HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Maybe this isn't the right place to be asking about this, but I ordered off of "Shells of Aquarius" and got these 4 shells that are supposed to have been 1 and 1/4 to 1/12 inch openings and now they're all basically close to or over 2 inch openings. I know for a fact that I read it right, but when I went back to look at the sizes some of the shell sizes were changed to larger opening sized shells instead. The site doesn't have a place where I can look at my history to see exactly what was ordered and I wasn't sent an email with the items ordered either. Does anyone else have prior bad experience from this place or know if I'm able to do something about this scam legally?

I dont have an answer but i know ppl on HCA have a hard time looking for large shells. You should see if anybody here wants to buy them off you as a way of recovering your losses and helping a fellow crabber out. Good luck


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What species of shell are they?

Pics! All my crabs are growing like crazy. My PP, sprout, went down for her first molt with me and came up a LARGE! And yes, that is why I named her sprout

the shells are turbos, 2 jade banded turbos and 2 cammo shells. the cammos (measuring with a ruler) are about 1 and 3/4 opening size and the jades are 2 and 1/4 roughly

May I ask what you paid for each shell?

I paid 11 for each jade turbo, and 5.50 for each cammo

Not bad prices for the sizes, from what I've seen/paid.

You should be able to contact them in some way and hopefully they'll work with you to get you the sizes you ordered.

Yeah they were some of the best prices ive seen so I jumped on it. they did say they would refund the items and the return shipping, but my shipping cost from them was 14 bucks (lowest option) and I;m not sure if they're going to refund that. its not my fault they purposely sent me the wrong sizes. (they admitted knowing they did) Its just what they had left in stock and I specifically asked only for those other sizes. Hope they actually refund that portion because as of now that's the only reason i'm complaining.

I've run into the same issues when ordering from bulk supply companies like them. They fulfill ginormous orders all the time, and I imagine that the small orders from hermit crab owners or other collectors who want specific things are only a small portion of what they do. When they send stuff back to get pulled, I doubt that the people in the warehouse see the same information that the person who took the order did. (I was told by another company that exactly that happened - there's a note in the computer system but the workers don't get to see it!)

Jade turbos are also very hard to size when buying from bulk stores, and I've never received the sizes that I've ordered before. I really think that's why places like HCP cost more - I imagine that they have to toss or resell many shells that are too large elsewhere. There are at least four species that are sold as Jade Turbos, and each is shaped a little differently. So while the companies always go by the overall length, sometimes the openings are a perfect 1/2 of that length, but sometimes it's much more. Unlike the smaller species of turbo, there is no exact ratio between length and opening, and because of the size even a 1/4 inch of length can throw off the opening by a whole lot.

YYWW wrote:I dont have an answer but i know ppl on HCA have a hard time looking for large shells.

We're all looking for shells between 1 & 1/4 and 1 & 1/2. Anything more than that and it's too large for the vast majority of crabs in captivity. Anything over 2" is going to be too big period as that's pretty much the max size for hermits. I have several Jades I bought that were supposed to be a smaller size but that arrived at over 2 inches, and they were turned into aquarium decorations or hides for small crabs. No point in scamming someone else with an unusable shell, even if it is pretty! The reason why that range is the sweet spot is that is where the Tapestry and Mexican Turbos max out in growth, but it's smaller then where the Jades are harvested since they get more money for larger decorating shells.

Sorry I swear there was someone that really needed shells with openings larger than 1.5 inches, because their crab was either getting big or big to begin with.
I guess not many crabs live long enough to wear 2 inch shells.


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My big guy is in a 2

KellyCrabbieLove wrote:My big guy is in a 2

I hope mine get that big some day he must be as big as a hand!!!


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He is a big, beautiful boy. His name is Atlas.

He sure is beautiful! And in that gorgeous shell!


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