Can an hermit crab survive out of the water?

[slevesque]

Let say I have a rock pointing out of the water, or even a beach with some sand above the water line, would a blue leg hermit crad venture out a bit or it is an immerse only animal? Another kind of hermit maybe?

 

[sir_dudeguy]

well, i think they require water to live, but they can come out of water for a while i know...when i was in northern cali a few years ago, i went to the coast where it was really rocky, and there were tons of hermits...wish i woulda taken a few shells...anyways, it was in the tide pools, and they would get stuck in a little pool of water and try to walk back into the ocean. But there were just thousands of litte hermits there, and tons were out of water, so i'd say ya if they go out of water they're fine...why? did one of yours come out of water or something?

 

[slevesque]

No, no problem yet. In my next project I'll have a part of rock above the water line. I was wondering if the hermit crabs would naturally take a walk on that rock in the open air. I would love it, that would be fun to watch . If it does no harm of course!

 

[sir_dudeguy]

ya they'd prolly go out of water now and then most likely...i know my nassarius and turbo snails sometimes come out of the water...i found one of the retarded turbos on the outside glass one time lol...he's still alive and kickin..wel...eating i should say.

 

[LeslieH]

It depends on the type of hermit. Some are mainly terrestrial, living in burrows in moist areas & foraging on dry land for food. Others are intertidal & can stand some exposure while the majority are strictly subtidal.

 

[slevesque]

Hi Lesly, long time no see (I'm the foram guy). Where could i find info of which ones are wich type?

 

[sir_dudeguy]

ya thats true...but the terestrial ones are way bigger than the little ones we keep in aquariums...ours can grow to a good size, but not really close to the size that the land ones get

 

[LeslieH]

find out the scientific name of your critter then do google searches with the name & words like "life history" "ecology" "distribution" "depth" Or do an image search on "hermit crab" or the name - you should be able to tell by the pictures taken in their natural habitats.... if all the blue-leg pics are taken by divers it's a pretty good bet it won't enjoy the intertidal!

So how are your forams? Are they still showing up in the tank or was it a one-time occurrence?

 

[slevesque]

My forams are still there but I didn't observe any birth. I didn't look closely though.

 

[Rob Martin]

I've seen some large "Mangrove" hermits in my LFS which spend time in & out of water (when i say large,they were fist size!)



Rob.

 

[slevesque]

They are probably strong enough to knock rocks over and break the tank!

 

[RicksReefs]

hermits will do fine as long as their gills are wet. i ship thousands of hermits and they're all shipped 'dry' with just a little algae or saturated paper towels to provide humidity.