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Help! Species ID needed
Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2024 11:56 am
by Cyanicc
I work at a small, family owned pet store. We received these hermit crabs from a new wholesaler labeled as “Caribbean hermit crabs XL”, but they don’t looks anything like our normal purple pinchers, especially the eye shape. The closest looking species I’ve found so far are the Tawny hermit crabs. Do y’all have any ideas?
Front view:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... e7dce135ad&
Side view:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... 16f4b89cdc&
I’m still new to using this site, so excuse me if I have troubles uploading photos lol
Re: Help! Species ID needed
Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2024 3:38 pm
by wodesorel
Definately not purple pinchers.
My gut instinct is Lila. That you got them randomly and for the same price as PPs would be extremely surprising. It would be more likely that they'd be either Ruggies (but that's a huge crab) or Violas (but the eyes don't quite match), so I do doubt it's either of those.
I've been wondering if the unrest in Haiti is going to throw some species that we haven't seen in a while back into distribution since the vast majority of PPs sold in the US have been supplied from there. If sourcing is now coming from Indonesia instead.
Re: Help! Species ID needed
Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2024 11:57 pm
by Cyanicc
wodesorel wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2024 3:38 pm
Definately not purple pinchers.
My gut instinct is Lila. That you got them randomly and for the same price as PPs would be extremely surprising. It would be more likely that they'd be either Ruggies (but that's a huge crab) or Violas (but the eyes don't quite match), so I do doubt it's either of those.
I've been wondering if the unrest in Haiti is going to throw some species that we haven't seen in a while back into distribution since the vast majority of PPs sold in the US have been supplied from there. If sourcing is now coming from Indonesia instead.
Interesting, they definitely seem to fit the description I’m seeing of the Lila’s online. Do they have any different care requirements ,compared to purple pinchers, that you know of? I have a 75 gallon with only 5 crabbies in it, and I would love to get some of these new pale colored friends.
Re: Help! Species ID needed
Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2024 7:10 am
by wodesorel
They're more equatorial, so temp and humidity steady at 80/80% is a good idea - whereas purple pinchers can handle more extremes and swings. They won't have as long of a lifespan in captivity either though there's been no clear understanding as to why that happens with "exotic" species. Lilas were very likely what was being imported as Blueberries back in the day, due to a misunderstanding of species and location, so info on either would be accurate.
