Species availability in pet stores

[Wai]

What species are available in pet stores around your area lately? For the Americans who can buy exotic species online, I've noticed that most are not available any more. It seems that Ecuadorians and straws are available though most of the time. Is this still the case with offline pet stores, or do you mostly see PPs only?

In Australia, we're still stuck with only Aussies. Only a few select stores have straws for a very limited time, mostly during the summer months. I tried ordering two in February, but the store didn't even have any and tried to rip me off.

[RebsCritters]

That is really crummy :/
Here in my area of upstate NY I've only ever seen PPs in stores. The independently owned pet store at our mall has them labeled as "Fancy Hermit Crabs" and couldn't tell me the species when asked (though I knew lol). I've seen a lot of larger crabs lately, near jumbo size, presumably to squeeze a couple extra bucks out of each sale.
It's just about impossible to get any exotics online here. There aren't any vendors to be found it seems and I've looked everywhere. I've only been able to find wholesalers and they all sell painted shelled crabs which is a painful reminder to me of the types of people profiting from every pet store purchase..
I'm hoping to end that though! I am getting a bunch of things set up now to develop a successful breeding program, or die trying. I have been doing in-depth research for the past six months (with two books borrowed from Universities on my nightstand right now, haha) and I think I have a pretty good handle on how to approach this. I guess that's easy to say right now without any eggs around, haha. Ultimately, my goal is to be able to provide a responsible source of crabs to other enthusiasts and help put poachers and scammers out of business, while continuing to educate others (and myself!) about these beautiful animals.
To bring it back to topic though, I'd love to get a few of each type, not just to breed but to study and just enjoy.. they really fascinate me. I'd love the opportunity to study them in the wild some day as well. Didn't you go on a wild hermit crab hunt a while back?

[RebsCritters]

It seems I may not have looked hard enough? I just found a website called "Elite Inverts" that sells Straws in the continental U.S. only (sorry Wai). They look legit, I guess? They only carry Straws though. I might check them out in the future.

[Wai]

Also in Australia, we can only get jumbo straws... no luck getting small ones.

[alexsmith123]

I haven't visited any pet shop this past days or weeks, so I didn't know if they already have a different species there.

[StellaCrab]

Unfortunate for me, but fortunate that stores don’t carry, I have only seen common species of clypeatus and compressus in stores near me. I don’t have a lot of exotic pet shops that carry hermit crabs, so my only options are chain stores.