How do you tell if a hermit crab is a boy or girl?

Answer 1

Sexing a hermit crab is not simple because you need to be able to see under the 3rd pair of walking legs. A female crab will have a tiny hole on the side of each of her third walking legs - all the way at the top of the legs where they meet in the middle. These holes are called gonopores and are where the males deposit sperm.

Answer 2

Take one of you hermit crabs out of it's cage. Hold it's shell in the air. The hermit crab will be dangling out of it's shell. The hermit crab's head should be facing down at the ground, and the shell should be in the grasp of your fingers facing up at the ceiling. Your hermit crab should be dangling upsidown. While the hermit crab is like this, you will be able to see its stomach. Look at the 2nd row of legs (NOT including the claws.). If its a girl, there will be two small holes that look like small dots on that second row of legs. If it is a boy, there will be no holes. These holes are called "gonopores". You can look up a picture of the gonopores so you will know what they look like before you start checking your hermit crabs. It helps a lot to know what they actually look like before you start looking to see if the crab is a male or female.

Answer 3

TAKEN FROM:http:/www.hermit-crabs.com/sexing.html (go to link to see descriptive pic) Most crab-care books state that it is impossible to tell the sex between male and female land hermit crabs. Actually I have found that is not that difficult, provided your hermit crab is willing to come rather far out of its shell for you. The female land hermit crab has tiny genital openings called gonopores. The gonopores are located on the first segment of the back pair of walking legs. They are close in to the body, near the joint of the cephalothorax and abdomen. The gonopores are the openings into which the male crab places his spermatophore during mating. The male crab, gently tapping and rocking the female crab, encourages her to come out of her shell. The crabs mate in a position where the female's gonopores line up with male's fifth pair of legs. The male gently places his spermatophore into the female's gonopores. Since females of both species of land hermit crab sold in the United States (purple claw and Ecuadorian) have gonopores in the same place and of the same size, it is probably safe to say that all the females of the species kept in captivity (including Australian species) have their gonopores similarly situated. Many crabs are reluctant to come far enough out of their shells to allow you to see whether or not they have gonopores -- DO NOT FORCE THEM!! To have a better chance of seeing them, try looking for them after or during your pets' weekly bath. I have found most of my crabs are willing to come out far enough, but not all of them. Do not under any circumstances attempt to pull a crab from its shell to see the gonopores. The crab will sooner allow itself to be torn apart than be forcibly removed from its protective shell house.

Answer 4

lift your hermit crab and look at its tummy to see a dot one dot boy two dots girl no dot boy

Answer 5

In order to see the sex of a hermit crab, it would need to come almost all the way out of its shell. Females have gonopores, or a small opening near the base of the tail.

Answer 6

See related link below for the answer.

Answer 7

There is actually no way to tell.