Crab trapping

Crab trapping is a Hunter activity in which players trap crabs in permanently-built traps. Unlike other methods, players cannot fail to catch a crab. Red crabs can be caught on The Pandemonium, blue crabs on The Great Conch, and rainbow crabs on The Crown Jewel.

There are three types of crab that can be trapped:

Players must first build hinged-lid traps over holes at set locations, requiring 10 Construction to do so. Each location has five holes that may be built into traps. Players will also need a saw and hammer, as well as one bucket, one normal plank, and two nails of any type for each trap. Built traps remain there permanently and cannot be removed; they only need to be built once.

All traps can be built immediately, regardless of level. However, the number of simultaneous active (baited or full) traps is limited by Hunter level:

Red and blue crab traps must be baited with fish offcuts, and rainbow crab traps must be baited with fine fish offcuts, both of which are stackable. After a set period of time, crabs will move towards the baited traps:

Once a crab is trapped, players must empty the traps to collect the crabs. The player will automatically re-bait a trap after 3 ticks (1.8s), but this can be reduced to just one tick by immediately clicking the trap again.

The highest experience rates from crab trapping require using the time between each lap of checking traps to process the caught crabs. Because crab paste is stackable, it's highly recommended to bring a pestle and mortar instead of a knife, as this will result in less effort needed from dropping, and more overall profit per hour.

An inventory setup like the one to the right allows players to most efficiently trap, without much intensity. Players should lay a round of traps, then run from the first to the last trap to check them. Afterwards, players should return to standing in front of the first trap, and crush the crabs of each colour, making sure to leave one crab of each colour next to the pestle and mortar.

When trapping Rainbow Crabs, players will have downtime while waiting for crabs. It is possible to multiskill Firemaking, Crafting or Fletching during downtime, though the former two skills require the use of Teleport to Boat with a Greater Teleport Focus (facility) built on a boat.

Because crabs traps can never fail to catch a crab, the guild hunter outfit has no effect, nor does anti-odour salt. As such, players should prioritise maintaining run energy. The graceful outfit may be useful for players with a low Agility level.

Crabs can be cut with a knife to obtain raw crab meat (which can then be cooked at a range or fire), or crushed with a pestle and mortar to obtain crab paste.

v t e Crab trapping
Creatures	Red crab Blue crab Rainbow crab
Items	Crabs Red Blue Rainbow Raw Red Blue Rainbow Cooked Red Blue Rainbow Burnt Crab Rainbow Paste Crab paste Rainbow
Traps	Hole Crab trap (empty) Crab trap (baited) Crab trap (full)

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