Where can I get shells that scarlet reef hermits like?

Tired · Sep 27, 2020

Oh, the SaltyUnderground ones look about right! How big are they?
Wait, never mind, looks like they don't have a dry goods shipping option. I am not paying $40 to ship hermit shells.

I really don't want to buy from Ebay or hobby stores. They kill things to get those shells, it's not a sustainable practice or one I want to support.

I tried a few new shells, including one that I was really hopeful about. It's the right shape, but pretty light. I put it near one of the hermits. He was immediately interested, and leaned into the entrance, feeling it out like they do. It's not how they look for food, if you watch a hermit inspecting a shell- they really look like they're sizing it up with their claws. Ran his feeler legs along the outside, too. Then he went around to the back end of the shell, lifted it up, and immediately lost all interest. I think it's too light. Wonder if he'd be interested if I weighed it down somehow?
Unfortunately, none of my other shells are anything like the right size and shape. Almost all the nice, intact snail shells I find at beaches have hermit crabs already in them! And I'm not about to steal a shell from something for my collection.

JaaxReef · Nov 18, 2020

I bought a pack on Amazon with some pretty cool empty shells. I think they were from Lucky Baby? One of my scarlet hermits already swapped into one of the crazy ones within two days. I like that it came with a variety of sizes (though some I’ll never use unless I get a Halloween Hermit).

Tired · Nov 19, 2020

Ha, that's one extravagant shell. Good to know, but I went and got some shells at my LFS, because I knew I could ask them to give me specifically the ones for scarlet reef hermits. They did pull some empty shells from one of their display tanks, and accidentally give me a rather large hermit crab of some sort as a result, but I noticed in the parking lot and was able to give it back to them.

Neither hermit is in a place where they can easily be photographed at the moment, but they've both changed over to new shells. Both shells are going through that ugly stage of being a new white thing in a reef tank, which of course the hermits don't care about. Good, because the smaller hermit was actually living in a shell with a hole in it! You could see its eyeballs poking out the hole when it was tucked into the shell, and part of its back was exposed when it was crawling. The new shell doesn't have a hole.

PicassoClown04 · Nov 19, 2020

Tired said:
Ha, that's one extravagant shell. Good to know, but I went and got some shells at my LFS, because I knew I could ask them to give me specifically the ones for scarlet reef hermits. They did pull some empty shells from one of their display tanks, and accidentally give me a rather large hermit crab of some sort as a result, but I noticed in the parking lot and was able to give it back to them.

Neither hermit is in a place where they can easily be photographed at the moment, but they've both changed over to new shells. Both shells are going through that ugly stage of being a new white thing in a reef tank, which of course the hermits don't care about. Good, because the smaller hermit was actually living in a shell with a hole in it! You could see its eyeballs poking out the hole when it was tucked into the shell, and part of its back was exposed when it was crawling. The new shell doesn't have a hole.

in the future, aquarium depot sells some really nice packs of hermit shells that were perfect for my normal, tiny little reef hermits! Cheap pricing too; its $10 for 10, $25 for 50, or $30 for 100