Giant Mutant Hermit Craze - Is It A Local Thing?

Was at the LFS yesterday and saw this:




Not the best pic I know, put trying to put this in perspective. That's inch and a half PVC in the background. This hermit was near the size of a bowling ball. While talking to the stores guy, apparently their is this huge rage for these things and they are having trouble with supply and keeping them in stock.
Anyone else heard of this new craze? Personally crabs freak me out. I can deal with the usual small ones associated with the hobby, but I wouldn't go near a tank with one of these, let alone keep one personally. And what the heck do you do with them, I'm assuming just a species tank? Or perhaps lemon and melted butter?

 

I saw an LFS on CL selling a monster bright neon orange hermit crab for $180! It was around a 12 inches in size!

 

Simply named the "Giant Hermit Crab", that species will actually grow a bit larger, requiring a 1 foot shell (shells are measured by the size of the opening, btw). Obviously destructive, it's also a stealth predator despite it's clumsy appearance.

I've also seen land hermits that big.

 

Good God. This one was $14.95

Oh yes. Coconut crabs come to mind.
If you measured the opening on this one, it was probably at least a good eight inches.
I just don't see the appeal to make this the #1 item at the LFS. I wonder how many broken tanks we are going to see from rock collapse in the next few months.

 

I saw this guy last week. Was freaky.

 

They are quite common in conch shells down here in FL. But yea, they will kill and eat anything they can. Maybe in a big FOWLR with plenty of room.

When I find a dead conch shell, almost 99.999% of the time it's inhabited by a large hermit.

 

Yeah my LFS in Montana had one too. My wife went "ooooh! who would put THAT in their tank?!"
I responded "Someone who hates fish and coral."

 

WHOA!!! That's intense.

 

I don't understand why somebody would want one lol. I like to meet somebody that does have one so I can what kind of setup they have lol.