HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Today we stopped by the petstore to get an idea of how big/healthy the crabbies they had were. They were in relatively good shape (no painted shells! ) and active.

The sign identified all of them as Purple Pinchers. I've read that PPs typically prefer turbo shells/shells with a rounder opening, but about a third were in murex shells or something similar with a 'D' shaped opening. Is that just because of what was available to them, or do some actually prefer that type when given the option?

I'm setting up the crabitat before actually getting crabs, and want to buy the right type and size of shells before bringing them home, in case they want to change right away. I'm willing to guesstimate and get a variety of sizes, but I'd prefer to not buy one of everything that exists.

The four biggest ones were in shells a little smaller than a tennis ball. There were also a few about golf ball size, and some about quarter size. (this is all from only looking into their space, the store was too understaffed for us to request a close-upview/measurement).

About what size of shell would each of those crabs need, or do I really need to get an actual measurement? And do they need some with 'D'-shaped openings or is it fine to get only 'O' ones?

Thanks in advance!

When PPs are small, they will sometimes wear D shaped openings, but as they get bigger they really prefer the round ones.
It's hard to buy shells before getting the crabs. Does the pet store carry shells as well, so you can get them at the same time as the crabs? If you live somewhere that shells are readily available, or can get them shipped quickly, I would probably wait until I had the crabs so I could measure what they are currently in.

curlysister wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 25, 2022 10:34 pm

Does the pet store carry shells as well, so you can get them at the same time as the crabs?

Yes and no. There is a small box of glazed shells ( cymatium caudatum or something similar) which would fit only the smallest crabs they have, so I will need to find some elsewhere. We've done a lot of petstore hopping for our fish, and none of the stores we visited had decent shells.

We were there yesterday and I was able to get a closer look, so I'm going to get shells between .5" and 1.5", which should be a bit smaller than the smallest and bigger than the biggest.