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    Land Hermit Crabs
    Land Hermit Crabs
    Land Hermit Crabs
    Ebook74 pages45 minutes

    Land Hermit Crabs

    By Philippe De Vosjoli

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    About this ebook

    Crabbers should grab Philippe de Vosjoli manual on land hermit crabs for expert advice on keeping this popular and colorful invertebrate thriving in its vivarium! The popularity of hermit crabs is undeniable, as the author states in his introduction, "Their droll appearances and interesting behaviors have made them appealing to both children and ad
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCompanionHouse Books
    Release dateJul 31, 2012
    ISBN9781620080238
    Land Hermit Crabs
    Author

    Philippe De Vosjoli

    Philippe de Vosjoli is an expert on reptile husbandry who revolutionized herpetoculture with the Advanced Vivarium Systems series of books. He has written more than twenty books and one hundred articles on the care and breeding of reptiles and amphibians.

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      Book preview

      Land Hermit Crabs - Philippe De Vosjoli

      INTRODUCTION

      Land hermit crabs are one of the most widely kept of the land invertebrates. Their droll appearances and interesting behaviors have made them appealing to both children and adults looking for an affordable, low maintenance, and undemanding pet. Unfortunately, because hermit crabs are also considered cheap and disposable living toys, thousands die every year from neglect. At the root of the high mortality of captive hermit crabs is the failure to provide a proper environment. As with the keeping of tropical fish, the initial cost of a setup will be many times greater than the price of a hermit crab. Another reason for the high death rate of captive hermit crabs is simply a lack of knowledge about their requirements. Being arthropods, their way of life makes their care requirements significantly different from most popular pets such as hamsters, parakeets, or dogs and cats. For starters, land hermit crabs are tropical ectothermic (cold-blooded) creatures that depend on external heat to maintain a body temperature that allows them to be active. Because hermit crabs are arthropods, they don’t have an internal skeleton but a hard exoskeleton that must be molted and replaced as they grow. Their growth occurs not continuously but in discrete stages associated with a molt cycle. Another unique feature of hermit crabs is their use of discarded snail shells. Although land hermit crabs have evolved to live away from seawater, they need to store water in the gastropod (snail) shell they carry. Providing the conditions to meet the requirements associated with these features is the key to successfully keeping land hermit crabs alive. The purpose of this book is to provide the essential information required for long-term maintenance of land hermit crabs as well as some useful information on their biology.

      CHAPTER 1

      GENERAL INFORMATION

      Land hermit crabs are relatives of the often brightly colored marine hermits displayed in marine aquaria, but they spend most of their adult lives on the shore, venturing into shallow waters only to wet their gills and to breed. Like other hermit crabs, they are structurally somewhat between shrimp and true crabs, with the back legs reduced and the abdomen generally asymmetrical.

      This typical hermit crab (Coenobita clypeatus) is also known as a Caribbean crab or purple pincher.

      Taxonomy

      Land hermit crabs are crustaceans in the family Coenobitidae, which includes all the land hermit crabs. The family consists of two genera, Coenobita with eleven species including the common land hermit crab of the pet trade, and the monotypic robber or coconut crab, Birgus latro, the largest land-dwelling crab. The land hermit crab commonly sold in the pet trade is the West Atlantic land hermit crab (Coenobita clypeatus). Besides land hermit crabs, there are species of intertidal hermit crabs in the family Diogenidae and several families of sea-dwelling hermit crabs.

      Distribution

      The West Atlantic land hermit crab that is commonly sold in the pet trade has a wide range in nature, from southern Florida and the Bahamas through the West Indies to Venezuela.

      Size

      West Atlantic hermit crabs grow to about 4 ounces (113 grams) body weight. Very old large specimens can weigh more than 7 ounces (200 g) and measure more than 6 inches (15 centimeters) long.

      Note: From this point on West Atlantic land hermit crabs, which are the primary topic of this book, will be referred to as simply land hermit crabs or hermit crabs.

      Anatomy

      Crustaceans have a very different anatomy than mammalian vertebrates, and a special terminology is used to describe their anatomical parts. Hermit crabs have two main body segments: the cephalothorax, which is a fusion of the head and thorax (midsection); and the soft abdomen. In the land hermit crab, the soft abdomen twists to the right side to allow it to lodge itself within the empty shell of a gastropod (sea snail).

      In the very front of the crab’s body,

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