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Any Land Crab People Here / Need Help With ID

Went in to a tropical fish store today looking for a Moon Crab or 2
They didn't have any, but I found this little guy







More Pics~ http://community.webshots.com/album/579562709bxJyMi

They had it listed as a "Chili Crab"???
I tried looking up Chilean Land Crab, but no luck finding a pic that looked like it
&
All of the pet care sites I looked at only had info on Moon & Hermit Crabs
I'm taking it that it's a type of land crab since they had it in a kritter keeper on aquarium rocks with just a small amount of water

The guy working there didn't speak english very well so there was a bit of a communication issue & I couldn't get much info from him

Anyone have any idea what it is or could be???
Or
Even a link to a good forum to try???

I currently have it set up in a temp tank for now
If nothing else I'll set it up how I use to keep my Moon Crabs
On moist peat with a couple of shallow trays of water & some rocks & branches

Any help would be greatly appreciated
Want to make sure I take proper care of it

Thanx
DC
dethcheez@aol.com
 
Not sure...try doing a general search on land crabs and hope you see one that looks like it I guess.

it definitly is some kind of land crab though.
 
Maybe swords will know! Good luck, it's always hard to come across a creature that is for sale that nobody even knows what it is.
 
OMG I want it! It's so cute! Is it friendly? Looks like you didn't have much trouble getting those photos with it on your hand.
~Joe
 
OMG I want it! It's so cute! Is it friendly? Looks like you didn't have much trouble getting those photos with it on your hand.
~Joe

It's a little jumpy/skidish, but it makes no attempt to pinch at all, even if I touch it's claws...
 
He looks like a gentle fellow.
In the first picture, he almost looks like he's about to bow and say something like, "Professor Crabcakes, at your service." :)

Hope you get an ID, he's lovely, regardless.
 
That's a neat crab you have picked up! It could possibly be a Sundathelphusa species found in the Philippines, not much online about them - most of the more exotic pet crabs seem to be pretty unknown and undocumented, often going only by Genus name or just a colorful description (i.e "chili crab") when found for sale. Here is a gallery of one type of Sundathelphusa available to hobbyists: http://www.panzerwelten.de/v/Sundathelphusa/Sundathelphusa_sp1/


Here is the main page of the German crab site that gallery is from, called Panzerwelten.
http://www.panzerwelten.de/main.php
The site is owned by Oliver Mengedoht one of the foremost crab enthusiasts around. If you see articles on exotic pet crabs in hobbyist magazines usually it's him who wrote 'em. He's spent a lot of time trying to untangle the pet crab imports.

The main page has individual galleries of all sorts of crabs and along the top there is a link to the Crab Forums - which are also in German. Hint: just type the URL into Google and use the translator, it does a pretty good job. There is an English only section in the forums but much more can be learned by reading the regular forum pages since not much activity seems to happen in the English only section. You can also post English threads in all the forums nobody complains or cares, most people are quite helpful, no crazy arguing like an orchid forum or something. And Oliver (Beastiependent) will likely post his advice/experience to you as well. They all gave me plenty of good advice when I was getting started with my Vampire Crabs (Geosesarma sp.) last spring.
 
@ Swords~ Thanx for the links & info. much appreciated

Looks like it might be a Sesarma Bidens

Did you get your Vampire Crabs for Todd G.

Also what kind of soil do you use
Can't find it now been looking at so many crab sites I forgot which one I saw it on
But I read on one of them that it wasn't good to use peat because it was to acidic & wasn't good for them
I use to keep my Moon Crabs {the only other ones I've ever had} on peat & I didn't seem to have any problems with it

Thanx Again
DC
 
Well moved him in to his new home
&
He seems to have already found a comfortable spot



Need to get some better pics
But here's a few of his new tank / 24in. X 13in.





 
  • #10
hmmm i know how i can tell, let me get a pot of water steaming....
no no jk

It looks a lot like a "Red Clawed Mangrove" crab to me
 
  • #11
Glad you think you might have an ID, I was just taking a wild stab. Although I must say it looks like most pics of the S. bidens (red claw mangrove crabs) have a much different color than yours. Yours is more of a solid red with orange legs in your pics whereas the google search shows a purple face and legs on most S. bidens and those google crabs look like they are maybe smaller than yours. This is what I find googling Sesarma bidens: http://www.google.com/images?q=sesa...8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=950&bih=502 But then yours could be pre-molt and could look different in a few days after shedding and coloring up again.

Post some pics at Panzerwelten if you haven't already and see what the volks there think it might be. I'm sure Oliver will be interested.

I actually got my Geosesarma sp. "Red" Vampire Crabs from Philippe De Vosjoli a reptile book author/breeder. He imported a batch from Sulawesi and I was able to get some of 'em (5 pairs). He breeds the G. bicolor (purple & yellow vampire crabs) but the reds were a new discovery last spring (first import was to Germany in Feb. then here in April or so), they still are only ID'd by "Red" - how exciting a name is that!? LOL

I keep mine on a mixture of peat, bark, crushed oak leaf, sphagnum and live mosses. The Geosesarma eat the substrate they live on as well as meats so they eat the peat and the mosses, not enough to eat it all and they don't bother live plants any. They love to tunnel/burrow through the substrate and make "houses" under plants so, unfortunately this means I rarely ever see them! LOL

I put crushed sea shells and pieces of plaster of paris in their ponds so the water has a bit of buffered hardness, Geosesarma are true FW land crabs dwelling on muddy banks, mossy trees and inside N. ampullarias, never ever needing/wanting salt in their water and giving birth to live young with no free swimming planktonic stage, one day the female has eggs the next there are wingless fruit fly sized crabs darting about.
 
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  • #12
@ Swords

From what I've read I think Perisesarma Moeshi & Sesarma Bidens are the same thing???
Looks like they did a name change on them
http://www.shrimpdiaries.com/crabs/red-clawed-mangrove-crab/

I'll Pm you a link to the other guys site I was talking about if you're in to crabs

DC

---------- Post added at 04:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:55 PM ----------

hmmm i know how i can tell, let me get a pot of water steaming....
no no jk

It looks a lot like a "Red Clawed Mangrove" crab to me

Yeah that looks like what it is / Thanx
 
  • #13
It might be in the Sessarma or Geosessarma genus, but I can't be completely sure. I'm no crab expert.
 
  • #14
Thanx for the info.

What Ever It Is
It seems to be happy & is doing good

All thought I never see it / LOL
 
  • #15
I have many species of crabs. That appears to me a Flower Crab. There are videos on youtube of them. Brackish water for them.(yours may not be one, it seems a bit large) Just enough water to cover their legs. Feed what you would feed any other crab. veggies, crushed eggshell, fish food, and some meats. prferrably shrimp. crickets are good too.
 
  • #16
Whatever it is, it seems to be doing good
Although I never see it unless I dig it out / Spends all of its time hiding
 
  • #17
How much did they cost? I've been looking for those everwhere and can't find them at any shops :/
 
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