Wearing shells painted in unnatural neon tones and housed within small wire cages, hermit crabs are commonly found in boardwalk shops down the shore — where they can face the same thoughtless treatment as the other trinkets being sold. But a South Jersey content creator is looking to change that.

"They're marketed as disposable beach souvenirs to children and as beginner pets," said Janie Groeling, of Haddonfield. "That's furthest from the truth because hermit crabs are really expensive to properly care for. They live 50 years. They're not beginner animals to take care of." 

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Groeling — who graduated from Virginia Tech in 2022, where she studied communications and psychology, and now works in social media marketing — has amassed more than 152,000 followers on TikTok and over 19,000 on Instagram, plus millions of views, by posting about how she cares for her crustaceans as well as the harsh realities of the hermit crab pet industry. 

Growing up going to Ocean City, Groeling was exposed to hermit crabs and had one as a pet as a child, when she knew "nothing" about how to care for it. In high school, the self-proclaimed animal lover decided to give hermit crab ownership another go, which is when she really dove into research on proper care.

"I realized that these beach shops and pet stores, they tell you less than a fraction what you actually need to know," Groeling said. "So after diving into that world, I spent lots of money, lots of time, lots of labor, building up the tanks and giving them the proper care that they need, and accumulating all the resources to give them proper care."

That was seven years ago, and she still has one of the original crabs, named Norton. She has also rescued four more along the way, from friends, family or even strangers who could no longer take care of them and reached out to Groeling on social media for help. 

"In those seven years, I've really upped my game, and the past year and a half, two years, is when I've really done so much more research and really have just taken hermit crab care to the next level," Groeling said.

While she's been caring for animals for many years, Groeling's time as a hermit crab influencer began about a year and a half ago, when Groeling made a TikTok account "for fun," to watch clothing hauls and possibly post videos of bugs — which she loves and often rescues. She never intended to become a content creator focused on crustaceans, but she began posting videos about feeding her hermit crabs — an intricate process which involves a charcuterie board of sorts full of healthful foods — and quickly went viral.

@janieleigh11 Chow time🍽️ #hermitcrabs ♬ original sound - Janie Groeling

"Judging by the comments and DMs, a lot of people were interested, but also a lot of people had questions because they had hermit crabs themselves," Groeling said. "And I realized how big the hermit crab community is out there, and how much questions there are, and there's not many resources. At least, people aren't led to the correct resources when people buy from beach shops or pet stores. 

"So I realized I could be a voice for these creatures. I could really just dial in and make this a hermit crab awareness or advocacy page, which I'm passionate about anyway. I want to be an outlet or a resource for others that don't have answers to their questions, just like how I didn't in the beginning. ... I love promoting how amazing these creatures are and that they deserve better." 

What's so bad about the hermit crab pet industry?

There are more than 800 species of hermit crabs around the world and most are ocean-dwellers. The hermit crabs we know as pets are from the dozen of semi-terrestrial species, known as land hermit crabs. They're not "true crabs" that can grow their own shells, like blue crabs, but instead are more closely related to certain types of lobsters, according to National Geographic. Their abdomen is folded up in their shell under their carapace, or upper section of the exoskeleton. In the wild, hermit crabs are primarily scavengers, with diets consisting of decaying matter and dead organisms. 

They face problems like plastic pollution — the majority of terrestrial hermit crab species worldwide are now using trash as shells — and threats from the pet trade. This is because they generally cannot reproduce in captivity, so the animals you see at your local pet store or beach shop were most likely snatched from the wild. 

While some species are native to New Jersey, like the long- and flat-clawed hermit crab, and there are wholesalers located in the area — like Shell Shanty in Ship Bottom — most of the crabs sold as pets are not from this area. Instead, they often come from places such as the Caribbean or South America. This can create issues if someone decides they're done with their pet and tries to release it into the wild.

"If people release them, they're either not going to survive or could become a non-native species, which can be a problem," said Christine Thompson, an associate professor of Marine Science at Stockton University. "And that happens a lot with exotic pets. One example I can think of are African land snails that people have released, and they've wreaked havoc in environments they can survive." 

When hermit crabs are taken from the wild, they're usually held in a holding tank made of wood without food, water, sand or the proper humidity, Groeling said. Many die during that process, but the ones that survive meet an even worse fate.

"The ones that survive are taken and put into a nutcracker-like device to crack them out of their natural shell, and then they are thrown into a bucket of painted shells," Groeling said. "The painted shells are toxic to them, but a hermit crab without a shell is just a death sentence, so they have no choice but to go into one of these painted shells."

The painted shells are a far cry from what the hermit crabs wear in the wild, Thompson said.

Provided Image/Christine Thompson

While most of pet hermit crab species are not native, there are some species that live in the wild in New Jersey. Above, a flat-clawed hermit crab found at the Jersey Shore by researchers with Stockton University.

"You pick up a shell and you turn it around, and it has legs," Thompson said of hermit crabs. "And they don't grow their own shells like snails do, they take shells from dead snails, essentially. And as they grow, they get new shells. And so, they might be naked for a little while, and then have to find a new shell to grow into that fits its bigger body after it molts."

