How To Destress A Hermit Crab? (7 Clear Tips)

Crabs are crustaceans, decapods to be precise, which belong to the brachyura infraorder. Crabs normally have an extremely short protruding tail, which is mostly hidden under a crab’s thorax. Crabs can cope in various habitats, such as oceans, fresh water, and land.

In general, crabs are covered with a dense outer skeleton and they usually have one pair of pincers. Another interesting fact about crabs is that they first appeared during the Jurassic period.

When talking of crabs and their characteristics, what about when it comes to a specific type of crab known as the hermit crab? Do hermit crabs get worked out, and if so, let’s discuss the steps to destressing a hermit crab in the best way possible.

How to destress a hermit crab? To relieve a hermit crab from stress, place a minimal amount of sand in your hermit crab’s tank, preferably an amount that your crab won’t be able to burrow in. Afterwards, leave your crab alone, unless you need to change his food or water. This will enable your crab to relax, get relief from stress, and eat and drink adequately.

How To Destress A Hermit Crab?

Pour a very small amount of sand in your hermit crab’s tank. The sand should be the amount which your crab can’t burrow in. You can then proceed to leave your hermit crab alone and don’t interfere with him except when you need to change his water or food.

This will assist your crab to unwind, destress, eat, and drink as required.

Talking of how you would help your hermit crab to destress, what about when it comes to how to keep hermit crabs in the first place? Hermit crabs do well in an average humidity level of between 70 and 80 percent. You can use non-chlorinated water to mist your hermit crab’s terrarium accordingly and use a thermometer to do a follow up.

Afterwards, light the environment by using a fluorescent or led bulb placed in the terrarium hood, preferably for 8 to 12 hours daily. Avoid using high voltage UVB light to light your hermit crab’s tank.

How Do You Calm A Stressed Hermit Crab?

Avoid putting your hermit crab directly into his tank to avoid freshly acquired crabs from getting stressed up. Place your crab in a separate tank for a while to allow him to destress. Moreover, you should offer a certain amount of food and water and give your hermit crab time to settle in.

You should also set up the main tank of your hermit crab to mirror his natural environment. This will ensure that your crab is comfortable and he can adjust in the best way possible.

When it comes to calming a stressed hermit crab, what about when it comes to how to destress a hermit crab, how does the above information relate? As we have learned from this information, you should avoid placing your hermit crab straight in his tank to avoid him from getting stressed up.

It is therefore recommended that you house your hermit crab in another tank apart from its original tank. This will help your crab calm down and relax.

How Long Does It Take For Hermit Crabs To Destress?

In normal circumstances, most crabs will destress for an average of 6 to 8 weeks. Furthermore, crabs belonging to certain species will destress for a period exceeding four months and still be perfectly fine.

Moreover, some crabs will molt at a faster rate than others, while others may lack destressing periods and they may therefore molt immediately. When talking of the time it takes for hermit crabs to destress, what about when it comes to how to destress a hermit crab?

To relieve your hermit crab from stress, you should change his environment by avoiding putting it in his house first. You can house your hermit in another tank for sometime to enable him to experience a different atmosphere and in the process enable your crab to calm down and relax.

How Do You Tell If A Hermit Crab Is Stressed?

You can tell if your hermit crab is worked up if he exhibits the following symptoms

1. Shedding of limbs
2. Hiding continuously under the substrate or in his shell
3. Turning down food or refusing to drink water or to bathe
4. Getting angry at tank mates or owners for no apparent reason
5. Climbing walls regularly as if attempting to escape

When talking of how to tell if a hermit crab is stressed, what about when it comes to how to destress a hermit crab? The best way to relieve your hermit crab from stress is by giving him a break from his normal housing, or tank.

This is because housing your crab in another tank apart from its normal tank will give your crab a new experience, and in turn making him happy and stress free.

Furthermore, talking of how to tell whether your hermit crab is stressed, what about when it comes to how to tell if your hermit crab is happy?

Be keen to check if your crab is digging, climbing, or burying himself.

Also check whether your crab is losing his limbs, pacing around “shell-less” or if your hermit crab isn’t entering his shell. These are the main indications that your hermit crab is unwell or generally not happy.

Talking of how to know if a hermit crab is stressed, can your crab be stressed due to lack of a proper substrate, and if so, what is the best hermit crab substrate? Sand is the ideal choice for a suitable substrate when it comes to your hermit crab since your crab can be able to burrow into sand as opposed to other substances.

You can opt for playground sand, which apart from being inexpensive, is also effective. Another plus with playground sand is that it’s easily accessible as it can be bought from home improvement stores. 

How Do You Comfort A Hermit Crab?

