Do crabs display dominance or...

Where we discuss the behavior of our hermit crabs, as in fights, pecking orders, shell swaps, etc. Please post all naked-crab posts in the Emergency forum.
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bikepartjewelry
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Do crabs display dominance or...

Post by bikepartjewelry » Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:41 pm

is it me adding my own thoughts to their behavior?

Lemon and Mega-Claw have been communing all afternoon. Now Lemon is standing above MC on the cocohut looking down at him in the sand. They have engaged in many feeler fights/parties today as well.

I'm just curious what, if anything, is going on.
Jodey
12 PPs: Mega-Claw, Claw, Orzo, Lemon, Eugene, Speedy, Mo-Mo, Titan, Bob-Blueberry, Kirby, Meta-Knight...and one unnamed
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Fateless
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Re: Do crabs display dominance or...

Post by Fateless » Wed Sep 21, 2011 7:53 pm

Yes, they do, a lot sometimes. To show dominance they might flick, or crawl on other crabs shells and sit on them.
I'm not sure if what your crabs are doing is dominating, they could just be becoming good friends.
Last edited by Fateless on Wed Sep 21, 2011 9:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Newish owner of Hermit crabs: Thallium (Lium for short), Char, Ninijae(was peekaboo), & 2 no names
90 gallon crabitat. I'm new to this ^_^

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Kilimanjaro
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Re: Do crabs display dominance or...

Post by Kilimanjaro » Wed Sep 21, 2011 8:26 pm

Territorial displays and dominance are very common in the crabitat, and in the wild! :wink: They have a sort of hierarchy system. :)

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tnt4eva
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Re: Do crabs display dominance or...

Post by tnt4eva » Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:04 am

Some crabs are very dominant. There is a clear pecking order in my tank, and the only ones that are exempt are the teenies.

Termite is the alpha male and beats up all new additions until they cower in submission. He likes to throw his weight around. I once saw a small change shells in front of him and Termite grabbed the small's old shell and wouldn't give it back. The small looked ready to cry lol. But he is very gentle with the teenies. If they get in his way, he walks behind them really slowly until he can get past, whereas he runs over everyone else like a steam train.

Spider is the biggest crab, but he's at the bottom of the pecking order. He digs big burrows and even the smalls will push him out them so they can take them for themselves.

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wodesorel
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Re: Do crabs display dominance or...

Post by wodesorel » Thu Sep 22, 2011 7:10 am

The only time mine get into it is when there's something tasty, and then whoever is bigger, stronger, and faster wins!
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