Is this what I think it is?!?! Edit: Yep, babies!

Spiral · Post by **Spiral** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 11:26 pm

Woah! just saw this thread. Good job on making it this far!

i usually just let them die because i don't have the confidence/time to raise them...

, but good luck anyway.

you might want to get a larger tank with a sponge filter or something started....

samurai_crab · Post by **samurai_crab** » Sat Jun 11, 2011 11:47 pm

A piece of antenna or exo would be enough to get a DNA sample. Keep in mind hermits that aren't found in close proximity in the wild might be able to interbreed. This being because they wouldn't have developed differences in mating and behavior that separate species that live in overlapping areas possibly have developed to inhibit hybridization. I learned about this in my animal behavior course, often times animals of the same type, such has hermit crabs, (or in our class, we talked about penguins) that have overlapping ranges will develop different mating strategies or even different breeding season to help prevent hybridization since this can weaken each species from a genetic standpoint, in that if the hybrid is sterile neither the of the parents gets to pass on its genes to another generation after the child.

There have been some rumors floating around and even pictures of hybrids that have occurred from Bob's breeding at ELHC's. The pictures look authentic and the information seems credible but I'll let everyone make their own opinions about that topic. Personally I think the possibility is very real and likely to have/had occurred, both in the wild and captivity. Then again though, hermit crab research and things like their evolution/speciation really interests me.

Also, sheesh, I had no clue that so many have had their crabs mate in tanks. I thought the only ones that had luck with mating were the people that had outdoor crabitats. Honestly I don't think breeding them would be that hard, provided you can get them to mate and you have the information/means to feed them while in their aquatic stage and then had the information needed to transition them from water to land properly.

megs · Post by **megs** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:32 am

SojMad wrote:

Sadly, no. This was probably 5 years or so ago. I lost the female C. rugosus from that group almost 2 years ago when I moved during her molt & the female PP to some nasty illness that wiped out most of my herd. Tried so hard to nurse that darn crab. She'd been with me a long time. I've been wracking my cold medicine-addled brain trying to remember if the male was the same in both pairings.

Shivering Isles · Post by **Shivering Isles** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 1:01 pm

I have been quietly enjoying this thread! This is the most amazing thing ever!!

Best of luck!

Exotic Crabby :crabbigsmile:

SojMad · Post by **SojMad** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 6:50 pm

Spiral wrote:Woah! just saw this thread. Good job on making it this far!

i usually just let them die because i don't have the confidence/time to raise them... , but good luck anyway.

you might want to get a larger tank with a sponge filter or something started....

Thank you!
Which of your species use to mate and produce eggs?

Aw, I could never just let them die, hehe.

Yes, I will set up a salt water tank in the future. Now I've put up a tiny aquarium with saltwater and a filter, but I don't know if I dare to put them down there.. :roll: I've also put up an even tinier plastic tank with an air stone, but I have to wait a couple of days before I can put some of the babies in there, it doesn't contain enough water yet.

I want to try different things with different babies, to se which way works the best. ^^

samurai_crab wrote:A piece of antenna or exo would be enough to get a DNA sample. Keep in mind hermits that aren't found in close proximity in the wild might be able to interbreed. This being because they wouldn't have developed differences in mating and behavior that separate species that live in overlapping areas possibly have developed to inhibit hybridization. I learned about this in my animal behavior course, often times animals of the same type, such has hermit crabs, (or in our class, we talked about penguins) that have overlapping ranges will develop different mating strategies or even different breeding season to help prevent hybridization since this can weaken each species from a genetic standpoint, in that if the hybrid is sterile neither the of the parents gets to pass on its genes to another generation after the child.

There have been some rumors floating around and even pictures of hybrids that have occurred from Bob's breeding at ELHC's. The pictures look authentic and the information seems credible but I'll let everyone make their own opinions about that topic. Personally I think the possibility is very real and likely to have/had occurred, both in the wild and captivity. Then again though, hermit crab research and things like their evolution/speciation really interests me.

Also, sheesh, I had no clue that so many have had their crabs mate in tanks. I thought the only ones that had luck with mating were the people that had outdoor crabitats. Honestly I don't think breeding them would be that hard, provided you can get them to mate and you have the information/means to feed them while in their aquatic stage and then had the information needed to transition them from water to land properly.

Thank you so much for the information!

Do you know how Bob does to breed his hermit crabs?
I agree! It would be very interesting to know how many have had their hermit crabs reproduce indoors in a tank, and what species they have had mate and produce eggs.

megs wrote: Sadly, no. This was probably 5 years or so ago. I lost the female C. rugosus from that group almost 2 years ago when I moved during her molt & the female PP to some nasty illness that wiped out most of my herd. Tried so hard to nurse that darn crab. She'd been with me a long time. I've been wracking my cold medicine-addled brain trying to remember if the male was the same in both pairings.

I'm sorry to hear that.

Exotic Crabby wrote:I have been quietly enjoying this thread! This is the most amazing thing ever!! Best of luck!

Exotic Crabby

Thank you!

Alma · Post by **Alma** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:18 pm

Wow! good job. please keep us updated.

SojMad · Post by **SojMad** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 7:40 am

Now the are more than a week old!

piccolo41099 · Post by **piccolo41099** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 7:48 am

This is just amazing.

