HCA: Hermit Crab Association

How would you rate each species in terms of experience levels needed?

Purple Pincher- Beginner
Equadorian-
Perlatus- Experienced
Cavipes-
Indo-
Purpereus-
Aussie-
Ruggie-
Viola-

Ratings: Beginner, intermediate, experienced

When submitting the ratings, keep in mind species temperament, sensitivity to temp/ humidity fluctuations, specific heating requirements, and how hard they pinch.

Assume that beginners are young children or parents with young children that the hermit crabs are for.

I'd say PPs are the only Beginner species, Ecuadorians may be intermediate, and the rest are Experienced. When I knew hardly anything, my PPs lived long enough for a few molts with me, but my Es always died before molting.

For those living in Australia, they have little to choose from. Beginners mostly have access to Aussies. Perhaps make them Intermediate?

i've honestly found Es to be more sturdy than PPs. it seems like i keep losing PPs to molts, while the Es just pop down, molt, and pop right back up again. they also seem to be better in suboptimal temperatures. the heater on the side of my tank didn't keep them nearly warm enough, but there was always an E or three running about (i've since added a light to try to keep things warmer).

i may just be having a bad run with PPs, though.

Um, what does "how hard they pinch" have to do with experience level? If any crab gets startled or scared they pinch - and hard!

wodesorel wrote:Um, what does "how hard they pinch" have to do with experience level? If any crab gets startled or scared they pinch - and hard!

Viola's hunt in the wild and have a predatory claw. It's not recommended to have them as a pet for young children for this reason.

You are right about the other species pinching as well. I guess the question is geared more towards species temperament and how likely they are to pinch.

:/ having actually read the entire original post now...i have to say that i don't believe there are truly beginner hermit crabs. there's just so much misinformation that even if the parents are taking care of the crabs...well, anyway, here's my rating assuming that the kids/parents have decent information. (honestly, though, i still remember the horror i experienced when my cousin, who has a very nature-oriented son, mentioned that it would be a cool art project to paint some hermit crab shells...)

anyway:
ecuadorians:
species temperament: friendly, outgoing, and active, but this makes them harder to hold since they're prone to running off your hand and falling.
sensitivity to temp/ humidity fluctuations: not too sensitive. mine routinely get cooler temps at night (down to 70's) and warmer temperatures during the day, when i turn the heat lamp on. they also have had to endure both my jury-rigged KK with its probable humidity fluctuations, and my boyfriend's sauna treatment (water managed to puddle in the bottom of the tank :/ boyfriend didn't know better, since the surface sand was dry) without incident.
specific heating requirements: i suppose between 70's and 100's?
how hard they pinch: not too bad, i've gotten a few nips from these guys, but their claws are too small to really hurt. they also don't hang on when they pinch.

rating:
beginner:
these guys can stand up to a lot of punishment. i think what kills them most is overhandling (falling off things, etc) and probably lack of saltwater in most cases. from my experience, they're one of the hardier species, possibly more so than the PPs.

PPs
species temperament: very laid back, can be more shy than Es. a lot less danger of dropping them.
sensitivity to temp/ humidity fluctuations: i had two that managed to survive in a tupperware of alternately damp/dry calcisand (when i first started six months of so ago...how far i've come!), so i'd have to say very hardy. one of them molted successfully and is still with me. three of them didn't survive the wet tank sand of the aforementioned sauna episode, perhaps they were molting and just couldn't take it? either way, came out with more casualties than the Es :/
specific heating requirements: 80's-100's. they're just not active at all, otherwise.
how hard they pinch: they're not as likely to pinch, but when they do...ouch. they're more likely to hang on as well, which makes for a bad experience (one of my large PPs pinched me for a good 20 minutes straight. i don't think i'll ever fear being pinched again - nothing could be that painful.)

rating:
intermediate:
while they're a good, hardy species, PPs are less active and have a more painful pinch, which could definitely cause them to be neglected by beginners. it's a miracle they survive the gravel-lined KKs for as long as they do, but for anyone who's not a dedicated crabber, they're just boring little creatures that die within the month and never come out of their shells.

I would have to say Aussie as beginner level because they are all we can get here! But also I have found them to pretty tough and forgiving to all my mistakes. I have lost 4 in 10months, 2 disappeared over the top of the tank and were never seen again while 2 where ripped apart by a new killer crab. No deaths from illness or anything like that.