Distinguishing Between Male and Female Hermit Crabs – Is It Important?
The majority of people who keep hermie crabs as pets do not really care whether their loveable critter is a "Harriet" or a "Harry."You see, unlike other more unusual pets, they can live happily together side by side without fear of fights and aggressive behaviour. However, if you are trying to breed the hermies (and this can prove very difficult at the best of times) or even if you are just plain curious, then there are ways of distinguishing between male and female hermit crabs. So stay with me and I will explain!
Male and female hermies have no obvious differences unlike other animals or birds, who can look totally different in appearance and coloring. Therefore being able to spot differing genders can be a real problem. In fact, if you put two of the exact same species of hermies side by side, it is impossible to tell which sex is which. All that said, there is one sure fire way of to discover the sex of your pet hermies but you will have to do some closer investigation........
For this you need to coax the pet hermie nearly or fully out of it's shell. This is no mean feat, as they aren't partial to venturing out. The shell is the crab's protection and it would rather die than leave the confines of its shell. A word of warning! Do not try to force the crab out of its shell by tugging on it as you will end up injuring the crab. So what is the best way to get the crab from its shell? Well one way to get the critter to play ball is to dunk him lightly in warm water, the other way is to tap lightly on the shell casing (as this is how the male tells the female that he is ready to mate!). Both of these methods might just be enough get the crab to come far enough out of its shell. Failing this, the only other time they venture out of their castle is when they are in the process of molting. It is only at this point that you can start the process of checking whether your hermie is male or female.
Once you have successfully achieved this, you need to look at the very back pair of legs. If you look closely you should see two tiny spherical openings. These are the females gonophores. The female will line her gonophores up with the males fifth pair of legs, and it is from this position that the male will inseminate the female. If your crab does not display these two openings then it is a boy.
A common mistake when attempting to separate the males form the females is that you have to make sure that you are looking at the last pair of legs (the 5th pair!) otherwise it is easy to mistake a girl for a boy.
Although loveable little critters, they can be very stubborn and will not exit their home unless absolutely necessary and try as you might some just will not come out! So unless you are serious about breeding your hermies then I would leave distinguishing between male and female hermit crabs to the professionals. Above all have fun and enjoy their company!
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