SaPen · Post by **SaPen** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 8:56 am

I've just got to say this thread has me super excited, I can't wait to read it each day. I really hope they make it or, even if they don't, that you keep trying different methods until it works!

Good Luck!

CrabbyIrene · Post by **CrabbyIrene** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:50 am

Now the are more than a week old!

Happy Birthday Little Ones!!!

samurai_crab · Post by **samurai_crab** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:17 am

No I don't know how Bob breeds his crabs, I've never actually talked with him, this is only information I've pulled out of different conversations found on this and other forums/pages. I don't think Bob shares a lot of his information with just anyone, a few that are close to him may know, but they also may not be willing/able to share that information. Also, to my knowledge, none of his research has been published yet, so its not accessible that way either.

I hope the little ones make it, I personally don't have the time/funds to attempt raising them if this happened in my tank right now. Do they appear to have grown any? Can you tell if they are eating at all?

SojMad · Post by **SojMad** » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:01 pm

SaPen wrote:I've just got to say this thread has me super excited, I can't wait to read it each day. I really hope they make it or, even if they don't, that you keep trying different methods until it works!

Good Luck!

I'm so happy you all like to read about this!
And I will never stop trying to raise any baby hermit crabs into a life on land, no matter how long it will take.

samurai_crab wrote:No I don't know how Bob breeds his crabs, I've never actually talked with him, this is only information I've pulled out of different conversations found on this and other forums/pages. I don't think Bob shares a lot of his information with just anyone, a few that are close to him may know, but they also may not be willing/able to share that information. Also, to my knowledge, none of his research has been published yet, so its not accessible that way either.

I hope the little ones make it, I personally don't have the time/funds to attempt raising them if this happened in my tank right now. Do they appear to have grown any? Can you tell if they are eating at all?

Hmm.. How can someone NOT want to share information on how to raise hermit crab babies if that someone has succeeded to do so? (I think I've read somewhere here on HCA that he has raised some hermit crabs?)

If I ever would manage to raise baby hermit crabs, I would of course tell you all how I did.

I hope so too! I have no idea if they have, but I believe they have grown a little bit. ^^ As far as I've read, baby hermit crabs are growing really slow, so it's hard to tell without a microscope.

I don't even know exactly when they should molt their first time.
Well, they are getting really active when I pour in the phytoplankton, so I believe they are eating - but as with the growing, it's hard to tell when they are so tiny.

But shouldn't they already be dead if they hadn't eaten anything in a whole week?
Now I've bought Artemia too, so I'm hoping for newly hatched Artemia nauplii tomorrow.

MudCrabDude · Post by **MudCrabDude** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 1:05 am

SojMad wrote:Hmm.. How can someone NOT want to share information on how to raise hermit crab babies if that someone has succeeded to do so? (I think I've read somewhere here on HCA that he has raised some hermit crabs?) If I ever would manage to raise baby hermit crabs, I would of course tell you all how I did.

Because land hermit crabs are EVIL! They're going to take over the world if you did!! Haven't you ever seen "District 9"?!?!?

:covereyes:

Just kidding, of course.

Bob's reasons are his own, and not my business.

Anyway, just a thought; a good source of tiny shells (for the hermit larva to inhabit) are random bags of coral sand or coral gravel, if your petshops around there carry coral sand or coral gravel. Here where I am, (L.A. CA, USA), I generally can find some micro shells when I sift through coral sand/gravel. However, they can be a bit pricey, though, and you generally need to look through the bag before purchasing to find micro shells (sometimes, the bags are just pure sand and contain no mini shells - while other bags have loads of micro shells).

I actually kept a couple of these micro shells, in the highly unlikely event that, one day, I too find hermit larva in my water pools.

samurai_crab · Post by **samurai_crab** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 1:40 am

What I'm really interested in is how they exactly make the transition from the ocean to land. Do they molt in the water first then have to leave the water immediately or drown, or do they hit land and then quickly molt. I'm also curious exactly how tiny we are talking when they hit the land stage. I really hope you do have success in getting them to the later stages, I know I'm rooting for you

I agree with Mudcrab, Bob's reasons are his own. Keep in mind though you aren't trying to run a business/research. Yours is purely from a hobbyist/pet owner standpoint. He may be keeping his ideas so others don't take them and attempt to get credit/publish the work first or take his information and make money off it. I don't believe Bob is in it to make money, its a hobby but it'd be a shame if someone stole all his work and made billions, which I really think you could do if you could get the crabs to breed reliably considering the babies don't have the predators they would in the ocean. I mean how many eggs did the crab lay that you had? 1000's possibly?

Post by **wodesorel** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 2:30 am

samurai_crab wrote:What I'm really interested in is how they exactly make the transition from the ocean to land. Do they molt in the water first then have to leave the water immediately or drown, or do they hit land and then quickly molt. I'm also curious exactly how tiny we are talking when they hit the land stage.

The paper I linked to earlier on compressus said that after a few larval stages they will choose a shell underwater and then emerge onto land to bury in and perform their first molt. The larval stages (and therefore length in water) depends not only on the species but also the individual crab. (Of course!

) So figure about around month in the water, and then they'll want to emerge onto land. It did specifically say that those babies who chose a shell before burying in have a much greater chance at surviving, so I guess some try to go for it naked. It said their babies were between 4mm and 6mm in size - that is some really really teeny shells!