Yesterday, the tenants of the aquarium I showed you guys in my previous post have arrived in the mail. This species is not the most accessible and easy to find (no local pet stores in the surrounding metropolitan area carry them), and the company through which I ordered turned out to be run by dimwits, but I’m not going to get into this right now.
Without further ado, here are Lucas and Luna! They go by a myriad of names – Halloween crabs, moon crabs, purple crabs, harlequin crabs, etc. – but their Latin name is Gecarcinus Quadratus. They come mostly from Costa Rica, but can be found up and down the Pacific coast from Nicaragua all the way down to Panama. They are land crabs living in and around the mangroves by shore. Being nocturnal, they spend their days in burrows deep in the sand, and their nights foraging for food. Females go into the ocean periodically to lay their eggs, but only briefly before returning back to shore and the safety of their burrows.
Here they are, doing what I call the spider-man dance. You can see that his colors are so vibrant, while hers are more pastel.
Lucas
Luna
A video of more spider-man dancing, which is actually a front for finding flaws a.k.a. escape points in the enclosure.
After that much clambering about, they quiet down and enjoy a piece of shrimp.
After a day of having them I’ve learned two things:
- Gloves are a must when handling them. (He seems a bit more tame, but she’s passionate about pinching fingers.)
- They love making burrows, and moving things around the enclosure, and knocking things down… Basically I have to deal with the fact that a neatly decorated tank is simply not possible with these two guys as resident bulldozers.
Turtle Affairs 