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Summary: Mating hermit crabs cannot be forced as there is not enough information as to how the mating ritual works. Learn more about the complicated process of hermit crab mating with insight from a pet enthusiast in this free video on pet care.
Cordell Jacques has worked in the pet industry for more than 10 years. He is also a reptile hobbyist in one form or another. Jacques keeps more than 20 various reptiles, frogs, fish...read more
"What I'm here to talk about is how to mate hermit crabs. Unfortunately you can't. We don't know enough about the hermit crab's natural history and about how hermit crabs work in order to breed them in captivity. There are a lot of things that we do know about them but there are a lot of fundamental problems that we have with understanding them that we just haven't figured out yet and mating happens to be one of them. We don't know whether or not there are mating seasons. We don't know whether or not whether they have to be cycled for mating. We don't know if they need special diets for mating. We don't know any of this stuff. In fact we don't know how to induce mating in any way shape or form so the sad fact of the matter is that right now the entire hermit crab trade is of course wild caught hermit crabs and there is no private or captive breeding going on because we simply just haven't figured out how yet. It may happen in the future, someone may make a breakthrough. It could be you and this is one of the cool things about keeping hermit crabs is that they are kind of one of the undiscovered animals. There is a lot to learn about them yet."
eHow Article: How to Mate Hermit Crabs
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