r/hermitcrabs

I really hate making a post like this, but I really can't take care of my hermit crab any longer. I've had him up for adoption for about two years on LHCOS, but any interested people were put off by his size and history of eating his tank mates. I've taken care of Big Tony for about 3 years now, after I adopted him from someone else. He's very large. I guess him to about 10 years at this point. I tried to give him the best of care, but my illness has prevented me from giving him clean water and fresh food every day. Heat and hydration have also been an issue due to the cold and dry climate my house is in which I don't have the power to control.

Last year (Jul 2025!!), he went down for a molt and never came up. I thought it was over for him, until I went to take apart his terrarium today and found his burrow and his cute little eyes staring back up at me... He looked fine and colorful, just a little annoyed because he's been in the dirt for an entire year.

I really don't want him to suffer from my poor care any longer. I'll be putting all of the things back to keep him as comfortable as I can, but I am requesting anyone near the Maryland area to consider taking him in. Any supplies I have will be free to take:

• 30 gal Tank and the 3 UTH stuck on it
• ~30? powder orange isopods. Optional. If nobody takes them, i will euthanize the colony.
• air pump and tubing
• two large water dishes with ramps, but the port to connect it to the air pump for both have broken off
• sack of eco earth
• large hermit crab wheel (but too small for him)
• Rope hammock
• Cute plastic bench for him to eat at
• lots of dried meal mixes from etsy
• basically, anything you see in the 4th image except for the fake plants because he ripped most of them up.

You may reach out to me via DM or any of the contacts on the adopter map for rehome #0170. I'll remove this post if it's against the rules, but I just wanted to increase visibility on my original request. Thank you.

My friend has them in an outdoor setup with dirt + sand substrate. This one just came back out of the ground from a 1.5 month long molt bluer than before.

XL size

I’m struggling to figure out what size shells to order for my hermies. Please help 😩❤️

Attached, I have a document containing all of the research I have done. I wanted to get a pretty big tank to allow for extra space despite only planning for about 5? I am still learning and want to know any tips or corrections yall may have for me. I just want to give these little babies the best life in captivity they can have, especially since they are treated so poorly. I'm aware I don't have ladders and other play things on the list yet, but I'm planning to add them!

I feel like a fish out of water here and would love to make sure I'm going about this correctly.

I would like to do advanced pools as the tank I'm planning to have would be bigger and don't want to risk removing pools above a molting child. These pools would be filtered and water partly changed every 2 weeks, a full change once a month.

Please let me know if you would like any of the links I have referenced!