Where to get female crabs?

[tullaia]

So I have seven crabs at the moment. They're all male. All three pet stores I've gone to only have male crabs (PetSmart, Pet Supplies Plus, and PetCo). I can't find anyone in my area who has crabs to adopt and I really want female crabs. Not for breeding purposes, though. I name them after my favorite book characters (like Frodo, Harry, and Simon) and I have favorite female book characters too that I want to name a few crabs after. Maybe it's a silly reason, but that's just me. Does anyone know any places that sell female crabs? Thanks!

[GotButterflies]

I really don't think that pet stores don't know the difference between male and female. They buy in bulk. You just have to look for female crabs. Are you looking for their gonopores? They are really tiny, so they can be hard to locate. I guess it is possible the hermit crab trade leave the females in the wild to produce more babies, so there could just be more males in the stores. I'm not sure.

[aussieJJDude]

First things first... can your tank support more crabs?

IDk if its just me, a species thing or just a coenobita thing, but I found that the females tend to be a lot more smaller, and less active in comparison to the males. However, females for me tend to be a lot more chill, and if they are walking around looks like they have a purpose for doing so.
Ok, real life analogy. Males I find to be like a 5 year old on a sugar rush that was taken to the local park - complete with jungle gym - and is the one you see running around wanting to play on everything and climb everything... However, for females, they like those quiet children you see building a sandcastle, quietly trying to build the biggest and prettiest - hunting for "decorations" - castle, you can see the hardwork and determination... For me, I normally have a pretty good idea looking at which ones are the males and females, as the males more often than not are the active ones while the females are the ones that you see chilling in a corner.

[daws409]

First things first... can your tank support more crabs?

IDk if its just me, a species thing or just a coenobita thing, but I found that the females tend to be a lot more smaller, and less active in comparison to the males. However, females for me tend to be a lot more chill, and if they are walking around looks like they have a purpose for doing so.
Ok, real life analogy. Males I find to be like a 5 year old on a sugar rush that was taken to the local park - complete with jungle gym - and is the one you see running around wanting to play on everything and climb everything... However, for females, they like those quiet children you see building a sandcastle, quietly trying to build the biggest and prettiest - hunting for "decorations" - castle, you can see the hardwork and determination... For me, I normally have a pretty good idea looking at which ones are the males and females, as the males more often than not are the active ones while the females are the ones that you see chilling in a corner.

Haven't thought of it that way, but that makes a lot of sense.

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[LadyJinglyJones]

Hm... Luis is my most active, climb-y-est crab, and she decidedly has gonopores. She's a PP. Maybe they're different.

Tullaia, I'm curious as to how you've been sexing the crabs... it can be tricky to spot gonopores on a wriggling crab that you're trying to peer at the underside of... is it possible you just didn't catch sight of them? Have you been looking at the last pair of walking legs?

[tullaia]

I really don't think that pet stores don't know the difference between male and female. They buy in bulk. You just have to look for female crabs. Are you looking for their gonopores? They are really tiny, so they can be hard to locate. I guess it is possible the hermit crab trade leave the females in the wild to produce more babies, so there could just be more males in the stores. I'm not sure.

According to the signs on the cases at the pet store they're all male, and I've checked for the gonopores as well, multiple times. Thanks though! I'll just keep searching

[tullaia]

Hm... Luis is my most active, climb-y-est crab, and she decidedly has gonopores. She's a PP. Maybe they're different.

Tullaia, I'm curious as to how you've been sexing the crabs... it can be tricky to spot gonopores on a wriggling crab that you're trying to peer at the underside of... is it possible you just didn't catch sight of them? Have you been looking at the last pair of walking legs?

Yes, I've made sure to check for gonopores in the right place and I've checked multiple times with each crab as well. Something else I read a few years ago when I got my first crab was if you can't see the gonopores or the crab won't come far enough out of the shell for you to check, there's a good chance that the PPs with the longer hairs on their legs are males. Apparently it doesn't guarantee it but that's one way to tell. All my crabs seem to have the same amount of hairs on their legs and since I haven't located any gonopores, I think they're all males. Maybe it's the luck of the draw and I just haven't come a cross a female yet. I'll keep trying - it's an excuse to get more hermit crabs. Thanks!

[Rawrgeous]

I will warn, that you will likely need a minimum of a 40 gallon tank to support more than 7 crabs. I know it's tempting to get more, but there have even been times when crabs have been known to develop gonopores... To be honest I see no difference in the behavior of my male purple pinchers compared to my females. I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but it is really easy to overload a tank, and I wouldn't want to see any of your babies at risk due newcomers.