HCA: Hermit Crab Association

So to start off... sorry this post is a bit long-- I've recently become pretty confident in my crab-caring role but then I found something from about a month after we got started that made me wonder, haha.
So this video is from December but I stumbled across it making room on my phone. At the time we were double, extra, triple concerned that this was possibly a crab fight or something of a serious nature-- seeing it again now I have more questions, though lol.


A bit of background info, etc.:
The crab inside the shell was our first of 2 total that died from PPS (now I know to handle a new little guy less and maybe isolate the poor thing, especially when he's being rolled around by another crab ). We're fairly new to the crabby journey-- just started in November, but have learned so much from this forum since finding it the night we got our first 2.
Also just to answer a few common questions-- 7ish inches of sand-castle-consistency play sand for substrate, ideal thermometer & hydrometer readings, large variety of foods & shells, etc.-- all the things I've read on here about how to properly care for them I've done.


Seeing the video again now it looks like Franklin (the supposedly big "meanie") was doing the same thing he does when I've seen him sizing up other shells-- it was just that this time the shell had a poor sickly crab in it already.
Is that what you experienced (and not-so-experienced) crabbers would assume or does it look like aggression-- or even a display of dominance? I'm just curious what you guys think because I've see the same crab do the same thing to other crabs wayyyyy smaller than him.. So I'm curious what others who have experienced this behavior have decided this to be.. Sizing up another shell (despite it being occupied), a display of dominance, aggression, something else?

P.S- the crab in question is currently down molting, lol. https://vimeo.com/160052004

I would say he's just curious but I am no expert. I believe I read displays of aggression/shell fights involve shell rapping/bashing to intimidate the other crab to vacate the shell.


Neona

He was totally checking out the shell for sure. He decided not to try to evict the crab from that shell for whatever reason-but it could have turned into a shell fight.

I don't think he realized there was a crab in there at first. He did the roll (to empty anything inside), and then backed away when he felt the other crab still in it.

wodesorel wrote:I don't think he realized there was a crab in there at first. He did the roll (to empty anything inside), and then backed away when he felt the other crab still in it.

I agree. I don't see any cause for concern.

Thanks everyone! I was thinking the same, but at the time I was stressing about it.
Sounds like it'll be pretty clear what's going on if there are any aggression issues in the future.

Don't feel bad, I used to get anxious when they just had feeler wars, lol. I think every crabber gets nervous about their behavior before we know what to expect.

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