Biggest shell opening?

[purpleperson]

My largest and border
One jumbo, tom


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I really love the colouring of the legs on this one.


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[daws409]

This is my biggest guy, Hermie (named by the 5 year old who wanted me to take him as he realized he was scared of him)
His shell opening is 2 1/4". I honestly always thought that PPs maxed out at 2 1/4" or 2 1/2". I'm asking as someone recently told me they have a crab with a 3" opening or bigger and I am very skeptical lol



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Wow! That's huge! I've never seen a PP that big. Carbunkle (viola) & Nova (indo) is about the same size. I wish I had better pics of them

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[GotButterflies]

123AE. ... oh my gosh, he gorgeous!

I seriously hope I can get all my crew to that size. My partner has no idea how much we're going to spend on shells yet.

I'm already preparing my arguments

I figure, my crabs will never need shots, see the vet, need licenses, medicines, or vaccinations, or surgery for escaping the fence and getting hit by a car, no fence reinforcement bills, and no second dr bill for replacing the cast she tore herself out of to burrow under the fence again after the first reinforcement effort was completed, no obedience school training, etc. Some of my family's dogs have not been very bri

I think I could come up with a really great cost/benefit analysis

Or boarding or homeowners insurance We had a German Shepherd that was covered under our homeowners insurance! Lol!

Edit: I think I started to erase your post...sorry!

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[Dragonfreak]

They're huge I love them..hope mine get that big.

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[123AE]

123AE. ... oh my gosh, he gorgeous!

I seriously hope I can get all my crew to that size. My partner has no idea how much we're going to spend on shells yet.

Hehe I was only 10 when I got him and now I'm thirteen. He is definitely one of my favs, mostly because he's never hard to find.


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[LadyJinglyJones]

I'm already preparing my arguments

I figure, my crabs will never need shots, see the vet, need licenses, medicines, or vaccinations, or surgery for escaping the fence and getting hit by a car, no fence reinforcement bills, and no second dr bill for replacing the cast she tore herself out of to burrow under the fence again after the first reinforcement effort was completed, no obedience school training, etc. Some of my family's dogs have not been very bright.

I think I could come up with a really great cost/benefit analysis

OMG - you should make an analysis, we couild turn it into a sheet... every crabber needs a quick set of arguments to justify their behaviour! It's essential crabber info!

Re: size

When they get that big they moult much less frequently. Once or twice a year - but it takes a lot longer for them to come up because a bigger crab uses more energy moulting & needs longer recovery times.

[purpleperson]

This is my biggest guy, Hermie (named by the 5 year old who wanted me to take him as he realized he was scared of him)
His shell opening is 2 1/4". I honestly always thought that PPs maxed out at 2 1/4" or 2 1/2". I'm asking as someone recently told me they have a crab with a 3" opening or bigger and I am very skeptical lol



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Wow! That's huge! I've never seen a PP that big. Carbunkle (viola) & Nova (indo) is about the same size. I wish I had better pics of them

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Your indo is gorgeous. (They're my absolute favourite species!!) im jealous. Lol


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[daws409]

Your indo is gorgeous. (They're my absolute favourite species!!) im jealous. Lol


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Thanks

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[Hermiearth]

On big crabs molting- my two biggest are coming up on 1 year without molting, last time the molted the grew so much it was crazy! The bigger of the two is slightly larger than a tennis ball, can't wait so see how they look after there next molt!


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[Visual]

This is my biggest guy, Hermie (named by the 5 year old who wanted me to take him as he realized he was scared of him)
His shell opening is 2 1/4". I honestly always thought that PPs maxed out at 2 1/4" or 2 1/2". I'm asking as someone recently told me they have a crab with a 3" opening or bigger and I am very skeptical lol



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Wow! That's huge! I've never seen a PP that big. Carbunkle (viola) & Nova (indo) is about the same size. I wish I had better pics of them

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Your indo is gorgeous. (They're my absolute favourite species!!) im jealous. Lol


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Holy moley!


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[CrabMater]

Wow! That's huge! I've never seen a PP that big. Carbunkle (viola) & Nova (indo) is about the same size. I wish I had better pics of them

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Your indo is gorgeous. (They're my absolute favourite species!!) im jealous. Lol


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Holy moley!


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Visual took the words right out of my mouth. Those are some biguns!! Id be terrified to hold them. I got pinched by Pinchy so bad I really cant look at my guys w/o thinking of that time i got the claw. But wow, i hope to be able to grow my 3 that big. Bless em

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[wodesorel]

The average crab owner will never need anything more than a 2 inch opening, and even that is pushing it. Most crabs will choose to stay in smaller shells with their legs hanging out rather than have to lug around a huge and heavy shell that fits them to what we think is perfect.

purpleperson, keep in mind that the shell he's wearing is an oval opening - which means while it measures bigger than a turbo it has much less room for their butt in the back because of the way it's shaped. He'd be swimming in a Jade turbo with the same opening size, but the shell would also weigh a lot more and probably wouldn't be worth the trade off for the extra energy needed to lug it around.

