Land Hermit Crabs. (Very pic heavy!)

So I have about 66 of these little guys.
I have 7 species, C. brevimanus, C. clypeatus, C. compressus, C. rugosus, C. perlatus, C. violascens, and C. purpureus.
They range from being able to fit on a dime to baseball size. The majority of them reside in my 110 gallon terrarium, created specifically for them. Here are some pics.
*Note, I do not agree with the use of painted shells, cruel methods are used to force hermit crabs to change into them and hermitcrabs have a sensitive digestive system, and like to scavenge on anything, including paint chips. I was lucky enough to discover some C. compressus at petco, and snatched them up. Unfortunatly a few of them have yet to change out of the painted shells they came in.

C. clypeatus (Otherwise known as 'Purple Pinchers" or "The purple clawed crab". These are the most common species.)









C. compressus (Otherwise known as "Ecuadorian hermit crabs")







C. brevimanus (Otherwise known as the "Indo" or "Indonesian hermit crab" )






C. rugosus (Otherwise known as a "Ruggie", these guys come in many different colors.)




^The one on the left is a Ruggie, the one on the rights is not.

^ The one on the right is a Rug, the one on the left is not.

^The one on the left is a Rug

C. Perlatus (Otherwise know as a "Strawberry" hermit crab, for obvious reasons)







C. violascens (Otherwise known as a "Viola" They start out rusty red when young and turn a preatty lavender as they age.)






C. purpureus (Otherwise known as a "Blueberry" hermit crab. These only recently became avaliable in the pet trade.)



^The hermit in the lower half of the picture is a C. purpureus.



Thanks for looking!

Wow, they look amazing and so healthy, your set up looks great, would love to see a wider shot of it.

I wonder why people feel they need to put them in those painted shells, they look so much better in the natural ones.

Great pictures by the way

i would have to agree with you on natural over painted much better as nature intended
jim.and

Awesome pics mate. Thanks for sharing. Can't say iv ever kept hermit crabs, do they have personality? I do love the look of the C. Perlatus, colours are stunning

kfenk wrote:

Awesome pics mate. Thanks for sharing. Can't say iv ever kept hermit crabs, do they have personality? I do love the look of the C. Perlatus, colours are stunning

Yea the C. perlatus are one of the more challenging species to keep, they lose their color easier and faster than the other species if not fed enough beta carotene. My oldest ones have been with me two years, and they have kept their coloring...so I must be doing something right!
I think they have huge personalities once they've adjusted to their habitat. For example, my jumbo indo will not let anyone in the food bowl with her! That's why I have two food bowls on the opposite ends of the tank. And the Ecuadorians are just plain hyper. Every single one of them, their antennas are always moving faster than others, they never go anywhere slowly. If they wanna get somewhere, they sprint to it!
It's sad to me how many people buy them at the beach or on impulse without realizing these guys need a heated tank, fresh and saltwater, substrate to burrow and molt in, and that they can live for over 20 years and get to the size of a baseball!
Sorry, thats just my little hermit crab rights rant,
But anyway, I just redecorated their tank, so i'll post picks in a little while.

WOW! thats cool!

I must admit i have always had a soft spot for the old hermit crabs, I have never kept them but I love the idea of them. And I agree on your rant too!

Keep up the good work, their home look stunning too BTW!

Now we just waiting for full tank shots

Ok Here's the whole tank:

It used to be more heavily planted and the pot used to be a hidey hole for my larger hermits, and now it's a moss pit. I like how it feels more open now. All the gravel covered shower caddy's and baskets hold empty shells, cause they just love to bury any shells left on the substrate. :roll:

And heres my betta, I just think he's really pretty, found him at petco. According to them he is a double tail halfmoon. I don't know if half moons are allowed to be black, but if they are, he definetly has it.

I've been thinking I want to spawn bettas. I did it once when I was 12 with two pet store bettas, but now i want to get a quality pair and spawn them. From what i've read it's a whole lot of work, time, and money, but I think i'm up for it!!

Wow they sure do need alot of sand dont they . Love the betta, he's a stunner. Better do a fair bit of research on breeding bettas as like you said it is a real lot of hard work. But once your setup for it, things seem easy enough

I have a mate of mine who breeds bettas, and now bristlenose

He reckons its no harder than bristlenose once you know what you are doing. The difference is having to keep track of the colours and types you are breeding as there is a lot more pressure to breed colourful ones and specific colour/trait combos. but, in reality brisltenose should be the same. if people put half as much effort into selecting bloodlines and traits for bristlenose breeding can you imagine the variations we could get!!!

Hats off to you Beaver411, looks to me like your well dedicated to looking after your little crabby friends-
and who would have thought that you could get so many varieties-- but you gotta love the USA for their pet keeping laws

J

Yea the sand need to be deep for the baseball size crabs, a minimum of 10" of sand is suggested to give them enough dept to burrow and molt with the worry of being dug up by other crabs just burrowing for fun, or burrowing to molt also.

As far as the bettas go, I'm just gonna get one decent pair(I've heard halfmoons are challenging to breed, so I was thinking crowntails maybe? I've always loved those ) and spawn them, if after all the work I actually want to do it again, i'll look into different bloodlines and more complex color variations and such. I guess I want the experience, moreso than beiong a big time betta breeder. As long as I get a decent breeding pair I'll get pretty babies...right?