Hermit crab shells are unique in that they appear "fuzzy," unlike when snails wear them, Thompson said. This is because of an organism commonly known as "snailfur," which grows on hermit crab shells and engages in a symbiotic relationship with them. The snailfur feeds on hermit crabs' leftovers and also can provide defense, since some of them are armed with tiny stingers. This is another negative of stripping hermit crabs from the wild, Thompson said, in that it is removing the "tiny ecosystem" which can thrive on the animals in the wild.

"Then the ones that survive that (shell-breaking) process are just thrown into sacks and shipped off to pet stores or beach shops, and that's where they're held in those wired metal cages with no proper heat or humidity," Groeling said. "They're drinking from a sponge which just collects harmful bacteria. They don't have a proper diet; they're fed those pellets, which are filled with chemicals."

Once they finally make it to the store and have been purchased, hermit crabs are usually not treated much better, due to pet owners' lack of knowledge on how to care for them.

"They are exotic animals, like lizards or snakes," Groeling said. "... But they're not marketed as that because, unfortunately, these corporations and beach shops just care about making money at the end of the day, not the animals' lives. Those plastic cages that they're sold in, it's the equivalent of me and you spending the rest of our days in a bathroom stall, suffocating. It's just heartbreaking."

Thompson believes the lack of empathy and awareness could be due to the crabs' not-so-cuddly exterior, which sets them apart from some other popular pets.

"I think people tend to think of invertebrates a little bit different than a puppy or a cat," Thompson said. "(Hermit crabs) might not suffer the same way that mammals do, but they can become stressed. So understanding proper care is important. But usually, kids think it's cool for a week, and then forget about it. 

A dog will make its presence known if you're not feeding it or taking it out. But the hermit crabs kind of just waste away."

How Groeling is spreading awareness

While the state of the hermit crab pet industry is dark — Groeling calls it "straight up animal abuse" — there is some hope. For example, while hermit crabs generally do not reproduce in captivity, there have been some steps made to try to change that. Mary Akers, founder of the Hermit House nonprofit, is the first person to successfully breed land hermit crabs in large enough numbers to effect change within the industry. 

"If we can captive breed hermit crabs instead of the beach shops taking them from the wild, that could be a huge step, and those hermit crabs wouldn't have to endure the awful animal abuse the industry puts them through to get them from Point A to Point B," Groeling said.

For her part, Groeling hopes she can advocate for better lives for the crustaceans through social media. She does so by offering hermit crab resources on her social media pages, including guides and a Facebook group. She also offers printable flyers with a QR code that leads to her TikTok account, for people who want to spread information around their towns on the hermit crab industry and proper care. 

This summer, she put up some of the flyers around Ocean City — where her family visits every year and hermit crabs are sold in boardwalk gift shops.

Groeling has taken steps to show that hermit crabs are living things with their own personalities, wants and needs. Her five hermit crabs are the main characters on her pages, and she puts the "natural pecking order" of their little colony on full display. 

There's Norton, Groeling's original hermit crab, who is the alpha of the group and is her "little best friend." Scooter is a "big boy" and very outgoing. Tito is "scared of his own shadow" and is known to Groeling's followers by his bright purple coloring. Steely is the "baby of the group" but is not scared of the pecking order and is outgoing despite his size. Peenie is a recent rescue who is shy and sticks to a "strict schedule" for nap time.

Provided Image/Janie Groeling

Janie Groeling, of South Jersey, shares tips for hermit crab care on social media. Above, she takes a selfie with one of her pet hermit crabs, Scooter.

"It is cute because despite their shells and their appearance, I can tell them apart just by their personalities," Groeling said. "A lot of people don't realize that just like dogs or cats or like me and you, hermit crabs all have a specific, unique personality."

She also shows off the "high maintenance" care that she puts in to her crabs' living quarters and diets. She said the rule of thumb is 10 gallons per hermit crab for space. She has five, so she has a 55 gallon tank. Her videos detail the crab-itat, which involves sand and Eco Earth coconut fiber substrate — at least six inches deep, so the hermit crabs can dig underground to molt. They also have climbing and hiding accessories, a "shell shop" to choose from a variety of shells as they grow, heat pads, a hamster wheel toy to exercise on, leaf litter to mimic their natural foraging environment, and two pools: a fresh water pool and salt water pool. She also ensures they have the necessary heat, around 80 degrees, and humidity, about 80%, in the tank.

Their diets are very important, too. According to Groeling, they need animal protein, plant protein, fats, calcium, fruits and vegetables in their meals. And 50% of the ingredients in their meals should be made of protein ingredients. She often shows off feeding time.

Through her social media accounts, Groeling hopes she can enact change and spread the love for hermit crabs — which are much more than vacation souvenirs to her.

"I always think that social media holds so much power in today's world," she said. "... The end goal is the industry just stops because these hermit crabs should be in the wild. They should not be pets, but they are here, unfortunately, and luckily there is an awesome community out there that takes care of them properly."