How can I get my hermit crabs to "trust" me?

[BlazeTheWeirdo]

Before anything is said, I am NOT asking this so I can hold them! I'm fully aware that handling/holding them stresses them out, and I do NOT want to do that to them.

I'm only asking because I want them to not be scared of me when I replace their food. One of them is totally fine with me, but the other two girls are TERRIFIED of me!! One runs away at top speed and the other gets pretty jittery. I just want to somehow show that I'm not going to hurt them and that I'm only there to feed them.

Is there a way I can earn that kind of "trust" from them?


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[JoeHermits]

What makes it difficult is that every crab interprets us differently and they’re not really intelligent enough to learn the way other animals can.

You could try picking them up and offering a favorite treat so they associate you with food. However handling is a controversial topic and I realize you may wish to avoid it.

Otherwise you can just keep doing what you do and let them see you haven’t eaten them.

Either approach will take a great deal of time (months or even years. I have crabs who’ve lived with me for a over a decade who still run, but they’re learning to ignore me) and patience, and a prey animal that views you as a legitimate threat may never change its mind. It’s one of the downsides of the hobby.

Edit: grammar


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[Xenocrab]

Every crab has its own unique personality. I have some that take off at the speed of light and others that don't care at all. They are prey animals and that instinct of wanting to hide and protect themselves will never go away. Maybe some will eventually learn that you are not to be feared. Maybe they won't. We had one crab that use to try to attack me when I'd put my hand in to feed. She is huge and I was scared of her! But she has let me handle her briefly and isn't aggressive towards me at all.

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[DragonsFly]

Bottom line: be PATIENT. Hermit crabs are wild animals, and you are a giant predator. Over time, most of them will become at least somewhat desensitized to your hands in the tank changing food, water, etc., especially if you just let them do whatever they choose to do when you are doing these things. For many, many reasons, hermit crabs are excellent teachers of that lost virtue, patience--especially if you are a willing student.

[BlazeTheWeirdo]

What makes it difficult is that every crab interprets us differently and they’re not really intelligent enough to learn the way other animals can.

You could try picking them up and offering a favorite treat so they associate you with food. However handling is a controversial topic and I realize you may wish to avoid it.

Otherwise you can just keep doing what you do and let them see you haven’t eaten them.

Either approach will take a great deal of time (months or even years. I have crabs who’ve lived with me for a over a decade who still run, but they’re learning to ignore me) and patience, and a prey animal that views you as a legitimate threat may never change its mind. It’s one of the downsides of the hobby.

Edit: grammar


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One of the things I did when I rescued my big girl, Dwebble, was offer her peanut butter from my fingertip. She would sniff it but never eat it from me, so I just put it in the bowl, and she seemed kinda okay with me after that. I did something similar with baby Frank, with some seaweed and he almost ate it from me. He seemed fine with me after that. I'm wondering if that might help so I don't have to pick them up. I'm not scared of picking them up, I just know that it stresses them out when you do. I feel like I spooked Dwebble so bad last night that it may have broken that "she won't hurt me" thought. So I guess I'm trying to earn that back somehow. >.>

[BlazeTheWeirdo]

Every crab has its own unique personality. I have some that take off at the speed of light and others that don't care at all. They are prey animals and that instinct of wanting to hide and protect themselves will never go away. Maybe some will eventually learn that you are not to be feared. Maybe they won't. We had one crab that use to try to attack me when I'd put my hand in to feed. She is huge and I was scared of her! But she has let me handle her briefly and isn't aggressive towards me at all.

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I used to think my biggest rescue crab was aggressive too. She would show me her open claw every time I picked her up. I put her on my flat hand one day, fully accepting the reality that she would pinch the heck out of me... she didn't, not even when she started climbing on me. I found out that she was deathly terrified of two things: falling, and anyone/anything touching her eyes. I respected that for the most part.

I think I accidentally triggered her falling fear last night when I was trying to do a gender check after her recent molt. I guess she thought she was going to fall, and she hid for the rest of the night after that. <.<

[DragonsFly]

Yes, they don't want to fall, but I think just being picked up is also a major, natural fear. In the wild, the only things that would pick a hermit crab up would be something trying to eat the crab. It is a perfectly natural response for them not to be okay with that--thus, to be "stressed" whenever they do get picked up--and to try to defend themselves by pinching whatever is holding them to make it put them down and give up trying to eat them. I mean, if a human-eating giant predator tried to pick you up, wouldn't you be a bit "stressed"?--and wouldn't you do whatever you could to try to make it put you down?

That said, crabs do differ in their capacity to tolerate being handled. When I have moved my crabs from tank to tank (as I moved up to larger and larger tanks), Major Tom has never offered to pinch me (although he has scared me a couple of times that he might abandon his shell!--which is another survival strategy for them), but Billie Jean has pinched the ever-lovin' you-know-what out of me, twice!

[BlazeTheWeirdo]

Yes, they don't want to fall, but I think just being picked up is also a major, natural fear. In the wild, the only things that would pick a hermit crab up would be something trying to eat the crab. It is a perfectly natural response for them not to be okay with that--thus, to be "stressed" whenever they do get picked up--and to try to defend themselves by pinching whatever is holding them to make it put them down and give up trying to eat them. I mean, if a human-eating giant predator tried to pick you up, wouldn't you be a bit "stressed"?--and wouldn't you do whatever you could to try to make it put you down?

That said, crabs do differ in their capacity to tolerate being handled. When I have moved my crabs from tank to tank (as I moved up to larger and larger tanks), Major Tom has never offered to pinch me (although he has scared me a couple of times that he might abandon his shell!--which is another survival strategy for them), but Billie Jean has pinched the ever-lovin' you-know-what out of me, twice!

Yeah I could see that. I'll leave them be for a few days and see if that helps.