Crustacean caravan: Hundreds of crabs invade South Florida neighborhood

Credit: China Photos/Getty Images

Credit: China Photos/Getty Images

Heavy rains last week presented a Florida man with a prickly problem, as large land crabs invaded his yard and crawled all over his home and screened porch.

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"Oh, my goodness, I saw all those crabs and I said, 'Wow!'" Dan Skowronski told WPTV on Friday.

Skowronski shot video of the crustaceans of various sizes and shapes crawling on his backyard porch at his Port St. Lucie home, the television station reported.

"I would say (they were) a good 6 inches, 7 inches long," Skowronski told WPTV. "They were a pretty good size with real big claws, real big crab claws."

Skowronski was not alone. Other residents in Port St. Lucie reported that crabs were crawling through the neighborhood and attaching themselves to homes and screens. Some even skittered into garages, WPBF reported.

“My wife stands out here with a broom when I’m trying to back the car out to keep them from running into the garage because once they get in there there’s a million places they can hide and you only find them once they die,” Bill Paterson told the television station. “I guess they are very good climbers and they manage to get up in the yard and I’m looking outside of the house and there were several dozen, at least."

Skowronski was more amused than annoyed.

"I post some goofy stuff with my friends on Facebook and I thought they would get a good kick out of this," Skowronski told WPTV. "And they really got shocked and amused out of this, so I thought, maybe I should forward this to somebody and they might like it too."

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