Shells for Large-to-Jumbo Transition

[DragonsFly]

I've just had the first experience ever of possible "shelljacking"/shell bullying in my tank--90g, 5 or 6 crabs, only two up right now. (I say "5 or 6" because one has not been seen for almost a year now, but since the big guys can take 18 months to molt, I'm not worrying until at least next fall.) One of the things recommended for preventing that kind of thing, of course, is having plenty of shells of proper type and size in the tank.

All of our remaining crabs are large or jumbos; the smallest ones are in shells with about 1" openings and would probably like shells a bit bigger for their next molt. My problem is in finding shells that are SLIGHTLY larger than that. I have a bunch of GIGANTIC shells, and tons of SMALLER shells, but apparently not enough of an in-between, transition size (1 and 1/16 inch opening, for example--that seems to be the size this "shelljacking" was about?). I just checked my entire stash and I only seem to have one, possibly two, 1 1/16" opening turbo that is not already in use. I have NO 1 1/8", only ONE 1 3/16", and the only 1 1/4" I have is an African Snail Shell, which is a type of shell that none of our crabs has ever shown any interest in, at any size (which is sad, because they are beautiful, but the crabs obviously do not agree).

It appears that, beyond 1" opening, shells just get immediately huge (from Naples Sea Shell Company, which has been GREAT to order from, for example, there seems to be basically a gap between 1" opening sizes and 1 1/2 " openings--well, that seems small to us, but when you look at the shells, the difference between a shell with a 1" opening and one with a 1 1/2" opening is huge--the 1 1/2" opening shell is almost twice the size of the 1" opening shell!). Has anyone else faced this issue, and if so, how did you find (or DID you manage to find?) shells in this critical "mid-range"?

[Crabinski]

I haven't ordered from him but many HCA members swear by Richard's SeaShells (previously known as Deltona Shells). I just took a quick look at his Turbo page and there were a number of offerings in the 1 1/8" to 1 1/4" opening size range that you're looking for.

[CallaLily]

I find tapestry turbos seem to max out at just ever so slightly above 1 1/4 inch openings, where jade turbos seem to be hard to find under 1 1/2 inch openings.

So you should at least be able to find some turbos between 1 inch and 1 5/16 inch openings. I've had some luck with Richard but mostly find my larger shells at local beach shops. I've seen others mention having good luck on eBay with a seller I think called MyGann (sp?).

I'd also like to point out that though I have many crabs that you would think would check out the larger jades but they don't. Most seem quite content crammed into 1 1/4 inch opening tapestry or stripes turbos. I've only had 3 PPs chose to wear larger jades, and usually the pearled ones (though these can be quite fragile).

[DragonsFly]

Thanks; I have ordered from Deltona, years ago, but switched to Naples for the great service; will try again as Richard's though--thanks for the tip!

NOTE: Richards does have shells that are "in that range;" unfortunately they will not hand-pick shells of specific size for you. I did order 5 more shells that are said to include the range I am looking for; I guess we'll just have to see what actually gets sent.

Thanks CallaLily, I just saw your post; I'll see if I can find that eBay seller, too.

[missAlfalfa]

Mygann is also on amazon. I recently purchased from her. My crabs loved the shells, and there's a pretty wide selection.

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[marandashermies]

I use Mygann as well for that size shells! She is in eBay, Amazon and has her own page. eBay shipping is free though! I get all my other shells from Richards, but most are either a bit smaller or much larger than the size you are looking for


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[DragonsFly]

Well, Mygann doesn't measure specific shell openings, either--just offers them in ranges--so, I ordered a bunch from Richard's and we'll see if any of them help to fill that size gap. I know there was somebody once who would actually measure individual shells for you to make sure you got opening sizes that you needed, but I don't know who it was--it might well have been Deltona but now they've just gotten "too big" to care about individual shell sales. . . ?

[purpleperson]

Well, Mygann doesn't measure specific shell openings, either--just offers them in ranges--so, I ordered a bunch from Richard's and we'll see if any of them help to fill that size gap. I know there was somebody once who would actually measure individual shells for you to make sure you got opening sizes that you needed, but I don't know who it was--it might well have been Deltona but now they've just gotten "too big" to care about individual shell sales. . . ?

Naples sea shell company still measures their shell openings, that's probably who you're thinking of?


