HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Good morning, all. Last night i did some rearranging in the crabitat, and went to bed. The "kids" played around and trashed all my hard work, of course. when i got up this morning, one of my mediums was in a tiny shell that just barely covered his butt. He couldnt recede at all. I immediately put him in the shell shop where he changed into a bigger shell without hesitation. I dont know how long he was in that way too small shell, because i was asleep. I also dont know how agressive the battle was but he has all his limbs still. Now that the immediate danger has passed, should i be worried? Once he changed shells, he proceded to dig down.

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I wouldn't worry to much..if he still has bod parts. He could of went and changed into a smaller shell all by himself during the night and then an other crab took it.. shell fights can get pretty vicious.. crabs usually don't want to just give up their homes so freely..the robber will get on their back and start rocking the other crab and trying to get at him..if the crab can't get back far enough the crab will rip him out..

Are you positive it was a shell fight? The bigger crab is almost always the winner, so it's weird that he had a smaller shell unless you had another similar sized crab wearing it before him. He could have just been being weird and put on a too small shell. They do that sometimes!

I am not positive, i just made the assumption that he would not have chosen a shell he could barely fit his bum in, let alone retreat into. If i wasnt scared for him, i woulda took a picture. Now that the immediate danger has passed it was a funny site.

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These guys are so funny about shells! There are many variables they consider when changing shells, size is only one of them. For example they may choose a way too small shell because another crab has modified it, and they like what was done with the place.