MakerBot Prints New Shells For Homeless Crabs

Hermit crabs are in trouble.

Often recognized by the large shells/homes they carry around on their back, these ocean scavengers are facing a housing crisis.

Ocean acidification, a symptom of climate change and unbridled marine pollution, destroys the cast-off shells of mollusks that hermit crabs usually call home.

With a shell shortage, hermit crabs around the world are being forced to stick their butts into bottles, shotgun shells, and anything else they can find. This is unacceptable to the folks in the MakerBot Community.

The creator of the Thing-O-Matic, a printer that can create 3D objects, MakerBot has rallied its community of hackers, artists and makers to come up with alternative shells for homeless hermit crabs.

Crab habitats, or “crabitats,” have been set up at MakerBot locations in Brooklyn and L.A. MakerBot community members from all over the world will send their best shell designs to the Project Shellter team who will print them and place them in the crabitats to see what the crabs think.

The Thing-O-Matic can print in one of two plastics – ABS (what Lego is made from), and biodegradable PLA plastic. When hermit crabs outgrow the printed shells, they’ll leave them behind for younger crabs to habitat in the future! Which will the crabs like better, PLA or ABS? Will they even accept 3D printed shells as a substitute? The future of the species may depend on the answer to this clever experiment!

Shell designs from the MakerBot community will also be posted on Thingiverse.com, MakerBot’s online community where users can post digital designs and collaborate on open source hardware, and tagged with “SHELLTER.”

Use the hashtag #SHELLTER on twitter to track what’s going on. You can join Project Shellter on Facebook too!

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Image Credits: MakerBot Blog/Stef Shapira

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
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Dave C.

1:50PM PDT on Oct 3, 2012

thanks.....

October 3
send a green star

Pat M.

3:14AM PDT on Oct 29, 2011

someone is trying to help. Good for them

October 29
send a green star

Alison V.

2:24AM PDT on Oct 28, 2011

This is a very silly idea. If you really want to help the crabs, use snail escargot shells (the original occupants are eaten in restuarants and the shells get thrown out as rubbish), give them a rinse and dump them into the ocean for the crabs. They'll sink to the bottom and actually be useful, rather than the plastic ones which will just bob about on the surface with the rest of the rubbish we throw into the sea.