Hermit Crab Shell

[divinesloth]

Any idea where I can buy some empty shells for my hermit crabs? Thanks

[Tanzy]

Just ask around. I'm quite sure LFS or people here have some dead snails or empty shells to offer. What size are you looking at?

[divinesloth]

Size ah...very hard to tell leh. You want the size for the whole shell or just the entrance? I tried asking a few shops, no shells

Can I use empty apple snails (fresh water) shells? Apple snail shells are quite thin and brittle though. I'm also thinking of making my own with clay but not sure if its feasible

[newdamsel]

I bot this packet of decorative shells from a bookshop... throw them in, but the hermit after inspecting all of them, decides to stick with its own. For once , it did leave its shell to occupy one of the new shell, but after awhile it moves back to its shell...

Conclusion, they can be quite fussy... so do consider about making the shells.. might not worth the effort

[dodo]

y not try the seaside to look for some abandon shells there might be plentiful of empty shells of all shapes & sizes...but questions is...whether they are safe to use?or how can we clean the interior part to get rid of possible parasites/worms tat might be hiding inside the shell

[divinesloth]

The seasides in Singapore....no shells leh. I go to East Coast quite often but no luck. Which bookstore did you get your shells? Maybe steal some when I go diving....hope no one else notice. Maybe while diving also steal some small starfish...hmmm...evil thoughts brewing in my mind liao

[dodo]

err....sea shell also mus steal meh????kekeke.....

did u try asking reborn for some empty shells b4?

[Fishfreak]

I've seen nice shells at H2O (the LFS at Kembangan) don't know how much is it. if you want to holiday at the same time, sheels are also seen in Phuket ,Koh Samui and Bali

[Achilles Tang]

Guys, go the market... go and buy those sea snail, locally called 'zhoo zhoot' or is it called 'lala', it's those type where you have to use a toothpick to dig out the foot of the snail and once you can grab hold of the claw-shaped hard protective 'opening cover', you can pull out the entire sea snail... slurp!!! Yum!!

The shell is white in colour.

Sorry, that's the best I can describe!

[newdamsel]

The seasides in Singapore....no shells leh. I go to East Coast quite often but no luck. Which bookstore did you get your shells? Maybe steal some when I go diving....hope no one else notice. Maybe while diving also steal some small starfish...hmmm...evil thoughts brewing in my mind liao

I happen to be shopping at art friend in bras basah when i see the shells... so you can try your luck there

[DragonGoby]

Hehe, AT, I know just what you're talking about. I knew it as "gong gong" though, and yes, it's tasty. Actually a kind of conch.

[KingFish]

Talking about that, found two of my snails dead with nothing but their shells beside my LR base ....

A closer examination revealed that a brown hairy crab was lurking under the rocks .... could that bugger have devoured my snails?

[divinesloth]

AT, what a great idea!!! Why didn't I thought of that!

Thanks!

[BlueTerror]

sorry slightly diff topic

i would like to get those dwarf hermit crabs with orange legs i saw at Marinelife. seems like they won't grow any much bigger thus wont need a new shell? Is this true?

Will they kill my cleaner shrimp and astrea snail? It took me a great effort to get my cleaner shrimp and i don't want it dead.

[Tanzy]

'Lah-lah' are clams. The 'gon-gon' is a kind of whelk but the hermits find the shell too heavy and don't like it unless it is a large crab. My hermits prefer Astrea and Trochus shells.

[Achilles Tang]

LOL!

Tanzy... it's been a long time since I have ordered lalas or gong gongs for seafood! Kinda mixed up the local names...

My hermits are using the gong-gong shells...

Blueterror.... no guarantees with hermits... even the reefsafe ones can become unpredictable.

Ron Shimek hates them.

[newdamsel]

sorry slightly diff topic

i would like to get those dwarf hermit crabs with orange legs i saw at Marinelife. seems like they won't grow any much bigger thus wont need a new shell? Is this true?

Will they kill my cleaner shrimp and astrea snail? It took me a great effort to get my cleaner shrimp and i don't want it dead.

Are the hermit crabs shell purple in color??? It has specs of orange on its legs also... I got 3 from them, but one killed one of the astrea, lived in its shell for a day and died... why? I dunno.. maybe due to snail poisoning??

anyway the remaining 2 has been in my tank with 2 astrea for quite soemtime.. nothing really happened though... try to get a bigger hermit and smaller snail so that the hermit would not eye the snails home....

My hermit doesnt touch the cleaner that I have.

[Tanzy]

Your hermits are Godzilla size thats why they can hump that gon gon shell around!

[backlash]

Hey you know there's a store called Spotlight just next to the Tampines MRT station? It's below Challenger (the computer store). The section facing the casheirs is a whole section selling clean sea shells. Some of them will be readily accepted by hermits. Bad thing is that you have to buy the shells in packets so alot of shells at once but they're realtively cheap. I used to use them for my blue hermits and they love the shells.