Comments on: Consider The Coconut Crabs

By: TheOrigamiGuy

TheOrigamiGuy — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:24:27 +0000

What a cool critter- I’ve got a friend from Saipan who says he’s seen them often in his yard.
What *I’D* like to know is if it would be legal to keep one as a pet here in the US….

By: mystery_man

mystery_man — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:20:49 +0000

Grant- You wouldn’t like living in Japan then. Biggest winged cockroaches you’re likely to ever see. And painted hermit crabs. Come to think of it, why am I living here again?

By: Sunny

Sunny — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:39:27 +0000

I think it was a show on the Food Network (probably that guy that eats anything that isn’t nailed down) — the host ate one of these things, and declared it really delicious, as apparently the flavor of the coconuts that make up its primary diet ends up in the flesh, giving it a “crabmeat with coconut” flavor.

You’d have to get me to stop running the other direction before you could ever hope to get me to try it.

By: Grant

Grant — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:47:32 +0000

No invertebrate (and for that matter, no ANIMAL) truly horrifies me except winged roaches. I’d very literally take a hoard of cocoanut crabs in the house before one of those.

By: Bob K.

Bob K. — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:53:17 +0000

I never even knew these creatures existed. Thanks for posting this; I have another most favorite critter!

By: Ceroill

Ceroill — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:29:08 +0000

Dang. That’s one big crustacean! I knew some land crabs got sizable, but this one is truly impressive. Nice article, Loren. MM, I really wish you hadn’t planted that image in my brain!

By: vampchick21

vampchick21 — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:31:00 +0000

So THAT’S what it is! I’ve seen that picture of the crab on the garbage pail several times over on the lolcat site with funny captions and I never knew what it was. I’d been meaning to google and figure it out, but hadn’t gotten around to it, and now I don’t have too….lol…Loren has told me!

By: Doug

Doug — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 08:25:09 +0000

Well, I guess you do learn something new everyday. I never knew such a beast existed. I would hate to have to deal with a yard full of them.:)

By: mystery_man

mystery_man — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:23:03 +0000

What a fantastic animal. I’m was interested to see that they are kept as pets in Japan because I have been living there for quite some time and I’ve never heard of this or seen one for sale here. I’m not too surprised though, there have been stranger animals kept as pets here (and often illegal or endangered ones). Hermit crabs are very popular as pets here, and you can actually pay to have their shells painted and decorated, or you can buy them already done up. I somehow doubt the crab has any say in what color scheme it gets. Would a pink Hello Kitty paint job make this giant coconut crab less ominous looking? Great, now I’ve given myself nightmares.

By: cryptidsrus

cryptidsrus — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:04:56 +0000

Oh, sweet Jesus…

I’m going to have nightmares for the next few days…

Reminds me indirectly of the “Spider” thing in the ALIEN movies.