HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Do any of your crabs get personality transplants after a molt? Some of mine act the same but my favorite crab, Marley (he's the one in the avatar) just molted. He used to be the friendliest/most easy to handle and now he's all skiddish. Here's hoping it wears off now that his back in gen pop.

Yep, King Kong became quite nervous after his last molt. I did dig him up though, even though he had finished his molt, he didnt want to return. I thought he was attacked, so I had to check. He was fine, though, exo eaten and all. But he is much more nervous now, but thats slowing getting better.

Yep, sometimes crabs are like that. I used to have a really mean crab who pinched alot, but after his molt he's feeling pretty friendly now.

My Bud always tends to be more shy after coming back up from molting. It lasts for a few weeks sometimes. Hope your baby gets back to his normal, happy-go-lucky self shortly!

Yes, I have definitely noticed personality changes, one of my most shy and crabby(lol) crabs molted and since then she is very outgoing!

My Ebb has been a go getter since day one but has BIGMAN syndrome since his molt. He is so funny.

uno was vissios be4 his moult, now he is quiet and likes to hid alot, he is very gentle now

"bigman" syndrome...that's funny. It's like when the molt, it really was a "new" crab growing under there.

I've had a few hermies become more social after a molt when before they were very shy and I rarely saw them. Then I have a hermie that went the opposite way, always out and friendly, and then after his recent molt he vecame very shy, and always hides when I pick him up now. Some of them too will become more assertive, especially if they change shells after a molt. They seem to think that being slightly bigger allows them to try and take on the lead hermie in the tank, though they usually fail. :roll:

Nippy was downright MEAN (thus his name) when I first got him. He pinched me in the pet store, pinched me when I put him into the tank, and pinched me pretty much whenever I tried to pick him up for whatever reason.

He molted and now he's sweet and docile. Not overly social, but I haven't been nipped by him since. Maybe high concentrations of molting and antimolting hormone make craps nippy and irritable?