Do Hermit Crabs Sleep?

Hermit crabs do sleep, most often during the day. Younger hermit crabs seem to sleep for longer periods of time, 8-10 hours per day.

Older hermit crabs do sleep for extended periods as well, but don’t seem to need quite as much sleep.

Hermit crabs are also known to nap for short periods and this occurs both during the day and at night.

Hermit crabs sleep for 8-10 hours most days!

How do you know if a hermit crab is sleeping?

When hermit crabs sleep, they usually take a position of resting with their eyes covered by their shell. They don’t retract into their shells to sleep, mostly just their eyes are shielded with their shell (kind of like pulling your hat down over your eyes).

And even though their eyes are covered in their sleeping position, they remain acutely aware of changes in the environment. Hermit crabs are very light sleepers and wake up quickly with the assistance of their other sensory receptors like their antennae and setae.

Hermit crabs can easily sense or “feel” a change around them like when a large hand has entered their habitat!

They will often stay in the same position with their eyes hidden, but lazily stick a claw up, moving it around in the air.

Most likely they are using their setae (tiny hairlike sensory receptors on their legs) to get a sense of what is happening. If they “feel” a potential threat, they will wake up and look for the threat, and most likely move back and away… finding a new spot to sleep in.

Click here for an article I wrote on how hermit crabs can see (hint: it’s not just with their eyes) here.

Purple Pincher hermit crabs, in the wild, are often seen clinging to tree limbs and branches during the day, sleeping. They may be alone, or they may be in a group. Purple pinchers are also known as tree crabs because of this behavior.

If you have purple pinchers in your habitat (they are the most common hermit crab pet in the U.S.), it’s a good idea to provide a taller habitat with more vertical climbing space and tree branches or driftwood to satisfy these natural climbing instincts.

In a hermit crab habitat, they can lose a little of their nocturnal instinct

Hermit crabs are naturally nocturnal, so extended periods of sleep most often occurs during the day. In the wild, they sleep during the day and forage for food at night.

Purple pincher hermit crabs, for example, can be observed clinging to tree branches all day, asleep.

This nocturnal behavior works well to avoid the direct sun and heat, as well as potential predators. If they are in a larger group of hermit crabs, generally there is more daytime activity.

As pets, because there is no threat of extreme heat or predators, and because the habitat’s lighting will inevitably not match a 24 hour cycle like in nature, they can lose some of that nocturnal instinct.

It’s very common for hermit crab pets to be active during the day and rest at night, or take extended naps whether day or night.

As long as hermit crabs are sleeping above the substrate and not retracted in their shells, it’s perfectly safe to wake them up. Here are some ways to perk up your hermit crabs now.

However, it’s crucial to respect that they do need to sleep, so unless you need to move them or do a little house cleaning for them, it’s always better to let them do what they want to do.

And if it’s in the middle of the day, chances are, your hermit crabs just want to be left alone to sleep!