 and in 2019 we added a local monthly exotic pet show to our schedule.
Research:
Our goal is to continue to use existing research on the Coenobita species to further our knowledge and improve our care practices. We reach out to researchers, biologists and students to gain access to valuable data and seek input.
Rescue:
We advocate rescue and re-homing over purchasing. Our program was the very first hermit crab adoption program. It is growing at a rapid pace.
Education:
Our goal is to provide accurate and current information to the public free of charge so they have the information they need to properly care for their pet land hermit crabs. We accomplish this through online articles, care sheets, informative videos, pet expos, social media, sharing information on our forums as well as working with pet stores to improve their conditions. In 2018 the Claws in the Classroom program was launched to provide assistance to classrooms keeping pet hermit crabs. Current classroom grants provide the wrong information and the wrong list of supplies. We contacted the grant program but did not receive a reply. We decided to create our own program.