Born without a shell, where do hermit crab shells come from?

Who as a child often played with this little crab-like animal? Yes, whatever hermit crabs we call it, basically this one animal is a decapod crustacean from the superfamily Paguroidea.

Hermit crabs do not have a home or shell since childhood. So where do the shells they use come from? Hermit crabs use the shells of dead or unused sea slugs to protect themselves from predators, every time they grow older, hermit crabs will alternate shells by inserting their stomach into a shell that is appropriate to their body size. The hermit crab's stomach is long and coiled so that it can attach to the shell firmly.

Sometimes hermit crabs also use other objects to make their shells, such as shells, stone or wood with holes, or tools such as broken bottles and so on.

Some species of hermit crabs also inhabit shells or immovable objects such as coral or sponges.

Sometimes hermit crabs fight with each other for the shell they like. Some species of hermit crabs also often line up to wear new shells or exchange shells. If the new shell doesn't fit, then the hermit crab will return to its old shell and wait for several hours where the new shell is, until then another hermit crab comes to try it, if it still doesn't fit then they will queue up to about 20 individuals to wait for the hermit crab others come to exchange shells. But there are times when there is a beating against hermit crabs that have good shells until their owners come out and look for other shells or don't even find one until they die.

Habitat and Biology

Some hermit crabs live on the beach and some live on land, but they still have aquatic larvae so they still need water to survive and reproduce. Hermit crabs breathe using gills, but do not have to live in water completely, just a slightly wet body and a little salt water is enough for hermit crabs to survive.

Hermit crabs are closer to the squat crab and sea crab families than true crabs. Even the coconut crab or walnut crab which is the largest invertebrate on earth is also a close relative of the hermit crab.

Hermit crabs are omnivores, they eat fruits, seeds, rotting wood, leaves and so on.

Hermit crabs are very difficult to breed outside of amazing habitats, some even argue that hermit crabs cannot be cultivated outside of amazing habitats. So you should not keep hermit crabs at home, yes! Hermit crabs need a natural environment such as rocks, water to live, food and their own world that they like.