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[JamieL]

I am SO confused about the size of my crabs. I thought they were getting so big, and I measured their shell openings and accordingly ordered 2 bunches of large shells from Naples. When I got them I thought they were gorgeous, I was so pleased. I went upstairs to the crabitat and was dumbfounded by how huge the shells were compared to my crabs. Totally unusable for me. In the lot I ordered however, I got such a big range of sizes that I was able to use the smallest of the bunch

Anyway, I still don't know if my freakin crabs are small or medium, but I have a whole bunch of really pretty shells that aren't going to fit them for years. I'd be willing to sell them just for shipping cost if they'll help and you're interested, i have no use for them beyond decor. I can take photos and measurements and you can see if they're a good size

As for my own crabs, it occurred to me that my retired father who lives on Hilton head island, SC probably has access to great shells in the gift shops there. I'll be sending him my order tomorrow

[marandashermies]

I am SO confused about the size of my crabs. I thought they were getting so big, and I measured their shell openings and accordingly ordered 2 bunches of large shells from Naples. When I got them I thought they were gorgeous, I was so pleased. I went upstairs to the crabitat and was dumbfounded by how huge the shells were compared to my crabs. Totally unusable for me. In the lot I ordered however, I got such a big range of sizes that I was able to use the smallest of the bunch

Anyway, I still don't know if my freakin crabs are small or medium, but I have a whole bunch of really pretty shells that aren't going to fit them for years. I'd be willing to sell them just for shipping cost if they'll help and you're interested, i have no use for them beyond decor. I can take photos and measurements and you can see if they're a good size

As for my own crabs, it occurred to me that my retired father who lives on Hilton head island, SC probably has access to great shells in the gift shops there. I'll be sending him my order tomorrow

do you have any that are 1 1/4 shell opening?

[purpleperson]

Is it possible that you're measuring wrong? maybe if you post some pictures with a ruler and your crabs some of us can help.


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[DragonsFly]

I am SO confused about the size of my crabs. I thought they were getting so big, and I measured their shell openings and accordingly ordered 2 bunches of large shells from Naples. When I got them I thought they were gorgeous, I was so pleased. I went upstairs to the crabitat and was dumbfounded by how huge the shells were compared to my crabs. Totally unusable for me. In the lot I ordered however, I got such a big range of sizes that I was able to use the smallest of the bunch

Anyway, I still don't know if my freakin crabs are small or medium, but I have a whole bunch of really pretty shells that aren't going to fit them for years.

You might be surprised; our first two came to us as medium rescues, and in about a year they were a large large and a jumbo. They basically did multiple molts in a row, increasing significantly in size each time. They seem to have slowed down now, and of course each molt now takes far longer (the biggest one has not been seen for almost a year now), but I went ahead and bought shells of graduating sizes all the way up to truly huge. It's not like shells "go bad," you know! I eventually started giving away my shells that were too SMALL (I've only kept about three of each small size, just in case we end up with another panic rescue situation; although the crab "fad" seems to have died down in this area, thank goodness); but if I were you, I'd keep any that were too BIG--if you take good care of your crabs, you will eventually need them, and possibly sooner than you think!

That said, if you have any polished or semi-polished turbos that (by caliper measurements) have openings BETWEEN 1" and 1 1/4", I would definitely be interested! I just got my order from Richard's and they are ALLTOO SMALL. If you thought you might like to trade, we could maybe work something out? PM me, if interested.

[DragonsFly]

I got a very nice reply e-mail from Richard's today; it seems they had never heard of calipers for measuring shell openings, so they had been measuring with a tape measure; also, since they are not crabbers, they did not realize that what crabbers need is the "use-able opening" size, not the entire width of the opening that a person would see when they look at the shell, so their listed measurements on their site were accordingly much larger than the actual "hermit crab opening" size.

The reply said they had ordered a set of calipers immediately (I had sent a link to hermitcrabpatch.com's caliper page), and that in the next few weeks, they would be changing the "opening size" measurements for all their shells. So, that is a really laudable commitment to service (assuming that they do follow through on this).

Since I had complained about the inaccurate sizing here, I wanted to make sure that I also noted their willingness to correct those errors. At this point, though, the listings would still be inaccurate on their web site, until and unless they do follow through and change them, so be aware if you do order from them that the opening sizes are listed as much larger than they actually are when you receive the shells.

[singlemomwithcrab]

Because Richard gets repeat business from the HCA - and visitors , he is always willing to help out. Sometimes emailing isn't as successful as calling him. You can google his number. He loves to hear about the crabs and is very nice in general.

[JamieL]

I don't own calipers, although I have a gift card to Sears from buying a fridge, I've been thinking about picking them up. When you measure a shell opening, are you measuring "left to right", or "up and down", as related to how the crab wears it, because I have these shells and using a tape measure the measurements of the opening widthwise are almost the same, approx 1.25", but the two larger shells obviously dwarf the smaller. Maybe I've been measuring wrong??




The flamingo shell is one that one of my crabs came to me in, about 6 months ago. He's now molting, the other ones are two of the new shells I got, from ordering based on measuring the opening with a tape measure they would fall in!

I've had hermits for two years, ill never get the hang of sizing