HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Went to Petco a month ago and for the first time saw that they had Es at my location. Always wanted one so I went to buy two and the sales man of course sweet talked me into getting a 3rd one. They are by far so darn cute and so much fun to watch! They are so different from the PPs I have always owned. They are in great shape, they all have their legs and pinchers intact and counted for.
One thing I have found is that they are super hard to sex. I don’t know if it’s because of their confirmation or the shells they prefer to be in but it took me awhile to sex one.


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So two are down and this one is up. I wanted to take the time to check it over and after a good 15-20 mins!!! It’s a little girl. All three have the same shell and are the same size so for me to keep track of who is who I glued a purple little gem on her shell. I know I will be frowned upon for this but I did it with two of my older PPs when they were the same size and in similar looking shells and I had nothing bad come of it. So please no shunning this is just my way of how I can figure out who is who. [img]https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180304/303dbc97395e3ff55ee92484b6092d2e.jpg[/IMG]


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Second E small male


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Nice! I love little Ecuadorians.
You can tell that the first one needs a larger shell, maybe they will change, but that species is stubborn.

Yeah, I've heard that they can be picky with shells and that they tend to keep a favorite shell for as long as they can....
I have SO many extra shells in the tank we'll see, however, most of them are O shaped and not D shaped shells.... I have always had PPs. I went out and bought a bunch the other day but again I couldn't find many D shaped shells. I will have to break down and probably order from Naples.

The female with purple gem.




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She's very cute sitting there!

Isn't she adorable? I haven't seen her in a week so I am missing her. She was so active the first two months and always found her upside down climbing the mesh lid lol. Hopefully she has a good molt and comes up with the third hermit crab so I can get a good look at him. The second E, the small male, he's still up and has been running all over the place and eating a bunch of food.