Wildlife Discoveries: Land crabs, good neighbors tolerant of nuisance humans

Wildlife Discoveries
Published Saturday, May 03, 2003


Example: one man complains of land crabs "infesting" his yard. So I went on the Internet to get data on land crabs and see if I could recommend a solution. Blue Land Crabs (big and blue) prefer living on land and dig burrows three to five inches wide, sometimes living in small colonies of three to five crabs. Each crab digs down five to six feet to the water table where it excavates a pool room big enough to hold one to two liters of water. Land crabs adapt to saline, brackish or even fresh water by controlling the passage of solutes across cell membranes.

Blue Land Crabs are nocturnal, scavenging on fallen fruit, insects, other crabs and some vegetation. They also like a tidy yard, clearing all vegetation, including lawn grass, from the area immediately surrounding their borrows.

Actually, land crabs are never far from the ocean because females need to deposit eggs in the ocean. Mating season is July through November and females carry egg masses until the moon is close to full and then migrate to the ocean to release their eggs. Three miles is not impossible for a land crab to walk, so coastal residents are likely to find borrows in their yards whether they live right on the ocean or not.

I had several land crabs with burrows next to my patio when I lived three blocks from Salt Run. They were fascinating and a lot less trouble than most human neighbors so I left them alone. The only harm they do is to clear the area around their burrows and in my book that's not enough of a crime to warrant getting rid of them. Think of a Florida with wall to wall humans and no wildlife. Share your space.

Favorite Internet cartoon: land crab writing a letter, "Dear Cooperative Extension Service, How do I get rid of the humans in my yard?"

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