HCA: Hermit Crab Association

All of my hermit crabs do this but this summer i did an experement with one in particular,twilight. He is a small (now medium) sized purple pincher with extreme determination. I was giving him a bath outside because the day was especially hot and humid and i was sitting on the side steps and letting them run free, grabbing them whenever they got too close to the edge for my comfert. I started to notice that all of my crabs, especially twilight kept going in the exact same path when i grabbed them. This made me curious so i started tracing their trails with a piece of chalk different for each route. I relized he was going the exact same way to get to the exact same place 7 times untill i stopped testing. When i put a stick or rock in his way he would go around it and continue on the same exact path. His path wasnt even the quickest or most convienient way to get there but he kept going. I was wondering if anyone knows why or if your crabs do something similar. Please tell me because i would love to know

Maybe he sees something intriguing in that direction, he could sense darkness or smell something yummy over there. I'm curious if any of them follow each other like ants.

My question is why would he keep going in an inconvienient way to get there

What a careful observer you are! I thought this post was VERY interesting because for years I have noticed with way my hermit crabs move and it's very interesting if you watch closely.

What you noticed about their path I have also noticed. They will even follow the same path when they haven't been in the place for weeks and weeks.

There are several times I take pics of crabs outside the tank. One is when I first get them, another time is after a molt. Then I was looking at before and after pictures such as these:




Notice how even though these pics are months apart the "body language" or mannerisms of the crab are the same. Gangplank here has a tendency when coming out from being hidden in his shell to have this kind of lopsided thing going on. And then I remembered back to taking these pics and I remembered what you described, every time I'd try to snap pics they would get up and follow the same track, as if they were on a rail.

So I agree with you that not only do they follow the same paths that way, but they even have distinct ways of moving ALL the time that might be called mannerisms, or idiosyncrasies or quirks-but definitely behavioral traits that are unique to each crab,just like I have mannerisms that are unique to me. I walk differently than my sister.

I think it's a totally awesome observation, but other than it's evidence to me that crabs have "personality" or temperaments or whatever, I don't know where they think they are going.......

I know right my crabs sometimes go to the most illogical places for no good reason