HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Padiddle is my large, one eyed E. He spent the first 12 months that I had him molting repeatedly. I probably saw him 15 days out of the year. My guess is that he was trying desperately to regrow his missing eye, but that never happened. What did happen is that he grew from a small E to a large E and is one of the largest crabs I now have in my tank.

Anyone remember the jade turbos in the 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" size that HCP had for sale a while back? I jumped on those and ordered 4 of them to have some bigger shells for my 2 largest PPs that really could use new shells, but refuse to give up their 1 1/8" petolatus shells. They would also be a good size for my largest straw. So a month or so ago who takes one of the shells? Padiddle of course. Now this is weird for a couple of reasons. First, Es usually don't like to change shells, but Padiddle does. Second, the jade turbos have a much roomier interior and Es are supposed to like their shells tight.

Padiddle also is weird in that he hides in the back of the tank and I hardly ever see him, unlike most of my Es that are much more active, so I seldom get a picture. Tonight when I changed the water I put a couple of my larger shells out front because I've noticed the big guys prefer the space of inspecting shells on the substrate instead of in the shell shop. So who checks out the new shells?

Padiddle

hehe, sounds like he's a bit of a clown. He's cute

If he's in a jade turbo that size, I think that makes him the largest E I've ever seen. My medium's feel so powerful to me with their thick legs and broad backs- I can't imagine how big he must appear from an overhead shot. I thought E's in general stayed smaller. Is it normal for an E to get that big? My PPs seem to be growing really quick, but the E's seem slower. Anyway, he's beautiful, one eye and all!

I believe that's a mini Jade turbo not the normal super huge ones.
We got them from HPC a while back, at least I believe it's from the same batchs I got from HCP recently. My straw in my avatar is wearing it. I love those shells I wish he would move back into it

Padiddle thinks he is a Purple Pincher! That's it! Very cute

Padiddle probably does think he's a PP! He's been hanging out with my largest PP lately. Yes, these are the mini jade turbos that HCP was selling. I think I bought 3 that were close to 1 1/2" and 1 at 1 1/4", but I'm not sure which one he's wearing. I've found that some of my Es grow just as fast as my PP, or even faster. I found that I lost my large E that was about the same size as Padiddle when I did my deep clean a few months ago. That E has also grown from small to large in the same timeframe.

what a cutie!

His coloring is beautiful!