Who we are:

In 2001, I purchased my first hermit crab. I have to admit it was a bit of an impulse buy as I always wanted to own a hermit crab. At this point, I was far out of my childhood, a college graduate, and often felt a little silly admitting to people that I had hermit crabs!

I quickly became addicted to my little guy and bought him a few more friends. I started reading everything I could about hermit crabs---their biology, nutritional needs, recent studies involving hermit crab habits---basically anything I could find! I also joined a few online forums and began discussing these fascinating little creatures with others who had hermie fever!

More than 8 years later, I'm still hooked---I think we'll keep it that way!

How we started:

After several years of owning hermit crabs I realized just how tough it was to get the variety of shells I needed for my little crustacean friends. Too often I found that shells weren't available in the sizes that I needed, and if the size was right, they weren't really the kinds of shells my crabs wanted. I also realized that the shells were extremely overpriced, but being that they were a necessity, I was forced to pay the high prices.

Shells weren't my only concern. Through the research I had done over the years I also realized that commercial hermit crab food was more harm than good and started to read more about nutritional needs. Through a little trial and error with my six hermit crabs: Okya, Pep Pep, Chippy, Ernest, Sanchez and Carl, I believe I created winning food recipes that were all-natural, organic, and great for the nutritional needs of the crabs---not to mention tasty!

I came to realize I wasn't the only person frustrated by my shell experiences and decided it was time to open El's Shells and not only offer an outstanding variety of shells at a great price, but also high quality, tasty, affordable food, and other hermit crab essentials.

We thank you for stopping by our website, and hope that you become part of the El's Shells family.