OMG! I walked in on something disturbing!

Jamie53102 · Post by **Jamie53102** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 10:50 pm

So about an hour ago I was heading to bed and I went in to check on my babies one last time. I wanted to see if any of them had come out of hiding. Sure enough I found my original crab, Patty, beating up the new girl, Bella! Bella was tight in her shell upside down and Patty had claws on both sides shaking it back and forth!!! I freaked and separated them. I was thinking Patty was the aggressor but now I've been sitting in the dark with the moon glow lamp on watching in awe! Bella got out of the hidey I put her in and was slowly making her way back to Patty. Se got right up to her and in my head they were probably talking about each others mother because they were staring at each other for a good minute or so and then Bella walked away. I went to iron work clothes for my hubby and when I went back to check Patty had high tailed it to the other side of the tat!

I'm really nervous because along with Bella I added two babies and I'm sooo scared they will be attacked tonight! George has hunkered down under the moss an even I had a hard time locating him, Krusty and Pearl are out but sticking by each other very closely (which is cute since pearl is one of our new teeny ones and Krusty is HUGE) and Edward has dug down about 4 inches or so.

I don't know if I'll be able to tear my eyes away from this tank tonight! Lol they are FASCINATING!

Jamie53102 · Post by **Jamie53102** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 10:55 pm

Play by play... I just came back in and they are staring at each other again. Last time they were an inch from each other. Now they are inching closer from about 7 inches back.... Eeeekkkkk

Post by **aussieJJDude** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 11:12 pm

Wow,
i take it as they are both girls?

maybe they are having a fight over the same boy?
do you have shells similar to the victims shell, maybe the attacker wants the victims shell?

ceo1282 · Post by **ceo1282** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 11:21 pm

Jamie53102 wrote:So about an hour ago I was heading to bed and I went in to check on my babies one last time. I wanted to see if any of them had come out of hiding. Sure enough I found my original crab, Patty, beating up the new girl, Bella! Bella was tight in her shell upside down and Patty had claws on both sides shaking it back and forth!!! I freaked and separated them. I was thinking Patty was the aggressor but now I've been sitting in the dark with the moon glow lamp on watching in awe! Bella got out of the hidey I put her in and was slowly making her way back to Patty. Se got right up to her and in my head they were probably talking about each others mother because they were staring at each other for a good minute or so and then Bella walked away. I went to iron work clothes for my hubby and when I went back to check Patty had high tailed it to the other side of the tat!

I don't know if I'll be able to tear my eyes away from this tank tonight! Lol they are FASCINATING!

Your post has me laughing so hard...imagining them talking about each others mom

I've read/heard that the shaking back & forth is an attempt to get the other crab out of the shell so they can have it. Are they close to the same size? I wouldn't be able to tear myself away either & have actually had trouble doing it in the past. I finally had to give in, realizing I can't always be there & that they need to learn to live together....luckily they did

It's amazing the crazy things you can walk in & see going on in the tank. I caught mine just seconds away from escaping the other morning. Anyway, I hope all goes well & your guys learn to live together like mine have.

Rocky · Post by **Rocky** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 11:54 pm

I caught my two big boys fighting a few days ago, I seperated them in container for half an hour and gave them both baths (to neutralize their smells) and they seemed to calm down

of you're nervous, I suggest trying that

also, would there be anything they'd fight over? Like a lack of shells or protien? (I think my issue was protien, B had just molted and Nudge gobbled up 7 mealworms after

Jamie53102 · Post by **Jamie53102** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 6:23 am

There is a shell exactly like hers but Patty hasn't bothered going up to the shell shop to check it out. That would actually make sense though because Patty has been shacking up with Krusty since they have been together and his shell looks soooo much like this one.

Well I ended up hitting the sack about an hour after this post and they were in the freshwater together like nothing happened. Maybe they had a feeling I'd be watching since I lectured them both on their behavior towards each other. I will go check on them all shortly to see how it went! Teehee!

Jamie53102 · Post by **Jamie53102** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 6:37 am

Ok well I went back in and Krusty is ONE LUCKY MAN CRAB! All three of them are huddled together!

Is it normal for a crab to change shells and molt go down to molt the next day?

DragonsFly · Post by **DragonsFly** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 8:44 am

All of mine changed shells before their first molt with me.

That "shaking the shell back and forth" does sound like a shell fight. Make sure you have enough shells of the preferred type and a range of sizes; boil the shells in marine salt water and let them cool completely before putting them in. If the crabs are new, they may not expect the shells to be up somewhere off the substrate (they would be accustomed to finding shells on the beach), so you might put at least some of the shells on the substrate or even in the marine salt water dish for them to check out.

How large a tank do you have, and how many crabs in it total? Since you have just added some new crabs, that will change the social dynamics, and often this can result in aggression, even between individuals that were previously friendly. If the population pressure is too high (from THEIR perspective, which may not agree with our estimate of how many crabs should comfortably be able to coexist in a given tank), that will also tend to produce aggression.

Jamie53102 · Post by **Jamie53102** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:15 am

We have a wide variety of shells and one exactly like the one she was fighting for. She has gone to the shell shop once and checked them out. I have a 55 gallon tank and 2 teeny crabs and 4 medium crabs. I put the smaller shells throughout the tank for the little ones. Maybe I'll put a few of the bigger shells on the substrate as well. Thanks for the tip!

DragonsFly · Post by **DragonsFly** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 3:58 pm

Sounds like a good size set up for that number; should be fine with respect to space.

Bear in mind that, even though you had one other shell that to human eyes seems to be exactly like the one she was fighting for, there could be something wrong with it you can't perceive (some rough spot down in there or something). Also, crabs always seem to prefer shells previously worn by other crabs, so there's that. . . In addition to putting them in different places, some people have had luck getting crabs to check out new shells by (after boiling and allowing to cool completely) taking a little bit of organic olive oil on their finger and rubbing it around the edge of the shell.

Finally, they may just need some time to work out their dominance hierarchy and settle in.

Best wishes!

Craftycrabber · Post by **Craftycrabber** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 10:37 pm

Is it possible that you were seeing some mating behavior? Hmmm The shell thing sounds more likely though.

HCA: Hermit Crab Association