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I Have Pet Red Claw Crabs

tehmaster

Member
And i know alot about them . And they are available at your neighborhood corporate animal store ! I could go on for days.

Will share more if anyone is interested :blowbubbles:
 

tehmaster

Member
They are very cool animals, they like to kill stuff. If anyone would like to get started with them it's not too hard and much better than fish.
Plus they are a better talking point since fish may look nice but having crabs is actually interesting to more people because, who has crabs?
They only cost $2.50 at petsmart each and you don't have to deal with anywhere close to as much water as an aquarium.

I'll be waiting to answer any questions :smoky:
 

tehmaster

Member
What a great forum icmag is !
So since someone else showed interest , time for some crab pics :smoky:
picture.php
 

tehmaster

Member
Every gang of pet crabs DESERVES a cave system, make one by carefully piling and patting sand around plastic props, they'll build tunnels and extend it if you set it up for them, it also yields plenty of hiding spots. They tunneled until i could see into the cave like an ant farm
picture.php
 

tehmaster

Member
A blurry picture from the highest peak in the crabitat.
note in the above picture that to make a mountain, much sand must be piled
picture.php
 

tehmaster

Member
Haha i know what you mean by painted, hermit crabs ...
I don't like hermit crabs.

Red claw crabs- have a shell that encompasses their whole body, they then molt or "shed" their shell off every few months. When they crawl out of their shell to molt they are soft for probably ~1hour, then they harden back up.

Hermit crabs- Most of their body has a shell on it. Except for the long tail that comes out the back end of them. It never grows a shell. (This is like buying a corgi that will be SKINLESS on it's back legs for life. I mean , TALK ABOUT A FLAW)
So you can either get a crab that comes with a shell, or a strange special case that never has half of it's body protected.
*NOTE: I see hermit crabs as incomplete creatures , and far inferior to the red claw crab.
Red claw crabs are technically scavengers, but they will kill other animals and each other, but they are SURVIVORS. Hermit crabs are like the "bubble boy" of crustaceans always running around hooked up to his iron lung (the hermit's (now) painted shell )
 

tehmaster

Member
I'd say probably about 2 or 3 oz's although they are probably about the size of a 50 cent piece, their body is probably smaller than a cheese puff, no including the legs.

This would be in the wild your wharf crab, or the little douches that sneak into boats before you go deep sea fishing :woohoo:
 

tehmaster

Member
Hahahah i don't ever eat them, but at a local asian cuisine sells live snow crabs for eating, i thought about saving them and putting them in a big tank

A project for another day :woohoo:
 

Tonygreen

Active member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
HAd the same thing once from a wild night in atlantic city, saw the doc a wek later all was cleared up, good luck, hey yooour not livin till ya got crabs once. :party:
 

justpassnthru

Active member
Veteran
Hahahah i don't ever eat them, but at a local asian cuisine sells live snow crabs for eating, i thought about saving them and putting them in a big tank

A project for another day :woohoo:

Every time I see the lobster in the tank at Red Lobster, I want to release it.

Can people eat this variety of crab? Or, are they considered 'pets?' jpt
 

tehmaster

Member
I believe that these crabs aren't exactly just pets, they would be akin to , let's say a borderline "pest" because of their repopulation factor (for example, seagulls, pigeons, ants,spiders).

If you were to look in an encyclopedia or animal book it is usually listed as "Wharf Crab"
In non tourist beach areas, solitary ocean boat docks, and areas with shade and land not too traveled by humans can get OVERRUN by them.
I'm sure many fisherman have had a few get in the boat.

They don't get eaten because their size is so small, and in areas where these guys live, there are 1000's of species of crabs that are naturally as common but bigger that yield much better results. I mean these guys bodies aren't even as big around as a USD Quarter. $
Why catch a tiny canary when you can get a fat robin instead? (for example)

These crabs are like if we caught regular house spiders in the western world, then sold them to other countries for a fair price. They can't reproduce in captivity because there are no tides/ change of season/ sun/moon cycles. But in seaside places you could scoop of thousands of them on vacation with ease.

Most at the pet store were born in a captive environment (not bred, mind you) . Some animals hatch in their eggs at the "plant" and are then sent to the pet store. Some animals hatch on the way. Usually they collect eggs from the wild , not two crabs to breed.
So pretty much if you see these crabs in the store, they were most likely born in captivity and sure could use a better home.
The snow crabs that i talked about are huge, with arms that are about 9-12" LONG [!] most likely caught from the wild , or shipped in from an industrial hatchery.

Those boys are meant to be taken home and eaten :biggrin:

But hell , I wanted BIG crabs as pets ! :smoky:
Fun fact: i didn't know CRAP about crabs til i saw one in the pet store for 2.49, and thought that would be a fun pet. I didn't even know it was A POSSIBILITY BEFORE THEn
 

tehmaster

Member
HAd the same thing once from a wild night in atlantic city, saw the doc a wek later all was cleared up, good luck, hey yooour not livin till ya got crabs once. :party:

Remember to bring your shaver,

like i said earlier crabs need alot of hiding spaces:peacock:
 

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