Vampire Crabs facts

Who & Where they are from

 They are an undescribed semi-terrestrial crab species from the genus Geosesarma. they are one of very few “true” freshwater crabs with the ability to live and breed without making a mecca to the ocean. They are live-bearers giving birth to fully developed baby crabs. They grow to about a ¾ of an inch wide (carapace without legs) and can live for at least several years

 They are fully grown at a body length of 2-3cm/0.8-1.2“ and therefore ideal for smaller aquaterrariums.Just to make a genral statment, they around half the length of your thumb Vampire crabs are a breed of spicies newly known to humans in the 21st century.

As a result of such, too little about them is known even to the experts and therefore too little information about them can be avaliable to be found. They are creepy in looks but however is a popular pet that many westerners love to have as a pet.

 The demand is on the rise recently and this is one of the newsest and latest source of good income for Indonesia as it is only from indonesia that this breed of crab can be found. The part of Indonesia where they can be found in their naturtal habitat is the Indonesian island of Sulawesi (formerly Celebes) This species has established itself successfully in terrestrial and freshwater habitats and is now totally independent of the sea.

Natural Habitat

Vampire crabs are native to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi (formerly Celebes). They inhabit forests near sources of running freshwater. From our observations, they spend about half of their time on land and half in shallow freshwater pools.

Artificial Habitat

One of our favorite aspects of vampire crabs is that they lend themselves to elaborate paladarium setups and can be kept with many other fascinating species. They do extraordinarily well on biofoam inserts with heavy vegetation and ample hiding and climbing areas.

 They should be kept at 22-28°C/72-82°F and amid high humid conditions. They have a preference for dark and damp places. Ideally your setup should look like a beach with sand and water. Do give them plenty of places to hide. They love to hide & take note that direct sunlight is hurtful for them.

Diet

Diet : calcium

1. dry food
2. frozen dry food
3. earthwroms
4. spring tails
5. crickets
6. insects
7. mosses
8. graze on algae
9. corn
10. peas
11. fish
12. carrion
13. frozen blood worm
14. mosquito larvae
15. shrimp
16. snail
17. flake
18. clayfish
19. hazelnut
20. almond
21. carrots

Feeding

They are feed at only 2 timings.

One time during dawn when the sun rises and one time at dusk when the sun sets. Either than this two timings, they totally don't eat at all.

Vampire crabs are themselves small eaters. They don't really eat alot.

But their food must alway be fresh irrgardless of whatever you are feeding them with.

Vampire crabs are omnivore but they are much nearer towards carnivore

Mating

mating season of vampire crabs is during summer period

to be more specific it is between the month of june to august

Females carry eggs about every six months and, from the eggs, about 50 to 60 young crabs hatch.

Fighting

Vampires Crabs are born fighters. They love to fight. They are always looking for a fight.

Vampire crabs are fighters by nature. They fight among themselves over :

1. Territory
2. spouse
3. food

and when they fight they are extremely violent, aggressive and brutal. They should no mercy to their opponents. If the opponent is lucky enough they can still be alive but just handicape. However at alot of times, when they fight, they will ripped off the opponent, tearing them apart. Most of the times when they fight , there can be only 1 survival to be alive.

At alot of times the fight takes place when you are not around , not watching them or when you are asleep.

Sometimes they fight as individuals, but there are other times it can also be a gang fight as well.

In most of the cases, male vampire crabs have a very high tendency to fight with other males. It is not common for a male to fight with female or for female to fight another female. However saying this, does not mean that they do not fight & will definately not fight at all. It is only that the chances are low.

If your tank has a mixture of male and female crabs, do bare in mind of thing. There is no sharing of wives for the world of the males. The males will fight among themselves to have all of the females just for himself one fellow alone and none others.

Don't think that just because the males are the ones who are always fighting most of the time, makes the female vampire crabs lousy fighters inferior to the males. Though female crabs hardly fight, but once they turn aggressive, they can be more ferocious than the males.

It is not an impossible thing for the vampire crabs to get along and to live in harmony with one another. It is just that it is not easy to achieve this.

Weird Coincidences

Why are Vampire Crabs called as Vampires ?

Please be ensured of one thing, although they are called as vampires, they do not suck blood.

Since that is the case, why are they called as vampire then ?

One possiblily could be due to their appearance.

They are one of the most colorific crabs to become available, regularly exhibiting orange, purple, red, yellow and black, and thanks to their red eyes, which become evident at sub-adulthood.

 

But again, it can also be the coincidence of vampires in our human culture.

First of all, each and every single vampire crabs have a very unique tatoo born with them on their shell, all at the exact same spot & angle of the exact same shape

this shape itself is the symbol for vampires.  

Next, they are purple in colour. Purple is itself a royal colour in ancient europe. It is the color that only the royals and nobels can wear and none others are allowed to wear.

Typically in european cultures of Count Dracula and other vampire stories, they are usually associated with the royals and nobels. The traditional uniform of Count Dracula does has purple colour as well. It is black on the outside and purple in the inside.

  

Thirdly , Vampire crabs are night creatures. They are only active at night. They are not active during the day. The way on how vampire crabs stalk and sneak to attack on their preys will only remind you of the way on how vampires prey on their victims in the movies.

Finally, direct sunlight is hurtful towards them

This 4 points itself is a weird coincidences by itself. How can it be so much of a coincidences ?

what do you think ?