Why Do Hermit Crabs Bury Themselves?
Burrowing is the behavior most hermit crab pet owners worry about. You’re excited to get your new hermit crabs home, you carefully place them into their new habitat and soon after they disappear! Expect this to happen. But this is a good thing, not bad. This is a very normal, healthy behavior.
IMPORTANT: never dig them up when burrowed! It is normal and important for hermit crabs to burrow. They may burrow for a few hours or days, even months at a time.
Top 4 Reasons Hermit Crabs Bury Themselves
- de-stressing
- molting
- hiding
- to cool off
Hermit Crabs Burrow into Substrate to DE-STRESS!
Hermit Crabs can get stressed, like all living creatures. Imagine all they’ve been through to get from where they started to where you are putting them. Car rides, the mail or truck delivery to a pet store, multiple boxes and enclosures and temperatures. Stressful!
So when you first put new hermit crabs in your crabitat, chances are they’ll burrow right away. And if they don’t burrow, they’ll most likely hide in a dark spot.
Give them plenty of places to do this, it will help keep them healthy. They will hide and/or burrow for as long as they need to, until they feel comfortable enough to come out. So let them, leave them alone, and don’t dig for them!
Note: make sure to keep fresh food and water in the crabitat AT ALL TIMES of day and night. Even if they’ve disappeared for a while, they can and will come out at night and you probably won’t know it!
They’ll come out when they need to eat, when they need water, or when they are feeling good and area ready.
Molting
Molting is a crucial part of a hermit crab’s life cycle. From young to old, all hermit crabs molt. You’ll typically know when your hermit crab is molting because they’ll disappear, burrowing themselves in the sand or substrate and not coming out for weeks or months. This is part of how they grow and remain healthy.
DO NOT DIG FOR YOUR HERMIT CRABS because it can hurt them when molting!
Hiding
Hiding is a natural part of being a hermit crab. They burrow down into sand and substrate to hide. Sometimes they simply hide in their shell.
Some hermit crabs hide more than others. It’s important to provide plenty of potential hiding spots in addition to plenty of sand and substrate.
Hanging Coconut Hideaways with rope ladders are favorites for hermit crabs!!! This hanging hideaway is my favorite type for crabitats because a large hermit crab (3-3.5″ shell) can fit fine PLUS the planks of the ladder are close enough together for baby hermies to easily climb. Some others work well for birds, not for hermit crabs.
Coconut huts are great for hiding also, and hermit crabs love these. BUT they will usually burrow down underneath, as the openings are low and only good for smaller hermies.
Cool Off and Stay Warm!
Burrowing into the sand or substrate helps hermit crabs to cool off and get out of the sun or too much heat. It also helps them with cold temperatures in winter. They can withstand short periods of cold weather (think “Florida” winter, NOT Minnesota winter!) but will probably choose to spend much of it buried.
Last update on 2024-04-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API