How to Capture a Wild Hermit Crab

Hermit crabs are small crustaceans found on many beaches around the world. Dating back to the late Cretaceous period, hermit crabs have remained largely unchanged through the eras. Once seen as an inconvenience to beachgoers, hermit crabs have found a foothold in the pet world due to their low-maintenance lifestyle. Hermit crabs can be purchased at most pet stores, but catching your own wild hermit crabs is a simple and enjoyable experience.

Things You'll Need

  • Two small buckets
  • Shovel
  • Sand sifter
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Instructions

  1. How to Capture a Wild Hermit Crab

    • 1

      Walk the shoreline until you locate a hermit-crab nesting area. Crabs tend to nest at the place where the waves meet the shore, so shuffle your feet around in the sand to stir it up and look for crabs.

    • 2

      Pick up any visible crabs with your hands and place them into one of your buckets. Small plastic buckets such as those sold in home and garden stores work well for crab hunting.

    • 3

      Scoop up a shovel full of sand and place it in your remaining bucket. You may notice a few small crabs crawling around in the sand, which indicates you've found an active nest.

    • 4

      Place a couple handfuls of sand from your bucket in your sifter and hold it in a couple inches of water, allowing the waves to splash through it. The water will wash away the sand, leaving any crabs inside the sifter.

    • 5

      Move any live crabs you wish to keep into your crab bucket. You may find a number of dead crabs or empty shells in your sifter, but you can just put them back into the water.

    • 6

      Repeat the sifting process until you have gathered as many crabs as you wish to keep. If your first nest spot doesn't yield good results, move down the beach until you hit a more active nest.