Hermit crabs

[miskairal]

Are there safe and dangerous hermit crabs and if so how do you tell them
apart? I picked one up at the beach a couple of days ago and seriously
thought about bringing it home for my tank but changed my mind and
thought I'd ask here first.

No, I don't know what sort it is but it's leg colour was boring, sort of
light brownish. It was using an enormous shell though, about 7cm long -
someone said it was a pippy (? if I've got that right) shell. They were
in abundance where I was and I thought it would be rather nice to have
something in my tank that I collected myself.

[DrC]

Every so often I will come back home to find two of my red legs in a
"grip of death". They're on their sides with their claws intertwined
and their legs pushing against each other. I seperate them and they
don't bother each other for weeks.

I have also seen my red leg pick up a small blue leg, clean its shell
and then dump it back on the sunstrate and move on.

Whether this this was the kind of dangerous you were talking about I'm
not sure but it was interesting to watch!

[Roy]

There is a heap of different hermit crabs. I had two neat little ones
with orange and green banded legs, that literally picked every iece
of coraline off my rocks, and constantly scraped and picked my live
rock apart. I removed them and put in the typical blue leg type which
usually stay relatively small, and things got back to normal pretty
quick. I would not introduce a hermit crab I found n the beach, as a
lot of times (since I do not know yur local) the temps and such may
not be suitable, but some folks do it and get away with it. Personally
I wouldn't.


On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 19:07:37 +1000, miskairal <mehiding@Oz> wrote:
>><>Are there safe and dangerous hermit crabs and if so how do you tell them
>><>apart? I picked one up at the beach a couple of days ago and seriously
>><>thought about bringing it home for my tank but changed my mind and
>><>thought I'd ask here first.
>><>
>><>No, I don't know what sort it is but it's leg colour was boring, sort of
>><>light brownish. It was using an enormous shell though, about 7cm long -
>><>someone said it was a pippy (? if I've got that right) shell. They were
>><>in abundance where I was and I thought it would be rather nice to have
>><>something in my tank that I collected myself.

--
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The original frugal ponder! Koi-ahoi mates....

[Pszemol]

"DrC" > wrote in message ups.com...
> Every so often I will come back home to find two of my red legs in a
> "grip of death". They're on their sides with their claws intertwined
> and their legs pushing against each other. I seperate them and they
> don't bother each other for weeks.

I think they were having sex... and you, monster, interupted their intercourse ! :-)

[Wayne Sallee]

Yep that's what they were up to.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Pszemol wrote on 1/19/2006 11:18 AM:
> "DrC" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
>
>> Every so often I will come back home to find two of my red legs in a
>> "grip of death". They're on their sides with their claws intertwined
>> and their legs pushing against each other. I seperate them and they
>> don't bother each other for weeks.
>
>
> I think they were having sex... and you, monster, interupted their
> intercourse ! :-)

[Wayne Sallee]

It's best to just keep small hermits in the reef tank.
Biger ones tend to cause problems.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



DrC wrote on 1/19/2006 8:35 AM:
> Every so often I will come back home to find two of my red legs in a
> "grip of death". They're on their sides with their claws intertwined
> and their legs pushing against each other. I seperate them and they
> don't bother each other for weeks.
>
> I have also seen my red leg pick up a small blue leg, clean its shell
> and then dump it back on the sunstrate and move on.
>
> Whether this this was the kind of dangerous you were talking about I'm
> not sure but it was interesting to watch!
>

[miskairal]

Thanks all. DrC you are a meanie :) I have vivid images in my head of
these two big hands coming down to rip those poor crabs apart after it
taking weeks to find each other :)

I will maybe try to find some smaller hermits. Roy - I'm not far south
of the Great Barrier Reef (which is getting too hot anyway) except that
I'm inland a little. I'm hoping to get to Lady Elliot island this year
which is only a couple of hours from here and the southern most point of
the GBR.

Cheers



miskairal wrote:
> Are there safe and dangerous hermit crabs and if so how do you tell them
> apart? I picked one up at the beach a couple of days ago and seriously
> thought about bringing it home for my tank but changed my mind and
> thought I'd ask here first.
>
> No, I don't know what sort it is but it's leg colour was boring, sort of
> light brownish. It was using an enormous shell though, about 7cm long -
> someone said it was a pippy (? if I've got that right) shell. They were
> in abundance where I was and I thought it would be rather nice to have
> something in my tank that I collected myself.