HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I went to petsmart today, and we'll I'm exasperated with LHC taking forever, so I decided to look at the crabs. Let's be honest, we all know I can't just LOOK at them lol so I left with a little tiny one I named happy. The shell it's in is a little big, and it just dug down presumably to molt or destress, but I got a few pictures first. I couldn't get any front facing shots (guess we're a bit camera shy) and I haven't gotten to sex it yet, but this is Happy






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Very cute! Looks like s/he is wearing a magpie shell: I love those but none of my PPs will wear them so I'll be curious to see if your crab changes out soon.

Re sexing: don't feel bad that you didn't get a chance to tell if Happy is male or female after only a few hours -- I've had Mr Pinch aka Marble since November and haven't been able to sex him yet! As you can tell from his name, he isn't a very up-close-and-personal crab and is, seriously, willing to slam into his shell and fall from the plant he's climbing on rather than let me see his underside! Thought I had him a few nights ago when he slipped while walking along the edge of one of the pools and was literally on his back, grabbing at a vine to pull himself out of the water. But nooooo, as soon as he sensed me crossing the room, he scuttled up that vine in record time and disappeared into the leaves. Little stinker!!

Thanks! Lol that little stinker lol hopefully Mr. Pinch learns to keep his Claes to himself. I've never been pinched, but I'm very cautious with my big one sleepy. He's never attempted to hurt me, but his claw is a little intimidating even 3 and a half years later. I haven't seen happy since the other day when I first saw him/her dig down so I'm assuming he/she needs to molt. Hopefully it won't be too long.

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Thanks! Lol that little stinker lol hopefully Mr. Pinch learns to keep his Claes to himself. I've never been pinched, but I'm very cautious with my big one sleepy. He's never attempted to hurt me, but his claw is a little intimidating even 3 and a half years later. I haven't seen happy since the other day when I first saw him/her dig down so I'm assuming he/she needs to molt. Hopefully it won't be too long.

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Crabinski wrote:Very cute! Looks like s/he is wearing a magpie shell: I love those but none of my PPs will wear them so I'll be curious to see if your crab changes out soon.

Re sexing: don't feel bad that you didn't get a chance to tell if Happy is male or female after only a few hours -- I've had Mr Pinch aka Marble since November and haven't been able to sex him yet! As you can tell from his name, he isn't a very up-close-and-personal crab and is, seriously, willing to slam into his shell and fall from the plant he's climbing on rather than let me see his underside! Thought I had him a few nights ago when he slipped while walking along the edge of one of the pools and was literally on his back, grabbing at a vine to pull himself out of the water. But nooooo, as soon as he sensed me crossing the room, he scuttled up that vine in record time and disappeared into the leaves. Little stinker!!

Happy has been up and down several times this week. Last night I moved him/her to the new tank and happy is still wearing the magpie shell. Isn't showing any interest in any of the turbos or various other small shells in the tank at all. One of my other crabs, bashful came from the same store 4 years ago and wore a magpie shell she came in until she molten several months later. I've never bought any other magpies, so I only have the one happy is wearing and bashful's original shell.

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I love magpies but none of my crabs will wear 'em. A PetSmart "plus" is that they have only natural shells, no nasty paint jobs, so even if the crab chooses not to select anything new to wear, it's still in a "good" shell.

My pet smart has one tank of natural and one tank of painted they up charge for the painted by calling the crabs "fancy". I think the magpies are really cute and wish I could find some larger ones.

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Aww she/he's such a cutie! I have a hermit named Happy aswell

7dwarfs wrote:My pet smart has one tank of natural and one tank of painted they up charge for the painted by calling the crabs "fancy". I think the magpies are really cute and wish I could find some larger ones.

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Been working for PS for years. We've never had crabs with painted shells (In my district and surrounding cities). But they do separate them by shell type. The more interesting looking shells are "Fancies" which was always odd to me considering I buy new turbos for all of our crabs and they'll switch shells.. I always thought it didn't make sense to sell then by shell type if they'll switch -.-'

But yea.. Never had painted ones. Only painted ones I've seen are one package that has "three medium" painted shells in a baggie.

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^^I've thought the same about selling by shell type lol considering what I normally see sold as Fancy are the guys in Murex shells and they'll usually switch to the unfancy turbo anyway


Zoo mom of 3 cats, a dog, a fish and 3 (for now) crabs

7dwarfs wrote:My pet smart has one tank of natural and one tank of painted they up charge for the painted by calling the crabs "fancy".

I've seen that at Petsmarts too. :roll:

CallaLily wrote: I've seen that at Petsmarts too. :roll:

The PetSmarts near me do that, too, and the "Fancy" crabs are $2 more than the "regulars."

Crabinski wrote: The PetSmarts near me do that, too, and the "Fancy" crabs are $2 more than the "regulars."

Crazy, huh. But I guess they catch the eye of children more so probably make better sales even with the higher price. Poor things.

Makena95GT wrote: Been working for PS for years. We've never had crabs with painted shells (In my district and surrounding cities). But they do separate them by shell type. The more interesting looking shells are "Fancies" which was always odd to me considering I buy new turbos for all of our crabs and they'll switch shells.. I always thought it didn't make sense to sell then by shell type if they'll switch -.-'

But yea.. Never had painted ones. Only painted ones I've seen are one package that has "three medium" painted shells in a baggie.

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It's lucky that the petsmart near you don't sell crabs in painted shells:)

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Crabinski wrote:

Oops! I realize that I wasn't clear as to what constitutes $2 more "Fancy" crabs at my nearby PetSmarts: they're all in natural shells but jazzier varieties such as murex or tapestry turbos vs the "plain" green turbos or magpies. I've never come across a crab for sale in a painted shell at any PetSmart -- Petco, on the other hand, has no idea what a natural shell is.