In theory - yes - a full grown wild-caught PP could take a shell opening up to 3 or 4 inches, but I doubt very many would want to. Shell weight versus fit has been well studied for years and while a shell may fit them better, they will pass it over if it means it takes them too much energy to lift and carry. Energy takes food and it takes away from what they can store up for molting.

That said, I have a shell in my collection from a lovely lady who said that her last late crab was wearing it before he died. It has around a 3 inch opening. I've always kind of questioned that myself, but it's a carved shell and wasn't very heavy so maybe it's the truth. The largest jumbos I've seen in person (wild caught, as ones in captivity never reach that size) could have fit into it but had zero interest. I think the largest shell I've had a PP willingly take was a huge magpie with probably a 2.5 inch opening that a member here mailed to me just for him, and even then his legs stuck out a bit. He was insanely bulky though, like a weight lifter. (And for anyone thinking jumbos are awesome - please know that not a single crab of mine that I've talked about here survived through their first molt in captivity. The big guys do not have the ability to adapt after being collected.)

[GotButterflies]

That's really sad Wode.


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[purpleperson]

The average crab owner will never need anything more than a 2 inch opening, and even that is pushing it. Most crabs will choose to stay in smaller shells with their legs hanging out rather than have to lug around a huge and heavy shell that fits them to what we think is perfect.

purpleperson, keep in mind that the shell he's wearing is an oval opening - which means while it measures bigger than a turbo it has much less room for their butt in the back because of the way it's shaped. He'd be swimming in a Jade turbo with the same opening size, but the shell would also weigh a lot more and probably wouldn't be worth the trade off for the extra energy needed to lug it around.

In theory - yes - a full grown wild-caught PP could take a shell opening up to 3 or 4 inches, but I doubt very many would want to. Shell weight versus fit has been well studied for years and while a shell may fit them better, they will pass it over if it means it takes them too much energy to lift and carry. Energy takes food and it takes away from what they can store up for molting.

That said, I have a shell in my collection from a lovely lady who said that her last late crab was wearing it before he died. It has around a 3 inch opening. I've always kind of questioned that myself, but it's a carved shell and wasn't very heavy so maybe it's the truth. The largest jumbos I've seen in person (wild caught, as ones in captivity never reach that size) could have fit into it but had zero interest. I think the largest shell I've had a PP willingly take was a huge magpie with probably a 2.5 inch opening that a member here mailed to me just for him, and even then his legs stuck out a bit. He was insanely bulky though, like a weight lifter. (And for anyone thinking jumbos are awesome - please know that not a single crab of mine that I've talked about here survived through their first molt in captivity. The big guys do not have the ability to adapt after being collected.)

Thanks for the info!
I actually took his measurements off a turbo when he was in it, I don't measure in the oval opening since he hangs out of it. This is his 2-3 year in captivity that I know of. So far so well but they big guys molt so infrequently it's hard to say how he's doing.


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[123AE]

The average crab owner will never need anything more than a 2 inch opening, and even that is pushing it. Most crabs will choose to stay in smaller shells with their legs hanging out rather than have to lug around a huge and heavy shell that fits them to what we think is perfect.

purpleperson, keep in mind that the shell he's wearing is an oval opening - which means while it measures bigger than a turbo it has much less room for their butt in the back because of the way it's shaped. He'd be swimming in a Jade turbo with the same opening size, but the shell would also weigh a lot more and probably wouldn't be worth the trade off for the extra energy needed to lug it around.

In theory - yes - a full grown wild-caught PP could take a shell opening up to 3 or 4 inches, but I doubt very many would want to. Shell weight versus fit has been well studied for years and while a shell may fit them better, they will pass it over if it means it takes them too much energy to lift and carry. Energy takes food and it takes away from what they can store up for molting.

That said, I have a shell in my collection from a lovely lady who said that her last late crab was wearing it before he died. It has around a 3 inch opening. I've always kind of questioned that myself, but it's a carved shell and wasn't very heavy so maybe it's the truth. The largest jumbos I've seen in person (wild caught, as ones in captivity never reach that size) could have fit into it but had zero interest. I think the largest shell I've had a PP willingly take was a huge magpie with probably a 2.5 inch opening that a member here mailed to me just for him, and even then his legs stuck out a bit. He was insanely bulky though, like a weight lifter. (And for anyone thinking jumbos are awesome - please know that not a single crab of mine that I've talked about here survived through their first molt in captivity. The big guys do not have the ability to adapt after being collected.)

I don't think that it's right that a possibly 30 year old animal is took out of its home and put into a tank that is so much smaller than the wild equivalent. The only way I ever can justify buying an animal that is wild caught is because some animals have incredibly low survival rate in the wild however jumbos don't really have any natural predators so there is not any reason to take the them unless you know that you're probably the only chance that that animal has for survival and I'm sure that you took much better care than anyone else could. Dont know why I'm saying this because you have been keeping hermit crabs for longer than I've been alive but basically I'm trying to agree that jumbos belong in the wild unless they've been raised from their baby stages. Also do you think indos would prefer jade turbos due to their huge claw size.


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