Odd thing

[HermitOrCrabs]

One of my turbo hermit crabs is a PP, purple claw, yet he is extremely light red colored everywhere else. Funny isnt it? Heres the link. http://s678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/HermitOrCrab/ He should be in the 4th picture.

[CrabbyJo]

Hermit crabs, including the PP species clypeatus, can come in a variety of colors, ranging from a pale pink to deep red or purple.
Here's what I came up with on a google search of images:Coenobita Clypeatus

By the way, you have some huge crabs! nice!

[HermitOrCrabs]

Yep, the biggest one is 5 1/2 inhes ready to change into a 6 1/4 shell.

[emmac350]

Wow - where on earth do you find shells? How long have you had them?

My PPs right now are in shells somewhere between 3/8 and 1/2 of an inch - guess they've got a long way to go!

Crab coloring can be awesome - if you feed them lots of Zeaxanthin-containing foods (there's a list of foods containing it at Zeaxanthin foods), they can get darker (if they're pale - pale usually indicates a lack of some nutrients). My two are fairly pale right now as they've both very recently molted. I can't wait to see what colors they are when they get as big as yours!

[HermitOrCrabs]

I bought them big, but they've grown alot since then. I got my biggest one ( or the 5 1/2 ) 2 years ago. I got my 3rd largest one 3 years ago. Iv'e had hermit crabs since 2004. The ones that I got in that year died. Then the next year I started getting the bigger ones. Altogether, the big ones arent as fun, because they dont move as much. Im really going to like getting some more next year, hopefully 2 more small ones and a 40g tank (I have a 20g right now). My final words will be that the 20g will be the ISO tank next year, once I get my new tank. If you have any other question please post them on this thread.

[CrabbyJo]

Emma, I think he was meaning the actual size of the whole shell.

HermitOrCrabs, what size are the openings of your crabs shells, when you measure crossways (the long way of their BP). Sounds like they are at least 2 or 3 inches across!

If you want fast moving crabs, look for Equadorians, those little buggers can hustle, and as I understand it they don't get nearly as large as the Purple Pincer variety.

[emmac350]

Be prepared with smaller crabs for more often molts. We're talking sometimes even every other month (only a month on the surface before the next molt). They are generally quite active, but the continual molting does get a little annoying. All of my crabs are 1/2 inch shell openings or smaller, so I can definitively say something about small guys.

[HermitOrCrabs]

The whell opening is about 3 inches, but hes going to change in one soon with a 4 inch opening, hes way way to big for his shell, but he wont change into a new one.