Vampire Crab

Author : Efrain Silva

Hey guys! Efrain here again, and today we’re going to have some fun talking all about the vampire crab (oohhhh). The vampire crab, named after a vampire? That’s right — if you want a classy, fun, low - maintenance sort of pet to keep in your tank at all times, then the vampire crab might just be for you. The one and only Geosarma aristocratensis is the genus it comes from. And it gets its unique name because, just like many a fictional vampire, its skin and exterior are different shades of purple, and its eyes — get this — are bright to golden yellow (or even orange to red, depending on the specific crab and its genes). What a name!

And more to add, this crab is semi - terrestrial. It’s an invertebrate as well. You may have asked where it first came from? The answer to that, friend, is South East Asia.

Now, the vampire crab will not come out and suck your blood, thankfully, but it is still pretty awesome and menacing in a few other ways, some might say. You should note that, once again, similar to a vampire, it does come out for its meals nocturnally, feeding from dusk to dawn, respectively. Its legs are quite spread out from one another, and you can easily notice this more spread - out stance in the way it stands and walks about ; it carries itself around in a very unique and notable fashion, one could say. Vampires out there who are reading this — perhaps you should consider getting one of these crabs as a pet (do not scare it away)!

Also, in width, the vampire crab gets up to about 2.5 in. Take proper care of it, and it can remain alive with you for anywhere between two to three years. Some also call this little fellow the ‘panther crab’ or the ‘carnival crab’ (reminds me of the cruise line, personally).

This small creature is an omnivore — feed it anything it wants to eat, within proper measure and using common sense, no less. It’ll even clean up your tank, from the insides, as it eats up any sorts of organic plants of algae inside, doing a ‘spotless favor’ in the process. Baby crickets and shrimp are great for it, as are small pieces of earth worms, broken up accordingly. Heck, it’ll even swallow down a fish flake or two!

During Halloween, some people even like to let their vampire crab out of its tank or cage, for a few brief moments of freedom. Now, given the circumstances are ideal, you may do this yourself as well, provided that you have already carefully made every detailed plan for where and how it is to move about, and which areas it will be ‘cut off from’ accessing (and for this, they sell small crab - sized play fences at Walmart and Target that are good enough to do the trick). Let your little vampire lose one day of the year (but avoid giving it any candy, that’s just going too far).