Shelling out for those cute painted crabs

Andrew Smith is pressing his 8-year-old body against a plexiglass display at the Shops at Mission Viejo, unaware that he is about to fall into the claws of a new craze. Like hundreds of other Southland youngsters, Andrew is mesmerized by the spectacle of dozens of live hermit crabs scuttling about in painted shells.

“I like him,” he said, reaching over the short wall toward a fast-cruising crab sporting a shell painted in a motif of tropical orange and green khaki. “He looks like he’d be adventuresome.”

This scene is playing out at malls all over the Southland. Since November, when California’s first crab kiosk opened in Ontario, more than 25 such stands have sprouted up across Southern California, according to Paul Manger, owner of Florida Marine Research in Sarasota, Fla., the nation’s largest supplier of hermit land crabs. Sales for this part of the country have increased more than 300%, said Kathy Jansen, who handles sales and marketing for the company.

Although hermit crabs have been sold in pet stores for 25 years, two novel ideas have transformed the crabs from oddity into hot trend: custom-painted shells and kiosk sales.

Entrepreneur Marzooq Mohammad opened the first crab kiosk in Dallas last year. Today, more than 170 kiosks have opened in the U.S., said Manger. Mohammad’s cousin, Ghufran Mohammad, and his wife, Gulshan, decided to test the California market, starting with an Ontario Mills kiosk called Crabby Island. “I thought I would be lucky to sell 15 or 20 crabs in a day,” recalls Gulshan Mohammad of her first weekend of sales. “I sold 400 in one weekend.” Sales have stayed brisk. Today, she says, she sells about 300 to 500 crabs a week. The Mohammads opened their second kiosk in march at Main Place in Santa Ana.

A crab, plus container and food, costs about $20. Part of the crabs’ appeal is that they change shells as they grow, moving out of one and into a larger one; the extra shells run about $6 or $7.

The shells can be painted to look like basketballs, ladybugs or flowers; they come with stripes or polka dots and even jungle themes. They sell out so fast, vendors are left with only the natural varieties until their next shipment arrives.

In February, Ricky Alam, a former car salesman, opened a crab kiosk in Canoga Park’s Topanga Mall. Operating under the name Crab Planet, he has since opened four more, in Arcadia, Downey, Laguna Hills and Mission Viejo. He says his locations sell an average of 30 crabs a day. The problem now, he laments, is that there aren’t enough crabs.

Manger, of Florida Marine, says the crabs are prolific multipliers, and there’s no danger of them running out, but they do breed in cycles. “Sometimes, the market just has to wait for nature to catch up.” Meanwhile, smaller suppliers have rushed in to fill the void.

“They’re so cool! I love their shells,” says Marissa Peak, 8, of Trabuco Canyon. This is Marissa’s third visit. When her mom, Gera Peak, learned her daughter had crab fever, she asked the usual questions: How long do they live? Ten to 15 years. What do they eat? Not much. The kiosks sell a commercially prepared food much like soft rabbit pellets. And water? Only bottled, and they like a little swimming hole on site.

Oh, one other thing. They can pinch.