HCA: Hermit Crab Association

ok my (for what i thought* pp has a beautiful purple claw but now he has red on the tips of the claw i dont no if this is bad normail or anything i didnt think pp got red claws maybe he doesnt like being a pp lol please answer im very worried about my crabby

He is probably fine. Most if not all of my PPs tend to look like your crab. My two newest are much more on the purple side, but the older bunch are definitely red/orangish tipped. I'd take a good look at his legs, especially the armored walking leg he wraps around his claw when he tucks in. If it's pretty close to that color, you don't have to worry about discoloration from disease or the like.

My older PPs are kind of a deep reddish color except for the purple claw, and most of the claw is outlined in reds and oranges, too. I wouldn't worry too much, they just seem to get a little redder depending on what they're fed between molts, I guess.

{Edit} Found a better illustration. Check out Kathy's website over at http://www.freewebs.com/beachnut627/cly ... incher.htm She's got a whole section devoted to PPs, with lots of pics. As she's been doing this way longer than I have and is probably fantastically better at it, I think her crabs would be a good baseline for you to judge against. If yours looks at least somewhat similar to one of hers, you're probably good.

Heck I have a PP that is a peachie pink! It's nothing to worry about.

Does it appear to be a purple so dark it seems red? If that is the case, your crab is actually very healthy. On the other hand, if it is a more pale red, that is a sign of poor nutrition at the pet store, but it should be fixed by the next molt if you provide color-enhancing foods such as carrots and spirulina (basically anything with beta-carotine or Vitamin C).

well his legs are orange but the red is a very dark red