Home

Choosing Your Crabs

You might not think its difficult but choosing the right hermit crabs can make all the difference. It can mean the difference between life and death. More often than not hermies that are kept in poor conditions ,before you buy them, suffer later on. This can be from any manner of problems most of which you can do nothing about( example:a hermit given water with chlorine in it could suffer more irrepairable respitory problems) How would it feel to have to watch the little crab you had become so attached to fade away before your very eyes. Not good so its best avoiding those sort of situations.

Not only is it bad news for you as an owner it also perpetuates poor standard of trade which is NOT what you want to be doing for the sakes of other hermits.

So what to do? Well First of all make sure you have a nice set-up ready for the crabs at home as its a recipe for disaster to buy any pet on impulse. Be clued up before you decide to buy. Th enmake the decision as to what species you want to buy. I would recommend people that dont have much experience with crabs to start off with Purple Pinchers(Coenobita Clypeatus) You can read a description of the species on the species page.

Now your ready to buy crabs!
When your at the store make check out the tanks setup. Does it smell? Is there food and water available? Are the crabs all alive? Is it clean? Any flies or forgein creatures near or on the crabs? If you answer yes to any of those questions then I wouldnt advise you to buy from that store. Sadly when crabs are kept in poor conditions they have a hard time recovering from it and they often dont do too well. Most pet stores are not famed for their wonderful set-ups and crab care. It might be a bit of a chore to find one infact but it really is well worth it when it comes down to it.

So youve found a good store (congrats. ! :D )
Now for the crab picking! Look around and see whats going on... are there any lively ones running around? Those are the crabs that you should be looking for. The healthy looking ones... you know when you see a healthy crab. Anntenae are going all over and they seem happy and maybe even a bit manic! :D . But as Ive mentioned do keep in mind crabs are nocturnal and many are going to be as active at 3pm as you would be at 3am! Take it into account.

Anatomically you should look for
1) Eyes - two on stalks
2) Full set of apendages. Thats 2 legs on each side with a large pincher and a smaller pincher. 6 legs and claws all included.

Dont however shun a crab that is missing a leg or a claw. They can regenerate limbs through moulting. But if given the choice choose a crab with a full set.

You wont really be able to see a full display of the crabs behaviour in the store. You might be able to find out if the hermie is gonna be a pincher or if its gonna be a little shy but thats really all. You can REALLY see what the hermit is going to be like.

Have fun! Follow the steps and get the perfect healthy crabs that are going to give you their best!!