Hermit Crabs

[Brad Carr]

I was wondering if there is much difference between a scarlet hermit crab and a blue leg? Just trying to figure out why scarlet hermits cost triple what the blue legs cost.

 

[Sk8r]

Their behaviors and appetites are a little different, at least re mine: the scarlets get bigger faster, and are more rock-pickers, while the blues are a shade more willing to persist on the sand-cleaning, and, being smaller, can get into places the scarlets won't quite fit---though a large scarlet has a bit of a reach. The scarlets are showier, and mine prefer coralline-encrusted shells---won't consider one that isn't: one has a two inch fighting-conch shell that's a bit big for him, but he hauls it about into the darndest places and seems to be the dominant one. The blues seem to like dark shells, and reject shells of equal size that aren't dark. They're great clowns, and have never harmed my corals.

 

[The steven liu]

I agree with sk8r, and as regards to the price, I know for a fact that blue hermits are crowling everywhere on the sand beach if you visit any carribean coral atoll or cayes. As of red leg hermits, they are not as commonly seen as the blue ones. When I lived in Belize I'd walk on the beach, the tide will bring a bunch of little blue hermits onto the shore and while the water retreats they'll craw back towards the ocean over my feet.