HCA: Hermit Crab Association

If you have seen my other posts, I have two hermit crabs underground. Well, they both came up tonight. Now one of my hermit crab is changing back and forth between two shells for an hour. Is this normal? HELP!

Yes, they love to switch and try on many shells.

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It's probably nothing to worry about. Some crabs are super picky about their shells and like to switch back and forth. As long as you're providing a good variety of shells that are appropriately sized and appealing to your crabs, try not to worry

Ok but he's changing back and forth between two. Not many.

Ok good. I was growing concerned.

Allyb01 wrote:Ok but he's changing back and forth between two. Not many.

Trying to decide which one he likes more. Take the one he isn't in out and rinse it in bottled water and give it back then when he changes to it do that to the one is his wearing now just to be sure nothing is bothering him inside. 99.999% sure he is just changing because he can't decide.

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When you have the time check out the caresheet. There is a ton of info for you there. I learned so much from them when I was new. viewtopic.php?t=92457

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My big boy Ark kept doing this after I switched him to the large tank. Him and Ender played around for a bit, then he noticed the freshly boiled and dried shells in the corner and just went crazy. He spent hours switching, I think, then finally picked one of the largest shells, which was surprising considering it wasn't a commonly liked one ( His first pick before he finally decided on his current one was even a golden mouth Turbo! )

My crab, Padfoot, is wicked daring and changed shells the first night I put them in. Everything was rustled around, and he still keeps his old shell close.

My crabs love changing shells! Except one, Tiny hasn't changed yet.


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Isn't funny how crabs are so different, mine havn't changed in over 6 months and I have at least five per crab!

I have Es that change as much as my PPs. They are definitely all different.

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Both Malcolm and Kaylee have switched, now I have no clue what they're wearing. I may not be able to tell them all apart any more...


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I hope I don't need to worry about telling Ark and Ender apart for a long while, considering their size differences. Ender is so tiny compared to the Monster of a TeddyBear Ark. Plus Ender hasn't changed yet, she stayed in her current shell despite the many little ones I had, she even ignored them completely unlike Ark.

And I think Kaylee may have put Malcolm's old shell on last night. They are not going to make it easy on me are they? Lol!