Quick Guide to Hermit Crabs

Land Hermit Crabs are fascinating creatures. Welcome to The Quick Guide to land Hermit Crabs.

My name is Michael and I am going to help you step by step on how to become a land hermit crab keeper.

Now what is a Hermit Crab? A Hermit Crab is a Crustacean, a relative to lobsters and shrimp. There are many different types of land hermit crabs but there are two kinds of land hermit crabs most commonly sold as pets, they are the Purple Pincher crab, and the Ecuadorian Crab. I will just call the Purple Pincher crab P.P-crab and the Ecuadorian crab E-crab. Both hermit crabs have a large claw usually on the left side of its body, they use this claw to fight and block their shells opening and for defense, and to climb. They also have a smaller claw which also helps them climb. Both their claws also help them to eat and drink.

Now that you know more about the crabs, it’s time to see how to tell the two apart. The P.P Crab has a big huge claw on its left and always has purple tint on its left claw, it uses this claw to climb on things and to fight with and also to block of the entrance in to its shell. P.P Crabs are also much bigger then E-Crabs and are an orange to reddish color or even a black cherry-like color. While both Crabs like to live by salt water, but I think P.P crabs like to wander the forest near by. They also can survive with out salt water and are the most common hermit crab you can buy as a pet. Now E-Crabs are much smaller in size and make good pets if you like smaller animals. They’re very cute but take a lot more care. They come in many colors, even light blue and yellow, but the most common colors are brown and gray—sometimes maybe even black. While they don’t have a large purple left claw, they do have a large claw with little stitches on the top part (these stitches are also found on their smaller claw). DON’T WORRY, they’re not scars or cuts, just part of their body. Unlike P.P Crabs, they love salt water and they stay very close to the beach. My E-crabs live fine without salt water, so don’t worry about them. Hermit crabs also wear shells on their and are vulnerable without them (you well learn about that in the chapter on Shells). So you if you want to learn abut hermit crabs quickly, this is the book for you.