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 ?

Vampire Crabs ( Grapsoidea )

 

  Who are they?

 The scienceticfic name for the vampire crabs is Grapsoidea. However, Vampire crabs is just one of the breeds belongings to the Grapsoidea species.

Location ?

 The one and only place in this whole world whereby vampire crabs can be found is only in sulawasi island indonesia and none other.

Price ?

 The Price of a vampire crab in USD is between 15-40 US dollars depending on where you buy it from. 

However that is the price if you are buying them outside Asia continent. If it is within the continent of Asia and to be more specific in South East Asia region, the price per crab is far much cheaper than in the west. 

Myself, i bought mine in a retail shop from a neighbourhood area at $6 per crab in Singapore dollars. (around 4.8 USD per crab) I have bought 5 of them. 2 males and 3 females.

 The convertsion rate of Singapore and USA dollars is actually very close to each other 1 USD = 1.2 SGD & 1SGD = 0.80USD. That is the current conversation as for now. It is around a difference of 20 cents only.

General Information of Vampire Crabs

 

In a way you can perhaps say that this vampire crabs breed is rare. First of all it is not in anyplace that can be easily found and secondly it is not a common breed that people have as pet. Thirdly, very little information can be found about them even on the internet. Not even wikipedia has information about them as at present.

This crabs itself is very small in size. It is about half of the size of your thumb only. ( Lenght , Breadth and Height) They are carnivores so feeding them with fish as food will be good enough. Once a day will be sufficient.

You really don't need to change the water everyday for them. Around a week once will be good enough or if you want to make it more frequent then around every 3 days once. What's important is that you must have a very wet sponge in the tank.

Just like other breeds and specifies of crabs, i did gradually discover the common thing about these vampire crabs, which is that crabs are born fighters. Especially and particulally the males. Male crabs loves to fight the most and they are pretty violent and ferocious when they fight.

There is is no mercy ! Weakness cannot be tolerated when they fight. Female crabs on the other hand also do fight but the chances of them fighting with their own gender or opposite gender is not high unlike the males.

 These vampire crabs like shade and darkness very much based on my personal observation of them. They are perhaps genernally more active during the night than day. It also appears to me that they have big reactions as they pannick easily.

General Crab Guidelines

The below will be some informations of crabs as on a general guidelines & hopefully it interests you.

Q : Can Crabs feel pain?
A : Yes

Q : Can Crabs see?
A : Bad Vision, they sense light and shadow movements

Q : Can Crabs Swim?
A : It depends on the specifies and breed

Q : Can Crabs Scream?
A : NO

Q : Can Crabs breathe both in underwater & out of water?
A : Yes

Q : Can Crabs Hear?
A : Yes! But unlike us humans. It is more on vibrations for them

Q: Can Crabs Smell?
A : Rumoured to be so

Q : Can crabs smoke cigarettes?
A : Don't be Silly

Matting of Crabs

 

When mating is of concern, it is done usually during warmmer weather. The male crab will perform a dance or ritual to the female and awaits for the female to respond to his wave of his claws. Should the females wave her claws back at the male it means she is ok to mate with him.

 Males will always look for females who are matured enough sexually.

When they are ready to mate, they will get into poisition with the male above the female. The female will be in a position whereby her beneath faces the male. This position is commonly known as double.

They will both remain in this position until the shell of the female is soft enough to mate. Depending on the specifies and breed, some can remain in this position for up to a week.

Once the female is ready to be mated, she will expose 2 holes which is triangular in shape in her abdomen and male will insert into it. Depending of the individuals of the crabs, once mating is ready to be done , the whole stage of the mating process can take up to 5 hours.

When the eggs are produced, they are carried underneath the female crab all the way until they are ready to be hatch.

How they got their name?

Has it ever make you curious on why are vampire crabs called as vampire crabs? I do suppose I know why base on my own assumptions of a few fact findings.

First of it is that vampire crabs have a vampire symbol on their shell at the same spot exactly in common.

   

 

Second would the color of the crab, itself which is purple.

While in Asian Continent and for the Asian people the Royal color in common is Yellow, it is purple on the hand for the Europeans.

 

Purple is the color only for the royals and those who are permited to wear in the west. Typically, in the west, vampires are associated with the aristocrats, royals, imperials and nobles, culturally.

Coincidently again, this vampire crabs who process the symbol of the vampire on their shell are also purple in color as well. Perhaps due to too much of a coinsidence, they are hence named has vampire crabs.

However, despite so do rest assure that these crabs do not suck or drink blood.

Meanning of Purple

 

Just perhaps if you are curios enough, the following information will be on what is meanning of the color of purple. Purple is :

1) Color of good judgement
2) Color of seeking spiritual fulfilment
3) Color of purpose
4) Color to represent the day of Thursday
5) An ideal color to use in meditation
6) A royal color in the west
7) Associated with the month of February
8) Associated with Crown Chakra
9) Associated with Imagination and inspiration
10) Reprsentation of Pride in Christianity
11) Represents the Plannet Jupiter
12) Symbolize magic , mystery and purification
13) Symbol and Representation of Gay's Pride


Usage of Purple

 

Put some violet in your life when you want:

• to use your imagination to its fullest
•  to re-balance your life
•  to remove obstacles 
• to calm over-activity or
•  to energize from depression 
• Deep or bright purples suggest riches. 
• Lighter purples are more romantic and delicate.

The Nature and Culture of Purple:

•  To Boots the imagination of a child and creativity of an artist, a purple room will be most ideal.
•  Purple is colour widows wear to Mourn for her husband's death in Thailand
•  purple was the favourite color of Egypt's Cleopatra. 
•  The Purple Heart is a U.S. Military award given to soldiers wounded in battle. As it represents courage 
• In Tibet, amethyst is considered to be sacred to Buddha and rosaries are often fashioned from it.
•  In Japan, the colour purple signifies wealth and position.
•  In pysanky, the traditional Ukrainian form of egg dying, purple speaks of fasting, faith, patience, and trust.
•  Purple denotes virtue and faith in Egypt.
•  In Tudor Britain, violet was the colour of mourning, as well as the color of religious fervour. 
• Traditionally, in Iran, purple is a colour of what is to come. A sun or moon that looks purple during an eclipse is an omen of bloodshed within the year.