hermit crab diet in captivity

you’re looking at thousands of hermit crabs crammed into dirty, barren pens with nowhereto hide. buried beneath other crabs, many were unable to get to food or water. this and more is what a peta observer foundinside brelean corporation, a hermit crab dealer that claims to supply petsmart andpetco, as well as many beach town souvenir

hermit crab diet in captivity, shops. because they don’t breed readily in captivity,hermit crabs sold in pet stores and beach souvenir shops are always taken from the wild,where crabs use the shells they find to protect their delicate bodies from the outside world.hermit crabs would rather lose a limb than

leave the safety of their shells. but at brelean, workers used a manual leverpress to crack open their shells and forced them to choose one of the painted shells commonlyseen at boardwalk shops. during this violent process, crabs were injuredby sharp shell fragments. some exposed crabs were left behind among the broken shells,destined for the trash. hermit crabs are known to shed limbs whenunder intense stress. body parts from crabs littered the facility, and hundreds of crabswere found dead every single day. in the filthy pens at brelean, crabs werekept on plywood floors and denied saltwater and the ability to dig, which are importantto them.

when drinking water was offered, it came straightfrom the tap. tap water contains chemicals that can slowly poison hermit crabs. the crabs who survive this ordeal will beshipped to be sold in pet stores like petsmart and petco and in coastal towns, likely intoa life of isolation and deprivation in little more than a small container with gravel, deprivedof socialization with other crabs and their seashore homes. hermit crabs in the wild canlive for decades, but those in captivity often die within just a few months. help keep hermit crabs where they belong—inthe wild. never buy a hermit crab, and tell your family and friends why they shouldn’t,either. thank you.