23 May 2012 More details have been added to the Species section.
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Availability
What species are available in Australia?
Most Australian crabbers only have access to Coenobita variabilis (Australian land hermit crab). It is likely that there are no more than three pet stores in Australia that sell C. perlatus (strawberry land hermit crab). If you are lucky enough to encounter the elusive strawberries, be prepared to pay for at least $40 AUD each as they will all be roughly the size tennis balls. Such pet stores only stock strawberries for a limited time. Wild C. perlatus, C. brevimanus (Indonesian land hermit crab) and C. rugosus (wrinkled land hermit crab) are not found in mainland Australia. These three species are only found in offshore islands such as Christmas Island, which is far north-west of mainland Australia. We are unsure if anyone on Christmas Island is keeping those three species as pets. C. perlatus are also found on the Cocos Islands and the Great Barrier Reef.
What species are available in North America?
American and Canadian crabbers have a much broader pool of species to choose from. The two most common species are C. clypeatus (Caribbean land hermit crab or purple pincher) and C. compressus (Ecuadorian land hermit crab). The other six species are often referred to as 'exotic species' by crabbers in North America. Strawberries are relatively uncommon. The other five species, which are C. rugosus, C. brevimanus, C. purpureus (blueberry land hermit crab), C. violascens (viola land hermit crab) and C. cavipes (concave land hermit crab) are rarely seen in offline pet stores. Most of the few crabbers who do have those five species purchased them online. C. cavipes is perhaps the rarest of them all and is seldom seen even on online stores.
What species are available in Asia?
Pet stores in Asia sell mostly the six so-called 'exotic species'. As we have no active members on the Forums from Asia, we are unsure if one particular species is a lot harder to find than the other five.
What species may be available elsewhere?
C. scaevola (Red Sea land hermit crab) have been used in laboratory experiments. However, it is unknown whether C. scaevola, C. pseudorugosus and C. spinosus have been kept as pets by anyone. There are crabbers in Europe and possibly Africa too, but we do not know what species they keep as pets.
Availability
![[ Submitted by Wai ] C. variabilis - Australian land hermit crab.](av_c-variabilis.jpg "[ Submitted by Wai ] C. variabilis - Australian land hermit crab.")
![[ Submitted by Julia_Crab ] C. perlatus - Strawberry land hermit crab.](av_c-perlatus.jpg "[ Submitted by Julia_Crab ] C. perlatus - Strawberry land hermit crab.")
![[ Submitted by Julia_Crab ] C. brevimanus - Indonesian land hermit crab.](av_c-brevimanus.jpg "[ Submitted by Julia_Crab ] C. brevimanus - Indonesian land hermit crab.")
![[ Submitted by Jedi_Sena ] C. rugosus - Wrinkled land hermit crab.](av_c-rugosus.jpg "[ Submitted by Jedi_Sena ] C. rugosus - Wrinkled land hermit crab.")
![[ Submitted by Onyxsun1 ] C. clypeatus - Caribbean land hermit crab.](av_c-clypeatus.jpg "[ Submitted by Onyxsun1 ] C. clypeatus - Caribbean land hermit crab.")
![[ Submitted by Gizaroo2 ] C. compressus - Ecuadorian land hermit crab.](av_c-compressus.jpg "[ Submitted by Gizaroo2 ] C. compressus - Ecuadorian land hermit crab.")
![[ Submitted by Tony Coenobita ] C. purpureus - Blueberry land hermit crab.](av_c-purpureus.jpg "[ Submitted by Tony Coenobita ] C. purpureus - Blueberry land hermit crab.")
![[ Submitted by Happy_Crabbie ] C. violascens - Viola land hermit crab.](av_c-violascens.jpg "[ Submitted by Happy_Crabbie ] C. violascens - Viola land hermit crab.")
![[ Submitted by Tony Coenobita ] C. cavipes - Concave land hermit crab.](av_c-cavipes.jpg "[ Submitted by Tony Coenobita ] C. cavipes - Concave land hermit crab.")
![[ Submitted by OtaS ] C. scaevola - Red Sea land hermit crab.](av_c-scaevola.jpg "[ Submitted by OtaS ] C. scaevola - Red Sea land hermit crab.")
![[ Submitted by Tony Coenobita ] C. pseudorugosus - Sunset land hermit crab.](av_c-pseudorugosus.jpg "[ Submitted by Tony Coenobita ] C. pseudorugosus - Sunset land hermit crab.")
![[ Submitted by Tony Coenobita ] C. spinosus - Spiny land hermit crab.](av_c-spinosus.jpg "[ Submitted by Tony Coenobita ] C. spinosus - Spiny land hermit crab.")
