I remember when I first got my hermit crabs. After a few days after buying them I started to wonder, do they poop?.
So, I did some research. Hermit crabs, like all animals, defecate. It looks like tiny, brown logs that tend to scatter the tank’s bedding. You’ll most likely find their droppings nearby their water or where they tend to hide.
Like myself, most hermit crab owners are uneducated about hermit crabs and their behavior. Let’s talk about hermit crab poop, pee, and how to clean it all up.
Demystifying Hermit Crab Poop What Does It Look Like and How to Clean It Up
As a hermit crab owner, you’ve probably spotted some strange brown stuff scattered around your crab tank and wondered – what is that? Well, wonder no more. That would be your crab’s poop. Hermit crab poop can be a bit surprising at first, but with some knowledge on what to expect and how to clean it, caring for these quirky pets is a breeze.
What Does Hermit Crab Poop Look Like?
Hermit crab droppings are easy to identify once you know what to look for. Their poop resembles dark brown to black squiggly strands or smears about the size of a grain of rice. It tends to look like a tiny curled hair laying on the substrate. You’ll often find it near where your crab likes to hang out in the tank.
The poop stays clumped together in strands since it accumulates inside the crab’s shell as they go about their day. Eventually the crab will clean out its shell, pushing out the bundled poop. So it falls out in tubular shaped pieces rather than scattered crumbs.
Some owners describe the strands as looking like “brown frowns” or tiny brown letter “U’s” laying on their sides The poop will generally stay put where it falls and not spread out too much This makes for easy clean up.
Why Does It Look Like That?
You may be wondering why hermit crab poop has such an unusual tubular shape. Well, there’s a simple anatomical explanation.
Land hermit crabs have their anus located at the rear end of their abdomen. This means any feces has no choice but to stay clumped up inside the crab’s shell until they remove it.
Hermit crabs don’t actually leave their shells to poop like other animals do. Rather, they excrete waste directly into their shells. So the poop builds up and forms into the long curly shape as seen from their anus to the shell opening. Pretty clever evolutionary adaption when you think about it!
Where Will You Find Hermit Crab Poop?
Now that you know what it looks like, where should you expect to find this unsightly crab waste? Here are the most common poop hotspots:
- Near or even inside their freshwater drinking pool
- Along the edges of climbing backgrounds/decoration
- In the area where crabs food is placed
- Around shells or other hides
- On the very top layer of substrate
Hermit crabs will deposit more droppings in their most frequented areas inside the tank. Keep an eye on spaces your crabs hang out in to spot any messy clumps.
Removing Hermit Crab Poop
Cleaning up hermit crab poop is fast and hassle-free. Just follow these tips:
- Use a small spoon or turkey baster to scoop and dispose of poop strands.
- Drain and replace fouled water in pools immediately to keep it clean.
- Rinse decorations and empty shells under warm water to wash away poop.
- Spot clean the substrate weekly by straining out poop with a mesh skimmer.
- Every 3 months, swap out all substrate for a full refresh.
With a weekly spot cleaning and full substrate change every few months, you’ll keep the tank looking pristine!
Preventing Messy Hermit Crab Poop
While cleaning up after your crabs is easy, you can also take some steps to prevent poop piles in the first place:
- Add dechlorinated freshwater and saltwater pools for bathing.
- Provide enough properly sized shells for frequent changing.
- Use coconut fiber substrate to help break down waste.
- Feed a fiber-rich diet to promote healthy digestion.
Keeping their habitat clean and shells emptied will minimize messy pooping mishaps!
The Takeaway on Hermit Crab Poop
At first glance, those curly brown blobs may look foreign and even off-putting. However, now that you know exactly what hermit crab poop looks like, where to find it, and how to clean it, those droppings aren’t so dreadful after all. With the proper tank setup and some routine cleaning, poop can be managed simply. Your crabs will be happier and healthier when not sitting in their own filth. Who would want that? By demystifying what exactly comes out the back end of hermit crabs, you can become a pro at handling their poop!
Cleaning the empty shells
A crab will often dared to move from its shell to one of the empty ones that line my tank to do its business. It will then either take that shell as its own and leave its old one behind, or it will go back into its shell.
It’s pretty amusing to see but requires more work on your part. Every few weeks, you should clean your extra shells of any hermit crab poop to keep your tank clean and less smelly.
You can shake them out over a trash can and clean out the poop just fine. To more thoroughly clean the shells, try boiling them.
Plopping them in boiling water for 5 minutes or so will do the trick. Any dirt, poop, or other things from the tank will float to the top, leaving the clean shell at the bottom. Just make sure you check the inside of your shells very carefully to make sure there are no hermit crabs inside!
You should replace the substrate of your hermit crab tanks every 3 months, or as needed. A good mix of play sand and Eco Earth (ground coconut husk) works great for me to keep the humidity down.
I use mainly Eco Earth, which is completely fine. Eco Earth is great for dealing with poop because it does a great job breaking it down. Only thing is that crab poop is hard to see because it looks like coconut husk.
Another popular substrate is play sand. It doesn’t break down feces as well, but it makes it much easier to clean up small areas.
Replacing the substrate will take a few hours time, so plan ahead. While you work, you’ll need to move your hermit crabs to a different area.
Empty the old substrate outside and spray the inside of your tank with a hose. This will remove the old substrate and make room for the new one.
Next, boil any shells that are still in the tank for about five minutes. Then, put all of your decorations outside to dry.
Once you’ve completed all that, simply re-setup your hermit crab tank with everything your little crabs need.
The poop is now out of the tank, and your hermit crabs will love living in a clean space.
There should be a proper way for your hermit crabs to clean themselves. If they don’t, feces can build up in their shell and surroundings and make them sick or kill them. Be sure to add well-functioning pools in your hermit crab enclosure to keep them healthy.
What does hermit crab poop look like?
If you have coconut substrate like I do, it can be really hard to spot hermit crab poop. You’re lucky that one of my crabs left a clear blob of hermit crab poop in their saltwater bowl. The whole point of a saltwater bowl is to wash away shells, which is likely what they were doing.
Hermit crab poop is a black or very dark brown squiggly strand. It looks like a thick, curly hair. Due to the fact that it gathers in the back of a hermit crab’s shell and falls out when the crab cleans its shell.
Hermit crabs defecate through their anus, which is found at the very end of their tail. Shemit crabs usually keep their tails inside their shells, if you’ve seen one before.
Their poop stays in their shell because that’s where their anus is, so they can live their nasty lives. They don’t mind going to the bathroom where they sleep, it’s only their natural instinct.
In the wild, hermit crabs cannot leave their shell to their business. They would most likely get scooped up by a seagull or other predator. So, they resort to doing their business in their shell.
You might think it’s unsanitary, and it is. In the end, the crab will use its belly to scrape the poop out of its shell as it swims or crawls around the tank.
You’ll see some droppings all over your tank if you don’t have a dark brown substrate that makes born hermit crab poop blend in.
They lay flat on the bedding, unlike cats and dogs, which like to pile up in beehive shapes. That’s why I call them “logs.”
I think this is because hermit crabs intentionally do not crawl over already scattered poop. If they stay away from places where they’ve already pooped, the new poop in their shells will fall out on its own in different places.
They’re no larger than a penny and as thin as a blade of grass. They’re more noticeable if you have a more brightly-colored substrate.
Well, needless to say, this makes for a nasty hermit crab tank. Let’s talk about cleaning up after your hermit crabs.
Hermit crab pooping
FAQ
Do you have to clean hermit crab poop?
What does a molted hermit crab look like?
How do I know if my hermit crab is unhealthy?