HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I was just browsing hermit crabs online and came across a site selling hermit crabs. They had Pink Indigo crabs. I'd never heard of these before. Does anyone here have them and are they rare? The crab in the picture looked gorgeous and it made me curious.

Pink Indos, perhaps?

It's a color variation of regular Indo hermit crabs. For some reason they're bright pink rather than the normal dark purple/maroon.

Yeah, that's what I meant, lol. Are they rare? I haven't seen them mentioned much around here.

I think flutinkat has some or was wanting to get some, so she probably could contribute here. I'll send her a PM and redirect to this topic.

doomsong wrote:Yeah, that's what I meant, lol. Are they rare? I haven't seen them mentioned much around here.

You can look them up on here and find pictures, a few of our members have some They're not "rare" exactly but they're a less common colour morph. Sometimes LHC has them in stock if you're interested Really, it's just a morph. Like how a dalmation morph (when they grow spots) would be considered "rare" for crested geckos.

Lauren has some, I believe. Ask her, She definately knows all about them.

LHC is where I think I saw them, actually. They are so gorgeous! They look like they get big though. I'll have to ask Lauren how she likes having them! I think I'd be too scared to branch off into more exotic species right now, but I've had a thought in the back of my head about getting a Viola or now one of these beautiful pink Indos when I have my own apartment and a bigger setup.

doomsong wrote:LHC is where I think I saw them, actually. They are so gorgeous! They look like they get big though. I'll have to ask Lauren how she likes having them! I think I'd be too scared to branch off into more exotic species right now, but I've had a thought in the back of my head about getting a Viola or now one of these beautiful pink Indos when I have my own apartment and a bigger setup.

If size is the issue, really, they get about the same size as a full grown PP. But with that extra big BP, they look a lot bigger, and the super jumbo "armoured" indo is sought after with more "hardcore" keepers, so you'll see them pop up now and then. Any crab can get to that "super jumbo" size Whenever you feel like branching off, they're both great species to try And you can always order small and ask for the smallest ones she can find

Wolfnipplechips is the one to talk to about Indos - she loves hers and she's had them for a couple of years now. But yes, they are the largest hermit crab species in captivity, so there is that to think about once they start growing.

Now that the hermit crab importers know that we're looking for the pink color specifically, they will separate out any that are pinkish in color and offer them separately for sale. That means that while you can buy exactly the color you want, they will sell out faster. You're best bet is to contact LHC and see when they're getting a new shipment in if you really wanted them.

wodesorel wrote: But yes, they are the largest hermit crab species in captivity, so there is that to think about once they start growing.

Whoops, thanks for that! xD

Yeah, if they get pretty big, I'll totally wait till I have our apartment and a bigger set up. Salazar is strolling her way to getting big, but I think she has awhile before she gets really big.

How quickly do they grow? Like if you get a tiny one, how quickly do they get big?

The problem with exotics is that they are expensive to keep - your crab budget can quickly balloon into hundreds of dollars to keep them in the conditions they need. I certainly had this experience, and I've seen more than one person (including mods) say the same thing. Not only does shipping cost nearly 50 dollars (my order for six teeny crabs cost 120 dollars!), you might have to immediately get predatory mites (usually another 50 dollars with shipping or more), plus they need a big tank, lots of seafood protein, perfect conditions, lots of substrate (8 inches minimum), sometimes different shells, etc. Basically, plan on spending up to 200 dollars pretty much the moment you first decide to order exotics between the cost of the crab, shipping, predatory mites, food, shells or you might find yourself unable to provide the care they need. I love exotics, obviously, but they probably aren't a good college pet - exotics will die easily in conditions that PPs might do well in. Just my two cents! After graduation would be the perfect time to look - you'll be used to living poor but making good money, so you'll have a little bit of extra cash to spend.

Yeah, I wasn't considering getting any until after I graduated and we got our apartment in December. Sounds like they are a huge undertaking, flutinkat! I might just stick with PPs and E's, LOL. Maybe a couple years down the road when I can be 100% certain I'd have the means to take on caring for an exotic, I'll do it. Those violas and pink indos are just so gorgeous. You must be incredibly proud of them!

I have both "regular" and pink Indos, but like wodes said, there are other members who've owned them for much longer than I have. I'd wanted a pink indo for several years actually, since I first saw them on the LHC.com website but they're very, very rarely listed as being in stock. When I asked about availability, frequency of shipments, etc. regarding them, it seems that there really is no regularity to when, how often and/or how many she can ever expect them--definitely very "hit or miss". Fortunately there are sometimes a few pinks that come in with the regular indos--which is how I ended up with mine. Honestly though, I find the purple coloring of the regular indos to be absolutely gorgeous too, so IMO at least, they're a win-win lol. I actually just got 2 medium indos in my order from LHC last week, there were no pinks available this time but the 2 I received are an absolutely beautiful lavender.

I also just had my first successful indo molt--one of my smalls surfaced several days ago AND finally changed out of her horribly ugly and too-small shell into a nice polished turbo lol. Since they are just a different color morph, their care needs are identical to those of any other Indo, and while there is a lot of conflicting info out there about them (many sources say that they prefer lower humidity levels than other exotics, don't like water/bathing, need to have the substrate on one half of the tank be dry, etc.), but after speaking to several people here who've owned indos for quite a while--sugarselections was particularly helpful--it seems that they're not only fine, but appear to thrive in the same conditions recommended for other exotics--and if they don't like water then someone definitely forgot to tell mine that .

Flutinkat provided some excellent advice regarding exotics in general also. Just finding appropriate shells of the correct size for my large (actually, since they need shells with openings that fall into the "jumbo" category I suppose they're technically jumbos) Indos that weren't prohibitively expensive was quite a feat.

I have a pink indo that I got nearly four years ago from ELHC. I got my first indos before that from HCV and I have a few indos that I've gotten in recent years from LHC. Can you tell indos are my favorite? Yes, they can get huge, but are generally slow growers and rarely have the growth spurts that are fairly common in other species.

Below is a recent picture of some of my indos. From left to right: Clementine, straw. Cashew, typical pink/brown coloring indo from LHC. Merah, pink indo from ELHC. Pecan, purple-ish indo from LHC.