Playing by Shell Swapping?

[JenniFUR]

I adopted a large Purple Pincher, who I call Beauty, about a month and a half ago. She came with a bunch of supplies, including shells, but I quickly realized most of her shells were not ideal types and/or the wrong size. She was wearing a murex and kept swapping into a bigger one for an hour or two, then swapping back. I bought some turbos in her size range and she moved into one immediately, and she's mostly ignored the extra shells I kept available (three turbos and the two murex) for the past two or three weeks since then.

Yesterday I cleaned Beauty's tank and reset decor (mostly just getting sand out of the moss pit and pools) and in the past 24 hours I've seen her wear all but one of the spare shells. She's also spending a lot of time climbing on them and feeling them with her front legs and claws. Is she playing? I know she's been aware of the spare shells because she tends to put them all over the tank, but this is the first time I've seen her swap shells since she moved into the turbo and now she's doing it a lot.

[JoeHermits]

That’s normal behavior. Sounds like she can’t decide which shell she likes best so she’s trying on all of them


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[JenniFUR]

Thank you! I thought it probably was, but Beauty is my first crab so I appreciate the reassurance.