HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I just realized that the kiosk that i sometimes work at (i fill in as kiosk operator sometimes when they need it) has FOUR species of crabs!!!!

at first i thought these bright red crabs (coenobita perlatus) were ecuadorians cuz of their eyes, but wondered why they have hair... anyway these guys are SO cool-looking, and i think i want one now!... BUT i don't know ANYTHING about this type of species and how different they are like how E's are to PP's...

I've searched around for a few hours (it's getting late) and all i came up with was this Australian woman's site that covers A LOT of species but doesn't go into detail with each species... Here's a link to her site with a pic of a "strawberry" crab!
http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/vanessap/h ... latus.html

the other species is the african/Nigerian/SINGAPOREAN!! crab (coenobita cavipes) and they look anywhere from dark chocolate to very dark blue-green or very dark purple ALL OVER... here's a pic
http://www.wildsingapore.com/chekjawa/l ... 24-1cx.htm

i would LOVE to read/learn ANYTHING about those awesome "strawberry" crabs! because we only have like 2 or 3 (at least what i've seen) at our kiosk... and don't want to make it uncomfortable/stressed if i decide to get one...

Tom


On an UNrelated note... here's a pic of the LARGEST living land arthropod... the "COCONUT" crab!!! this thing is HUMUNGOUS!!!! (i stumbled upon it looking for info on strawberries)
http://home.doramail.com/arrowhead/crab.html
(it's the bottom pics that are of the coconut crab)

I love the strawberry crabs, they ae so pretty, where do you live supertom? I don't htink in my area they would have that type of crab but I want one! heh.. same with the lilac colored one that is really pretty too, I've never seen that one before

so i guess no one on this board knows anything of strawberry crabs eh?.. alrighty then... i'll continue my online researching...

o and i live in san diego... (note "location" near my name in the upper left)

Tom

I love this guy!!

here's another cool pic of Coenobita perlatus (strawberries!)

http://biomar.free.fr/coenobita_perlatus.html


i also found out that they're closely related to ecuadorians... and that they need saltwater also... so i'm assuming u need to take care of them just like u would an E...


Tom

OH!!! i know about the coconut crab (the only show i watch have to have animals in them) It can grow up to 3 feet (leg tip to leg tip) and looks like and eats cocnuts. It climbs coconut trees and uses its huge claw to cut down the cocnuts and hopefully the nut will break on impact. Imagine walking and all of a sudden this HUGE crab falls on top of you **runs around in a circle "spider monkey spider monkey!" ahhhhh!!!!**

I don't think that's the same kind of crab but I watched that show too. It was on the Animal Channel last night at 7pm ct, this Corwin guy just picked up two of the the coconut crabs about 1.5 feet in diameter. They are really cool looking .

Yeah i saw that too but this was on animal planet safari.

isn't it illegal to have a strawberry crab because they're endangered?

endangerd hermitcrab?

Wow! You just helped me solve a mystery. I thought my purple guy was an equadorian all this time, but he looks just like the picture you posted the link to of coenobita cavipes. Anyone else have one of these guys? Interested in any tips or special needs he may have. Anyway, thanks. Phi

read this website on strawberry crabs...

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/a ... ative.html

i think they're only "endangered" on Australia and it is only illegal for civilians to catch them from the wild in Australia...

read the geographic areas the strawberries come from...

"Though found widely throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea to Samoa, this active scavenger is seldom seen on the islands in the Barrier Reef area."

here's a link where i found that info

http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/vanessap/h ... latus.html

here's a cut and paste:
Unfortunately the strawberry land hermit crab is no longer sold as pets in Australia due to dwindling numbers in the wild. It is against the law to take them from the wild, as both of the terrestrial (land dwelling) hermit crabs are protected by the wildlife conservation act. Only licencsed, skilled hermit crab harvesters are allowed to remove them and if you are caught you will be fined.

Thank you for posting this information

I found some HUGE crabbies yesterday at a local pet store. My daughter & I are going today to get a better look at them and maybe adopt a couple. If we do, I will post pics.