High pitched chirping while buried

[Amo3143]

I got 2 hermit crabs about a week ago. The one bigger one started to fight with the little one constantly so i separated them into their own places. Once i did that the victim buried himself completely for a few days. I finally saw him out the other day eating but he went right back in the hole. Now he is making a high pitched noise that sounds kind of like plastic rubbing on plastic while in the hole. I dont know if this is due to a molting situation or what, but im getting kind of worried.

[gunstreet.girl]

Hi there! When you say you separated the crabs “into their own spaces,” do you mean that you moved one of the crabs into a separate tank, or did you just separate them and then leave them in the same tank? If the latter, are they both underground and one is chirping? Or is one above ground and the one below is chirping away on his own?

While it’s not necessary, if you wanted to fill out the emergency form it might help us to make an educated guess as to what might be going on, if there are any environmental factors that may be contributing to what you’re seeing/hearing, etc.

[Amo3143]

I put them in their own tanks becuase the small one would get attacked every 10 minutes. The "attacker" is completely fine now on his own and the other one is stil buried in the other tank making the noise

[Hermiesguardian]

Could it be his shell scraping along the glass? Does the 10 gallon have the correct conditions? Substrate depth and consistancy?

[gunstreet.girl]

I put them in their own tanks becuase the small one would get attacked every 10 minutes. The "attacker" is completely fine now on his own and the other one is stil buried in the other tank making the noise

It’s odd for a crab to repeatedly “attack” another crab if all conditions are ideal. While one does hear tales about the odd homicidal crab, going on a murderous spree even though all tank conditions are optimal, this is, to my knowledge, rare. Fights are generally caused by a lack of space, food, sub depth (to allow safe moulting), hiding selection, shell selection, or other factor(s). Are you able to fill out the emergency questionnaire so we can try to help you figure out what’s going on?

As for the sounds, Hermieguardian has noted that this could potentially be the sound of the crab’s shell scraping the glass - are you able to listen closely and determine if the sound you’re hearing is in fact chirping, or it might be scraping?