A 10-Inch Crab Walked Straight Into a Woman's Home

The Crab Came Through the Door

A woman in southern Germany opened her home to fresh air and got a much stranger visitor instead. A Chinese mitten crab about 10 inches across crawled in from the terrace through the open door.

The surprise happened in Unterlauchringen, near the Swiss border. The woman was close enough to the Rhine that a wandering crab was possible. It was still not the kind of houseguest anyone expects to see crossing the floor.

She Found a Very Simple Solution

Before police arrived, the woman managed to trap the crab herself. She placed an upside-down garbage can over it and kept it there.

That turned a strange wildlife encounter into an even stranger police call: there was a very large crab inside the house, and it was currently under the trash can.

Officers arrived, moved the animal into a container and took it to a veterinary clinic.

Those Claws Really Do Look Furry

Chinese mitten crabs get their name from the thick patches of hair on their claws. Those furry-looking claws can make them easy to recognize.

The species is native to Asia, but it has spread through waterways in Europe. It has been present in Germany for more than a century and is now reported in rivers including the Rhine, Elbe, Ems and Weser.

Recent monitoring work in Germany shows that reports of the crabs tend to rise in late summer, especially around August and September.

At Least It Wasn’t Dangerous

The crab found inside the woman’s home was not considered dangerous. Police also said it was the first Chinese mitten crab they knew of being reported in that particular area at the time.

The animal’s trip ended at a veterinary clinic instead of under a trash can. The woman’s morning eventually went back to normal too.

Still, opening a door for fresh air and finding a 10-inch crab walking in is the sort of story that can make a screen door feel like a very good investment.

References: 10-inch Chinese mitten crab scurries into woman’s home in Germany | German police remove invading crab from woman’s home | What anglers’ catch reports can tell us about the Chinese mitten crab in Germany