KeeprHusbandry You're a Pro? Click here to meet Rex
Atlas / Library / Coenobitidae / Caribbean / Purple Pincher Hermit Crab
BeginnerNocturnal · sleeping now
Coenobitidae

Caribbean / Purple Pincher Hermit Crab

Coenobita clypeatusปูเสฉวน

Part of this is not on the page we cite. We opened it on 10 Aug 2026 and some of the degrees above are not stated there. The values above may still be right, but we cannot show you where they came from, and nobody here has checked them against a second source. Anything about a sick animal goes to a qualified exotic vet, not to a page. en.wikipedia.org

Photograph: ZooFari · CC BY-SA

Photographed by an observer on iNaturalist and published under a Creative Commons licence; the photographer and the licence are named under the image. It is not an animal of ours, and no animal was handled by us to produce it.

14:00
Day

Drag the sun. Caribbean / Purple Pincher Hermit Crab is nocturnal, so what it is doing changes with the light.

Terrestrial · temperate · humidFrom the sheet: 24–29°C, humidity 70–80%

The way of life is written in this sheet, word for word. The climate words summarise the two figures above them, they do not add to them.

National law is not global, and we hold no national wildlife law for any country, Thailand included. Check your own authority before buying or selling.

Check your setup against this sheet I keep one 123 plants usable with this species
Back to the globe My keep

https://keepr.pet/husbandry/en/coenobita-clypeatus

‹ All husbandry guides
Temperature24–29 °C
Humidity70–80 %
Diet1 days

The numbers

Temperature

152025303540 °C
24–29°Ambient

One ambient band, 24–29°C. This sheet states no warm side, no cool side and no night figure, so none are shown. Same scale on every sheet here, so two species compare by eye.

The sheet states24-29°C

Humidity

70–80%Target RH

The sheet states70-80%

Enclosure
40–75 L glass, deep sand; keep 3+ together

Identity

Adult size

1.75 m6 cm
1520100400 cm
6 cmNose to tail, adult

The size the sheet states for a grown animal.

Why

Two drawings, because they answer two questions. The silhouette is at true scale against a 1.75 m person: it says how big this animal actually is, which no number does for someone who has never seen one. The bar under it is logarithmic and shared by every sheet here, so a 2 cm isopod and a 4 m python both stay readable on the same axis and two species can be compared at a glance.

Order / Family
Decapoda
Origin
IUCN / CITES
Not evaluated; wild-collected
Difficulty
Beginner–Intermediate
Commonality
The classic pet-shop hermit crab worldwide
Adult size
Up to ~6 cm
Lifespan
10–20+ yrs (up to ~40 reported)
Growth rate
Slow
Activity & niche
Nocturnal terrestrial scavenger
Temperament
Hardy, curious
Venom / defense
Harmless; large purple claw can pinch

Enclosure and conditions

Temperature
24–29°C
Humidity
70–80%
Min. enclosure
40–75 L glass, deep sand; keep 3+ together
Substrate
12–15 cm damp play-sand/coco
Hides / decor / water
Extra shells, wood; fresh AND marine water pools

What your climate adds

This sheet states a range to hold. Your local climate decides how much work holding it is. Pick the nearest city: nothing is sent anywhere, the choice stays in this browser.

Diet

Feeding rhythm

every 1 dAs the sheet states
28Meals in 28 days

Twenty-eight days, one row. Each band is a meal window.

Why

The windows widen as they go because the interval is a range: four meals after a 10–14 day cycle land anywhere between day 40 and day 56.

The sheet statesFruit, veg, leaf litter, dried shrimp, calcium foods, coconut · Fresh food daily/every other day

Staple food
Fruit, veg, leaf litter, dried shrimp, calcium foods, coconut
Feeding frequency
Fresh food daily/every other day
Supplements
Cuttlebone / crushed coral (calcium); marine salt for bathing water — NOTE

Behaviour and handling

HandlingOccasional, gentle; may pinch: support the shell
CommunalYes – social, keep in groups of 3+
Defense / stress signsLeaving shell, lethargy, limb loss

Reproduction

Reproduction
Pelagic larvae: not bred in captivity (wild-caught)

Common health problems

Common health issues
SignsPPS, low-humidity stress, painted-shell toxicity
Red flags / quarantine
SignsPainted shells, mites, limb loss; quarantine, offer natural shells

Good to know

  • Confirmed to live 20+ years: decades beyond what most owners expect.
  • Confirmed to live 20+ years — decades beyond what most owners expect.

What it needs

A thermometerbecause temp — 24-29°C
A hygrometerbecause humidity — 70–80%
Not stated: The size of the enclosurethis sheet describes the enclosure without a figure: « 40–75 L glass, deep sand; keep 3+ together »

Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation. What the sheet does not state is listed too, rather than left out: a kit that looks complete is worse than one that names its gap.

Sources

en.wikipedia.orgaquariumbreeder.com

Others in this group

Giant African Land SnailLissachatina fulicaRed Apple CrabMetasesarma aubryiIndonesian / Purple Land Hermit CrabCoenobita brevimanusRuggie Land Hermit CrabCoenobita rugosusVampire Crab (assorted Geosesarma)Geosesarma sp. (e.g. dennerle, 'red devil')Giant Pink-foot / Immaculate Land SnailAchatina immaculataGiant West African / Banana Rasp SnailArchachatina marginataConcave / Cavipes Land Hermit CrabCoenobita cavipes

What this sheet states

100%
TemperatureHumidityEnclosure sizeActivityOriginDietSourcesUVB

Every field this product runs on is stated here. That is not a claim that the values are right: it says what the sheet states, not whether it is true. Whether a human has read it is the badge at the top of this page.

UVB is measured but does not count: it is absent from 421 of 678 sheets, and on most of them that is not a gap, since a nocturnal snake's sheet has no reason to state a UV index. Counting it would call the library incomplete without cause.