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The mouth placement on a Land Hermit Crab is beneath their antennae, which is basically on the underside of their head. It can get very difficult to hand feed a Land Hermit Crab by hand, especially when they are out of their tank or critter catcher or when they are agitated with you. But, holding your hermit crab near the end of the day and in holding your hand approximately 3 inches (7.6 cm) or higher from the floor of their tank or critter catcher. Holding them outside their tank or "home" will cause them to ignore the foods presence and explore around your arm, the floor of the room they are currently in, or your foot, leg or chest/stomach.



  1. 1
    Hold your hermit crab approximately 3 inches (7.6 cm) or higher from the substrate of the hermit crabs tank or critter carrier. Do not hold the hermit crab out of their tank to hand feed them. They will "explore" the outside.
  2. 2
    To determine if your hermit crab is hungry or not is to see the progress of how well they have eaten within 24 hours. If they have been in the feeding dish recently, wait until they have not eaten in 5-10 hours or more. This will help them to realize that you are feeding them in care, not force.
  3. 3
    Use words such as eat, food, or treat to show the hermit crab what you have in your hand before setting him into your hand. Before they will realize this, they must learn one or more of these three simple words from a SOFT tone of your voice.
  4. 4
    Set them in your hand gently, so they do not become shocked. They will then realize (even if you haven't taught them this) that you are caring for them and not forcing them to eat.
    • Some people may scare the hermit crab into its shell before letting them crawl around the feeding hand. Do not do this prior to hand feeding the hermit crab. It will agitate it and the crab might pinch your loose skin.
  5. 5
    Do not be frightened of the hermit crab, for they sense this and think to move away or pinch you, because the smell of fear shows the animal you are prey.
  6. 6
    Do not allow the hermit crab to be able to feed from its original feeding or watering dishes- they will choose these over your hand of course.


  • If the hermit crab is halfway in its shell, this means it is sleeping and should not be bothered for this process.
  • If you are nervous about holding your hermit crab, put on a glove to make you feel better about hand feeding it or letting it crawl on you.
  • Do not "chase" your hermit crab around their home. This will stress them, causing them to not eat from your hand and possibly not out of their feeding dish.


  • Do not drop the hermit crab into your hand. Keep a good grip, because they will try to force themselves from your grip.
  • Do not taunt or tease your hermit crab unless you would like to take the risk of them becoming lethargic and possibly dying.
  • Start hand feeding from an early age, so when you show them food they will automatically take it from you.
  • Do not use old, soggy food from their bowl (there shouldn't be any anyway). Use fresh food from the food shaker.

Things You'll Need

  • A hermit crab
  • Treats and/or food flakes

Article Info

Categories: Crabs

In other languages:

Русский: кормить рака отшельник с рук

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