Anyone here purchased crabs directly from Crazy Crabs Perth?

[tnt4eva]

I know of so many people in the US whoever had their crabs shipped directly to them from wholesalers and I was thinking it might be a better way to get them as they skip being kept in a pet shop. Apparently Crazy Crabs in Perth ships via air freight and it takes two days. Having sent and received a lot of parcels from Perth I know it usually takes a while, so two days is fast.

But, the care info on his site is not ideal, so I'm concerned about how he packages them etc. Before I call him to ask, I was wondering if anyone here had purchase directly from him and how it went or if there's anyone else in Australia I can buy directly from (I keep getting informed that the WA guy is the only one)

[tnt4eva]

Just spoke to him on the phone. All he'd say is that they come in cardboard boxes. I seriously hope there's some sort of moss or burlap packed in with them when he ships them to pet shops. I feel very uncomfortable ordering direct from him now...it was a weird conversation.

[Wai]

Wherever possible, avoid shipping. Even with a heat pack, moss and food, some hermit crabs still die in transit or shortly afterwards. Shipping hermit crabs is more popular in the US since they can actually get different species of hermit crabs, whereas for us, they're all C. variabilis. There's probably less than a dozen pet stores that sell jumbo C. perlatus (strawberries).

[tnt4eva]

Thanks Wai. It concerns me somewhat, as Pet's Paradise exclusively sells Crazy Crabs apparently, so if they get them all from the Crazy Crabs wholesaler in Perth, they're coming all that way, probably packed incorrectly.

BTW, someone kindly pointed me to a copy of a government document with information about sustainable management of fisheries, and it states that there are 3 licensed collectors of hermit crabs. I wish I knew which companies they were as I'd like to avoid Crazy Crabs.

[Wai]

I have yet to be satisfied with a pet store (not just Pets Paradise ones), so I don't think those licenced hermit crab collectors will be any better. There seems to be no quality control whatsoever on hermit crabs and the dodgy products 'designed' for them, so I guess it doesn't make much of a difference who the supplier is. More importantly, observe the conditions in which the hermit crabs are kept at the pet store. For example, Coburg Aquarium is probably worst of them all, who keeps their hermit crabs in the chilly fish section with no heat source or substrate. I have seen Pets Paradise stores with tanks that are close to passing (by 'pass', I mean they at least have shallow sand, heat source and humidity), but they rarely keep their tank that good and will change it back to a crappy set up every now and then.

[tnt4eva]

Yes, there is a huge lack of consistency within pet shops as to the care. There are a number of places who I've visited when who had good conditions, but when I returned a week or two later the conditions were awful.

Ones in shopping centers are the worst here (Sydney), as many pet stores don't provide lids for the crabs and with the entire building being air conditioned, the tanks are so, so dry.

One shop near where I live keeps their crabs in a tupperware container only 2 1/2 high stuffed into a deep shelf.

I got some yesterday from a reptile shop. The tank was in a very dark place with no light, but it was humidified and heated, which you rarely see here. The crabs are by far the most healthy I've seen - very active, recently molted, no visible injuries, eating, bathing, pooping and socializing, (whereas every crab I've bought before has immediately burrowed down to de-stress or molt - sometimes dying before resurfacing ). Apparently, they had only been in the shop a week, so that may have something to do with it.

Fingers crossed, they remain that way.

[Jurie83]

I live in Rockingham WA, just south of Perth where the Crazy Crab HQ is located. I have been there twice. When he said they ship their crabs in cardboard boxes, they are just that. Small boxes no bigger than the crab itself. Nothing else but a simple cardboard box. Their main tank is probably about 4.5ft by 4.5ft (estimation) with well over 100 crabs at any one time and completely left open. There was also little to no substrate for the crabs to burry themselves in. However they were all really active. I have got three from them and had them for well over two months now.

Also, the information that they provide with their crabs is far from adequate. I originally got my crabs from a Crazy Crab store at the Perth show for my son. Thinking they were relatively easy to care for. They were selling four crabs in a plastic kritter keeper no bigger than 30cm by 15cm. I only got two because even then I thought four was too many in a space so small. Luckily I come across this website and have moved them to a 15 gallon aquarium tank with heating and the appropriate hummidity levels. Will try and add a pic of my tank, would love some comments as I am also a fairly new crabber :-)

[ladybug15057]

(whereas every crab I've bought before has immediately burrowed down to de-stress or molt - sometimes dying before resurfacing ). Apparently, they had only been in the shop a week, so that may have something to do with it.

Burrowing may have had something to do with the hermies not resurfacing. (or maybe the stress since they were captured) But in the last couple of years it has been learned there is a way to help hermies with PPS and give them a better survival rate. This would be to keep them above substrate to help them adjust:

http://www.hermitcrabparadise.com/crabc ... on/pps.php

[Wai]

Good to see more Aussie crabbers on here so I don't feel left out hahaha!

[tnt4eva]

Good to see more Aussie crabbers on here so I don't feel left out hahaha!

I confess, I felt very daunted venturing in to the online crabbing world with so few Australians and Aussie Land Hermit Crab owners about!!