HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So I've had my crabs for probably 2 months now. They're pretty happy and friendly crabs. They've never really chirped until now. I'm here lying in bed and I hear one chirping pretty loud. I went to investigate and all was well, they were just up and about eating and climbing. Nothing exciting or aggressive, etc. Now I read somewhere that they normally only chirp when they're aggravated, usually with another crab, is that always the case? Do they chirp for another reason? Just want to avoid any crab aggression!

Oh and P.S. In the month I have had the three of them, there has been no aggression whatsoever.


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I think sometimes they chirp for reasons other than aggression. I've seen a lot of posts where crabbers have run to the tank concerned only to find the crab just sitting there by themselves perfectly fine.

Mine have only chirped a handful of times (that I've heard anyway). A couple times it appeared to be annoyance at another crab who was climbing over them. Just climbing over, no aggression, because going around is too difficult. Then recently a crab chirped at me when I picked him up to check him over when I noticed he had resurfaced from a molt. I figure he was either annoyed or frightened so I just gently placed him back.

So if you don't notice anything wrong, I wouldn't worry too much.

Okay, thanks so much! I was kind of worried!


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I have relatively vocal crabs, I think. It's weird if I go more than one day without hearing someone chirp. A couple days ago I heard one being loud, went and checked, and he was sitting by himself in a coconut apparently talking to himself. :roll: 99% of the time when I check there isn't anything going on other than maybe someone being irritated about being climbed on.

I still try to check when I hear it, especially if it goes on longer than a few seconds - I did catch the beginning of a shell fight in progress and had to separate them. The crab being harassed was so upset he kept chirping the whole time I held and moved him.

My crabs are not vocal but whenever they molt they randomly chirp a whole lot

I've never heard one of my crabs chirp!

I am doing my monthly above the substrate deep clean. I actually have 20/35 up right now. One of them was chirping like crazy. Didn't like being climbed on in my crab tub that I use to hold them during deep cleans. It is a good size for that and yet they all decided one corner was best. Under the crab pile was a very angry chirping crab that pinched me after I rescued her. Last time I save her from the bottom of a crab pile!!!

Plus, my hand hurts!

My hermit crabs haven't chirped,
but sometimes when I pick them up
they will make a quiet clicking sound.

I hear them chirp when they're packed together in a tight space and one of them isn't particularly enjoying one of the bigger bullies trying to move to the bottom of the pile or through the pile, break up the pile, or just being a jerk. I'm sure they chirp all the time for other reasons, but that's when i seem to notice it the most with mine.

StarWarsHermitCrab wrote:My hermit crabs haven't chirped,
but sometimes when I pick them up
they will make a quiet clicking sound.

I think that clicking sound that you are hearing is sand and substrate scraping against their exo and the inside of the shell. the tighter they move into their shell or move around inside of it when you pick them up = more little clicks you'll hear.
'

I think? anyone?

I had a pile of crabs last night during a cleaning session and the bottom one chirped too!

But I've only had two other chirping episodes one was when my Viola went on a rampage and was attacking everyone. The other was when I gave them a left over pinkie from feeding my snakes. OMG I could hear them through out the house that night.

reichiere wrote:I had a pile of crabs last night during a cleaning session and the bottom one chirped too!

But I've only had two other chirping episodes one was when my Viola went on a rampage and was attacking everyone. The other was when I gave them a left over pinkie from feeding my snakes. OMG I could hear them through out the house that night.

Lol poor bottom of the pile crabbies.