Am I providing the appropriate shell selection?

[crabby33]

I have 4 Gold Mouths, plus the one my crab above ground is wearing, 3 Banded Turbos, 1 Magpie, 1 Silver Mouth, 1 Pertholatus, 2 Tapestry Turbos, 1 Silver Mexican Turbo, and 3 Jade Green Turbos. The crab that is molting is in a Murex. But my crab above ground doesn't seem to like the tapestry turbos, even though there is one in the tank that is the same size as the one he's wearing. He's one of those crabs that likes shells with a lot of growing room and where he can retract all the way in.

[aussieJJDude]

Its a good start, we normally recommend a min of 3 to 4 shells per crab, but its often better to have more so you can switch them out on a timely basis.

[crabby33]

I was asking if I had the right shell selection because I was concerned that people were going to tell me to remove the Gold Mouths when I have a crab that's wearing one.

[soilentgringa]

I was asking if I had the right shell selection because I was concerned that people were going to tell me to remove the Gold Mouths when I have a crab that's wearing one.

IMO if you have suitable shells that aren't gold mouths, you can remove them.

Over 75 crabs have come through my in home rescue over the past 3 years and none of them stayed in a goldmouth when other shells were offered.

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

[crabby33]

Well, for some reason he won't move out of that shell and I do have other turbos available in the tank but he just doesn't like them. I can take the Gold Mouths out when I get home and see if he'll choose a different one. These are the other shells I have in the tank: 3 Banded Turbos (1"- 1 1/8"), 1 Magpie (1 1/8"), 1 Silver Mouth (7/8"), 1 Pertholatus (1" & 7/8"), 2 Tapestry Turbos (both 1 1/8@), 1 Silver Mexican Turbo, and 3 Jade Green Turbos (3/4"-7/8"). I will also re-check the what shells are preferred and which ones to avoid to see if I have those available. Okay, I removed the gold mouth shells and replaced them with a couple of camo turbos.

[wodesorel]

There's no reason to take them out of your tank!! If the crabs want to wear something they will, no harm done. It's just that there's often not a reason to spend money on types they don't prefer. It's better to invest in types the majority will like so you don't have to keep buying them, or have to buy a ton at once.

[crabby33]

Okay, I'll put them back in. Every crab is different. Some people have crabs that don't like this particular shell but I just happen to have one that likes Gold Mouths.

[wodesorel]

Is she in a shell that has an opening under 1 inch? The little guys get a lot more creative with shell choices!

[crabby33]

Actually, this crab is a male. Yes, he's in a shell under 1". The Gold Mouth he's in has a 7/8" opening. In fact, he just threw some shells off the shell pile.

[CallaLily]

As long as you provide enough preferred shell types, there's nothing wrong with throwing a few oddballs in too. Especially if you already have them on hand and your one crab seems to like them. As long as they're not damaged in some way or coated in something that could be considered unsafe, there's no harm in offering. The shells to avoid guide is just to try to help keep crabbers from wasting money on shells that most likely won't be used.

I have a PP that seems to prefer the gold mouth turbos, but pearled (I imagine because they're lighter this way). I had another PP that preferred D shaped openings to the round that most of my other PPs seem to prefer. I even had a PP try on a whelk shell for a while*.

*ack I linked the old post but it's worthless now because of photobucket.

[Hermias_mom]

One of my PP crabs wore a gold mouth turbo for three days or so. She did this two separate times, and then changed back over to green turbos or mexican turbos. I think she was just having fun changing shells. I leave my gold mouth turbos in there (only have two), but I don't have plans to buy any more. The ones I have came in the bag when purchasing my pica shells. When I run out of room in the shell shop, I'll probably take them out.

I've had one PP in the same apple murex shell for several months now. She's even molted in it. It's got stuff poking out all over it, but she doesn't seem to care!

[crabby33]

My second crab that's molting is in a murex with a 7/8" opening but I don't know how big he is right now. I don't want to disturb him.