Ensure you don’t put your hermit crab directly into his tank to prevent him from getting worked up. On the contrary, leave your crab in a separate smaller tank for sometime so he can unwind. Also give your crab a regulated amount of food, substrate, water, and also give him adequate time to settle down.

It is also recommended that you set up your crab’s main tank to resemble his natural habitat so as to help him adapt easily.

When talking of how to comfort a hermit crab, what about when it comes to how to destress a hermit crab? Change your hermit’s environment by housing him in another tank apart from the one that he is already accustomed to. This will help your crab ease tension, therefore making it happier and stress free.

When talking of how to make your hermit crab feel comfortable, what about when it comes to cuttlebone for hermit crabs? How best can you factor cuttlebone into your hermit’s diet?

You should feed your hermit crab cuttlebone on a regular basis. You can also incorporate cuttlebone as a permanent inclusion to your crab’s aquarium if you prefer to do so.

Moreover, you can also grind cuttlebone to produce food after every 2 to 3 days. That said, avoid adding cuttlebone to food on a daily basis.

Talking of how to make a hermit crab comfortable, what are the requirements vital to ensure your hermit is comforable in its tank? The following are things which are key to ensure your hermit crab finds its habitat and housing comfortable

1. Terrarium
2. Shells of varying sizes
3. Substrate
4. Bowls
5. Natural sponge
6. Humidity gauge
7. Thermometer
8. An underwater heater with incandescent light

How To Tell If Your Hermit Crab Is Stressed?

The following are ways which you can  know if your hermit crab is stressed out

1. If your crab is losing limbs, literally.
2. If your crab is hiding, either in his shell or beneath the substrate of its tank.
3. If your crab doesn’t eat, drink or take a bath. 
4. If your crab crab vents out at his owner or tank mates for no reason.
5. If your crab is always climbing walls as if he is on an escape mission.

Talking of how you can know if your hermit crab is stressed, is there any stress medication or anxiety reliever you can administer to your hermit to alleviate stress? Although there are various stress medications available even for animals, it would be best to try the natural ways of cubing and eradicating stress before settling for any form of medication.

This is due to the fact that medications are chemical based compounds which can have adverse health effects on your hermit if taken regularly. Also, considering stress is not a one time thing, it is better to avoid medication altogether unless it is completely necessary.

Can Hermit Crabs Die From Stress?

In most cases, it will usually take some time for dehydration and stress to catch up with your hermit crab and when it does, it is usually fatal. It may take a week, a month, or longer, but it will most likely happen. That said, it will depend on you how your crab will overcome these factors and survive.

When discussing how possible it is for your hermit crab to succumb to stress, what about when it comes to helping your crab alleviate stress so as to avoid the possibility of this happening? Or better yet, let’s discuss how to destress a hermit crab?

To assist your hermit relieve stress, it is recommended that you house it in a separate tank apart from its own. You can place your crab in another tank for a certain amount of time. This way your crab will be relieved from stress, the result leading to a happier, healthier, and stress free crab.

Why Are My Hermit Crabs Always Underground?

Hermit crabs will usually bury themselves underground so as to protect themselves while in the wild. They also do this for insulation and although this next one seems unbelievable, they also bury themselves to get darkness!

Yes, darkness. This darkness is necessary to enable the hormone responsible for molting, which is known as the molting hormone, or MH, to be produced. This hormone facilitates the shedding process in a hermit crab, which is also known as ecdysis.

Talking of why my hermit crab is always beneath the ground, should I dig up my hermit crab when she goes underground? No, digging up your crab when she goes underground by her own choice would actually be disturbing her as she undergoes molting.

This could actually occasion considerable harm to your hermit crab. That said, it is best to mimic your crab’s natural environment when she molts. This means leaving it undisturbed as she undergoes the molting process.

Final Verdict – How To Destress A Hermit Crab

When it comes to the topic, how to destress a hermit crab, we can conclude that crabs are fascinating creatures. Come to think of it, how many animals out there experience stress like crabs do? Anyway, back to our main topic which is how to destress hermit crab.

You can achieve this by putting a minute amount of sand in your hermit crab’s tank. The sand should be an amount small enough not to allow your crab to burrow in.

Leave the crab undisturbed except when you need to change your crab’s food and water. This enables your crab to relax, unwind and eat and drink accordingly. It is also vital that your crabs feed well during this period. Make sure the food is something healthy and they have liked eating in the past as well.

As a pet lover, make sure to learn about pet more and give your pet hermit crab a good and comfortable life!

Rajkumar Ravichandran

Welcome to Learn About Pet. My name is Rajkumar Ravichandran and I love all pets, travel, and amazing food. I write about my passion and personal experience caring for multiple pets in this blog! ❤️