First Crab Fight

[hermit_crab_mommy]

I have three crabs that are new. They have been with me for almost 2 weeks now and so far, as I know, they’ve gotten along fine. My smallest crab, Blue, is molting and there doesn’t seem to be an issue with it. My biggest crab, Thunder, has always been a bit aggressive. He will take food from the others and walk over them and pinched me lots of times. Him and Blue were staying close until Blue went to molt. Now Thunder and my middle crab, Ruby, have been staying close together.

While changing food and water today, I took Thunder and Ruby out and put them on a blanket (so I can easily see them) and put things around it so they can’t easily get out since when I’m changing the stuff they will hold on to the dish until I leave. I had a couple of their toys out on the blanket with them and they were both under the same hideout. I heard chirping so I picked it up to see. Thunder picked up Ruby by the shell, flipped her over, and held her down while trying to claw at her.

Not knowing what to do, I picked Thunder up and moved him away and made sure that Ruby was fine. She walked around find and there were no missing limbs. I put them back in their tank together and at first they stayed away from each other but now Thunder is right next to Ruby like before.

Should I separate them? And should I have even got involved in the first place?

[GotButterflies]

I'm not sure what to say, because I don't handle my crabs. Next time maybe don't remove both of them at the same time. Perhaps only take one crab out at a time. The crab could have been trying to establish dominance again because it was a change of scenery/environment.

If you must remove both of them, perhaps put them in separate containers.