My hermit crabs

[Ceph Roy]

Ok, I know that this topic does't have much to do with octopuses but here it goes. (Anyway)
After realizing I wasn't ready for an octopus just yet or even to set up a tank for them I decided to still attempt at getting some sort of invert for a pet. I had already tried mantis shrimp, but lets just say it didn't work out to well.
About 1 month ago I was talking to another Godzilla Fan over AIM. he was telling me about college and how lifes going. Then he started to tell me about his two new pet hermit crabs, how he was giving them baths, how they chirped and played(whatever you wanna call it) with eachother. I grew fastinated and for the following week afterwords I did intense research on them and decided that they were the kind of pets that I had been looking for.
The next 7 days afterwards were spent on getting the suplies I needed and sutable tank for them to live in. The entire set up costed about 40 dollars.
Finally about 2 weeks ago I purchased three land hermit crabs of the purple pincher varity(coenobita clypeatus).
Moe, Larry and Curly were their names after I was able to identify that they were all males. Thus a new adventure began.....
If you have ever owned an octopus or wanted to own and octopus these are the pets for you. Like octopus hermit crabs sport different personalities. Some are smart, others are shy. There are ones that will love nothing more then to explore your bed, while others would delighted to see a big piece of popcorn in their food dish!

Fun Facts about Land Hermit Crabs
*Hermit Crabs chirp. It sounds like that of a finch but much softer.

*They can live up to roughly 30 years or more provided you take good care of them.

*You can order man-made plastic shells for Hermit Crabs. crabs take your pick.


If anyone is interested you can visit the following sites:
www.hermit-crabs.com
www.landhermitcrabs.com
www.hermitcrabassociation.com
www.fmrpets.com

I will try to get pics of my crabs as soon as I can!

 

[Nancy]

Thanks, Roy. I keep an salt water invert tank and find all sorts of inverts much more interesting than I ever thought they could be.

Sound like these make an interesting and easy to care for pet, and the lifespan sounds great after our short-lived octos.

I also appreciate the links where they sell shells - could use those for my salt water hermits, too.

Nancy

 

[Melissa]

Thanks, Roy!

For the first few sentences I couldn't see how someone could keep HORSESHOE crabs in a small tank. I need more coffee!

Nancy, do octos eat marine hermits? It seems like so much work - the house and the crab exoskeleton, but that may not be a deterrent from a favorite meal. For that matter, does anything eat horseshoe crabs?

Great avatar, Roy!

Melissa

 

[Ceph Roy]

Octopuses do eat marine hermits,(sadly) provided that they have the chance.
there's a video clip somewhere at Tonmo with a young octopus attacking a young hermit
oh, thanks.
I have better avatars though. like this one.

 

[Nancy]

Since marine hermits are usually quite small, it's the young octopuses that like them. Later on, the octopus won't bother with them - too small, so they can live together.

Nancy