Animal Care/Snail shells with round or oval openings

Hermit crabs that usually prefer shells with circular or oval openings are:

  • Indonesian hermit crabs or "Indos" (Coenobita brevimanus)
  • Caribbean hermit crab or "Purple Pinchers" (Coenobita clypeatus)
  • Strawberry hermit crabs "Strawberries" (Coenobita perlatus)
  • Rugosus hermit crabs or "Rugs" (Coenobita rugosus)

As pets they tend to give preference to particular snail (class Gastropoda, phylum Mollusca) shells (bold if known to be within the Purple Pincher's normal range; Picture2  links may contain pictures of shells that have been misidentified; not all shells at the "common names" links may be appropriate for hermit crabs):

  • West Indian Topshell shells (Cittarium pica - was Turbo pica ; family Trochidae - - Family Pictures ) - also called the Magpie, the West Indian Topsnail, or erroneously the West Indian Whelk. Over fishing of this snail (Bermuda) has been known to negatively effect the Purple Pincher population. - Region: C.Americas-Bahamas - ZipCodeZoo entry - Picture - Picture2
  • order Pulmonata - have lungs rather than gills