HCA: Hermit Crab Association

The E I got yesterday is blue. Here is a picture, I don't have a better quality one up yet:

http://s23.photobucket.com/user/Doom_So ... 9990308499

Her legs are tinted an odd shade of blue and there are more vibrant spots of blue higher up on her body. I've tried researching it and some sites say she'll grow out of the color because only young ones get that but then some sites make it sound like that's just going to be her coloring and isn't something she'll grow out of as she gets older.

Does anyone know which is right? Does anyone here have or have had a blue E and can tell me what it's coloring did as it got older? Any advice would be appreciated, I'm just not sure since I've found two different answers, lol.

Yup, as babies and juvies they are either blue or green-ish, I've even seen white ones, however, as they mature they start to turn thier typical tans, browns, creams, oranges etc.
The baby blue doesnt stay around for long (hint hint: take LOTS of pics now) It takes only a few molts for that adorable coloring to dissapear.

Most Ecuadorians do lose the majority of their blue as they molt and grow larger. Occasionally they will stay more in the blue/grey family as they grow. I have one medium Ecuadorian who has maintained most of her blue and only gets brown on her leg tips.

Jack

Wow..those blue E's are amazing. Here is a clearer picture of her. We named her Vesper. http://s23.photobucket.com/user/Doom_So ... sort=3&o=0

Her blue is no where near the blue of those E's sugar posted. Thanks for letter me know! She looks like she might end up gray then?

sugarselections wrote:Most Ecuadorians do lose the majority of their blue as they molt and grow larger. Occasionally they will stay more in the blue/grey family as they grow. I have one medium Ecuadorian who has maintained most of her blue and only gets brown on her leg tips.

Jack

Wow. She looks so much like C. purpureus... could've fooled me!

All my babies started as blue or green (like, neon lime green) and usually on their first molt they turned brown, mustard yellow, or bright orange. They tend to retain the bright white on their undersides, but their legs always get darker as they get older. I have one female who has hints of blue-ish grey (which is why she's named MistE) that I got probably two years ago and who molts regularly, but she's nothing like sugars! My other two old timers turned brown-orange, the big male I adopted last summer came and stayed orange, and then there's my big guy who was bought looking like a strawberry hermit crab and who has only gotten stronger in color.

When they first arrived:



And after a few months:




And the really big guy:



I strongly believe that UVB helps in keeping the blue-green color (I don't use it, but sugar does). And it could also be diet, but I just give mine the same thing that my PPs get, and all my PPs are blue.

Wow! The blue and yellow ones are beautiful! What do you feed your crabs that could be contributing to their blue color? I have a PP that is now my biggest, her entire body is a deep dark purple.
Here she is: http://s23.photobucket.com/user/Doom_So ... sort=3&o=7

Will she stay that dark purple? She's big enough that she must be an adult by now.

Also, my avatar picture is the E that died during a molt awhile back after getting attacked. Does his color mean he was an adult?

I'm not too crazy with diet, but they get a lot of fresh (frozen for easy storage) fruits like apples, coconut, banana, pears, etc. Dried crickets and shrimp. Stuff from my garden. Honestly, I think that's just how they mature. I've had several turn orange/yellow as they age, although I've lost nearly all of them to cannibalism. Tan is another common color, but I found that it tends to be a transitional coloration that only lasts a few molts before they brighten up into an orange or yellow or red.

I really would love to know how sugars managed to stay that vibrant. It's amazing!

"Adult" is a relative term. It takes them about 20 years to reach full size, but they can start reproducing at a few years of age. I say "baby color" just because they seem to grow out of them when they transition from micro/small to small/medium, and to me, that's a baby crab. (Of course, the majority of my PPs are monsters, so anything egg sized I think is tiny now!)

I do think your PP is likely to stay dark. They get deeper colored as they age, and once they darken they tend to stay that way. A varied diet is the best way to keep them healthy and colorful though!

The funny thing is that when I first got Jack as a small Ecuadorian 5+ years ago, she was brown. She became electric blue after a couple years with me and has since settled into a more blue/grey or grey/lavender coloring. At one point, many of my Ecuadorians became blue all at once for unknown reasons. One of my large Indos also turned blue at that time. I've often thought substrate might play some role in coloring. I have a double fluorescent fixture on my crabitat and I keep it so one has a plain bulb and the other has a UV reptile bulb.

Jack when she was electric blue


Jack and Coco during the "blue phase" many of my Ecuadorians went through years ago


Bali (Indo)


Here's an old picture of two of my Ecuadorians, Glory (small) & Rio (large), that illustrates the color change that occurs in most Ecuadorians as they grow