Two months ago, on April 5, I posted a photo of a hermit crab in a glass shell. I thought it was merely a fascinating photo that showed how hermit crabs fit into their shells.
I was very surprised when it started getting lots of hits and even more surprised when I got some negative comments! (Up until then, the majority of people commenting were friends and family.)
Throughout April and May, this single post has accounted for 20% of the hits my blog gets! I don’t understand why so many people searching for hermit crabs end up at my blog (although it is nice and I certainly hope they poke around at what else there is to see.) This influx of traffic made me very curious about where the hermit crab in a glass shell photo came from.
Google image searching gave me people posting basically the same thing as me: ‘look at this cool photo’ (and many negative comments in the extensive comment threads).
I did find an interesting article from an aquarium about an attempt to move one of their crabs into a glass shell.
We were all rather sceptical that a crab would voluntarily choose to move from the relative safety of a discarded whelk shell into a clear glass one. However, he’s showing a keen interest in the new shell and I reckon he’ll swap over in the next day or so.
I couldn’t find any follow-up articles about whether the crab actually did swap over or not, but the article makes it clear that this is not a new phenomena.
However, persistant searching pays off. I did finally find where the hermit crab in a glass shell photo originally came from!
Dorling Kindersley, publisher of illustrated reference books, (I’ve found these are always really good quality and beautifully laid out), have a section called DK Images where the original photo can be found. There is another photo showing the same hermit crab hovering over a glass shell. The photos were taken by wildlife photographer Frank Greenaway and are copyright Dorling Kindersley.
There’s no information about which book these photos were taken for, but I’m glad to have found out more about this fascinating photo, and I hope this helps satisfiy someone elses’ curiosity as well!
Items of Interest 
I love this. I just bought a crab for my daughter. Where might i find something like that?
Some of these crabs were FORCED into the painted or clear shells .
Thats why I think so many people are angry, because over holidays and lately people have been buying their children these hermit crabs as pets not knowing how much TLC they really need.
Example : a heat light ( the temperature should be 72-80 F ) or undertank heater and plenty of humidity because they can not breathe without humidity levels as high as 75-85%
Also, a friend. Another hermit crab to play with, they are VERY social.
& a medium size crabitat ( aquarium , tank )
I’d say 10 gallon would be perfect.
and they also need SALT WATER (sea salt) and FRESH WATER (declorinized water)
they are a handful but are very much worth it 🙂
I just recently got a 20 gallon aquarium
I only have 2 crabs right now but once the petstore comes back in stock
with the BIG ones than I will have more.
I love them.
I bought my daughter a hermit crab about a year and a hlaf ago and we have had 5 all together since then… one of them we have had a whole year and a half her was the second one we got!! we love them… i wish i could figure out if i have a male and female and breed them.. i have been researching it on the web ,but it isnt looking to good! 😥 But we still love our hermies and we have 3 right now 2 are jumbo and one is small..
It was very kind of you to research who took the photo and who holds the copyright. Thank you for the link back to the vendor.
@MeLeah: Sadly you’ll never be able to breed them as they need to set out their eggs into the ocean as far as I know. As for sexing them, it can be difficult with smaller crabs, and requires a very gentle know-how. It’s very easy to look up, however, I would suggest just letting your daughter guess. It can be more fun that way for children, and knowing how to sex them (tell which gender, I mean) might lead to your daughter unintentionally hurting or taxing the crabs.
Your crabs should live longer than this timespan you described, however. Please look up hermitcrabs.com or other such references; my oldest is one of my very first and she’s going on 6 years old now and still has room to grow. Please look into the best habitat for your crabs (or crabitat if you prefer!) to help your daughter keep these friendly creatures for longer and to give them a more comfortable and a longer life. Jessa’s comment is full of great examples of what you can do, what is REQUIRED (if you think “it’s just fine the way it is without these things,” know that your hermit crabs may be alive but they are not in a hospitable environment without them!), and so forth.
I think the glass shell is an elegant solution to the shell shortage problem – ceramic shells have been becoming more popular in pet stores, though sadly they are most often outnumbered by painted shells. (If the paint chips and your crab ingests it it could be very bad for them! Hermit crabs will try eating just about anything – including plastic! – Believe me X_X) But if the crab has options that are appropriate size and shape for them and they choose the glass one, I think it’s very beautiful. I only question its comfort when it requires complete darkness; digging will be even more important!
Thank you, MadScientistNZ for the detailed post! I’m very pleased to be able to see what my darlings look like curled back into their shells! I’m off to look at the original photos now! ^^
I stumbled upon your blog while searching for some information about hermit crabs. I just came back from the beach and have had a nice afternoon picking up hermit crabs from the seaside. I got really curious as to how those little guys are able to squeeze themselves in and fit into tiny shells. The picture of a hermit crab in a glass shell which you posted on this blog is really fascinating!
Ruth Sebastian
(from the Philippines)
Yours was the first coolest pic of a hermit crab on Google images. That is how I got here. And yes, I plan to poke around. 😀 Cool background!!
Hi, the photos originate from the New Zealand Marine Study Centre, where scientific researchers provided the anatomically-correct glass shells and observed the hermit crabs. No forcing was necessary, the hermit crab checked out the glass shell and voluntarily moved house, allowing the amazing photos to be taken. Google the Study Centre for more info.