I want to get crabs!

whoami?

Arachnoknight
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Jul 27, 2002
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219
I love crabs very much, but as far as pets go, I'd only be interested in the land variety (I don't want to have to mess with water quality and all that crap).

Does anyone know where i could buy land crabs? Crabs kick ass.

And no, I don't want hermits. Hermits suck. I want REAL crabs, crab-looking crabs that move like crabs and have the classic crab shape and don't have to bother with hauling around a bigass shell all the time.

Just to give you an idea of what I'm looking for, I'd like to look for a crab that has a legspan of not much more than a foot. Robber crabs, for example, would be way too large. I don't want those tiny fiddler crabs you find in many pet stores, but size IS an issue.

In any case, I want to get crabs. If you know of a dealer that sells them, that would be much appreciated. Thanks.
 

Wh1teshark

Arachnoknight
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Oct 28, 2003
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hehe, i was a bit worried there for a while...


I have only seen small freshwater crabs with red claws, don't know what they are called. They were about three centimeters long but pretty neat. I heard they were pretty sensitive to water quality.


/David
 

Navaros

Arachnoprince
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Sometimes at herp shows like white plains there are people who sell land crabs. They are nice size and really cool.
 

Wade

Arachnoking
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Here's a good one to get:

http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/aquatic/crabhole3.htm

I've got two of them right now and they're really cool. About 3" accross the carapice, so with the legs you're looking at 8" of crab! They're like giant, powder blue fiddler crabs. Primarily vegetarian, but will take some meat. I'm keeping the in a 50 gallon tank with about 8" of sand and peat, kept moist, with a large water bowl.

I picked them up at a reptile show. Crabs are generally not bred in captivity, unfortunately, because even land crabs must go to the sea to lay their eggs, and the larvae are tiny, almost microscopic, plankton. This means that they're often only sesonably available, usually in the summertime.

There's also annother neat one called a "moon crab" that's in the pet trade. Not sure of the latin, however. Possibly Gecarcinus?

Wade
 

whoami?

Arachnoknight
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Jul 27, 2002
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Originally posted by Wade
Here's a good one to get:

http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/aquatic/crabhole3.htm

I've got two of them right now and they're really cool. About 3" accross the carapice, so with the legs you're looking at 8" of crab! They're like giant, powder blue fiddler crabs. Primarily vegetarian, but will take some meat. I'm keeping the in a 50 gallon tank with about 8" of sand and peat, kept moist, with a large water bowl.

I picked them up at a reptile show. Crabs are generally not bred in captivity, unfortunately, because even land crabs must go to the sea to lay their eggs, and the larvae are tiny, almost microscopic, plankton. This means that they're often only sesonably available, usually in the summertime.

There's also annother neat one called a "moon crab" that's in the pet trade. Not sure of the latin, however. Possibly Gecarcinus?

Wade
Hey, that actually looks like the species I had in mind. When I was under 10 years old, I remember having a bigass crab that looked almost exactly like that. Only difference was that my crab's claw wasn't that big (I guess I had a female).

Anyway, it's good to see the scientific name for those bastards. I'll look for 'em once the weather starts to heat up.
 

Wade

Arachnoking
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Actually, on that species both the male and the female have one big claw, although the males may be bigger. The "moon crabs" I mentioned don't have the one oversided claw, so that might have been what you had.

BTW, don't dismiss hermit crabs. When kept correctly, they're interesting and very long-lived. To bad they have a "disposable pet" reputation.

Wade
 

Navaros

Arachnoprince
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Oct 23, 2003
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Where can you get those crabs wade? I regret not getting a couple of the land crabs I saw at a white plains show, they were cool, had nice color and were like 4 inches or so. A guy I know was also selling some blue lobsters and stuff a few shows ago, they were awesome, had a few other species too.
 

Wade

Arachnoking
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I got them from an importer called "R.M.J." at the reptile show in Hamburg, PA. He said he usually has them in the summer.

Wade
 

TheWidowsPeak

Arachnosquire
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Feb 19, 2003
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have you ever seen a halloween crab? do a search for them they are awsome.
 

Navaros

Arachnoprince
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Hey john, those are the ones I was talking about. The ones I regret not buying! :D Hopefully I can find some again!
 

AudreyElizabeth

Arachnodemon
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Feb 10, 2003
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741
I had a 'Halloween Crab' that died from unknown causes a while back. I miss her.

They offer them ocassionally at my local petstore, and I have heard them referred to as 'soapdish crabs' and 'moon crabs' but no latin names.....

I may try again, maybe I'll have better luck next time.
 
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