What Is the Habitat of the Hermit Crab?
The hermit crab is a popular seashore animal in part because of its unique way of hiding from predators and finding a home at the same time. This crab hides inside a discarded shell and can replace the shell when it gets too small. In addition to its immediate home, the hermit crab lives in specific niches in the beach environment where it spends its life.
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Function of the Shell
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The hermit crab's first home is a shell. Unlike most other crabs, the hermit crab has a fairly soft and small lower body that is not covered with a hard shell. This means that it needs to find a shell from a mollusk to use as its home. The shell not only protects the crab's soft body, but it also allows the crab to maintain a healthy moisture level. As the hermit crab grows, it looks for increasingly larger shells to use as a home.
Land Hermit Crab
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Land hermit crabs live on the sand. Some hermit crabs live on land. These hermit crabs are often sold as pets and are collected from Florida to the Caribbean. Although land hermit crabs are born in water, they do not need to live in a water habitat for their entire life. If you are keeping a land hermit crab at home, the crab requires a tank that contains sand and has two dishes of very shallow water--one fresh and the other containing sea salt that is specifically for hermit crabs.
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Ocean Hermit Crab
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Some hermit crabs live in an ocean habitat. Ocean-dwelling hermit crabs require shallow salt water to survive. Add rocks and a source of calcium, such as coral, and you have an excellent crab habitat. These crabs live on the coast of Europe, North and South America. Like other hermit crabs, water-based crabs require a plentiful supply of extra shells if they are being kept as pets.
Habitat Considerations
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Aquarium plants are good accessories if you are creating a habitat for a hermit crab. Land hermit crabs are the most popular hermit crabs to keep as pets. These crabs require a dry, humid environment. They need 3 inches of sand in their tank, and the sand should be kept dry if possible. However, the crab does need moisture sources as well. Rocks and plastic aquarium plants are ideal accessories for a hermit crab tank.
Expert Insight
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A humid environment is important for hermit crabs. In the wild, hermit crabs enjoy burrowing in the sand. Hermit crabs also lay eggs in the sand, and the eggs wash out to sea, carrying the new hermit crabs. Because crabs have gills, creating a humid environment is very important to the crabs.
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References
- Photo Credit Hermit Crab image by Bobbybigfish from Fotolia.com hermit crab image by max blain from Fotolia.com sand dunes image by Greg Pickens from Fotolia.com ocean image by Deborah Durbin from Fotolia.com Aquarium image by crossgolfing from Fotolia.com Rain Drops on Metallic Surface image by Fernando Pacheco from Fotolia.com
