HCA: Hermit Crab Association

What do you guys do when a crab gets territorial, despite having plenty of space and food? I got a new crab, and one of my original crabs named Loki (he sure lives up to his name) starts to grab him whenever he would get near Loki’s usual designated areas. He doesn’t try to fight back though, he just gets scared and runs away. I always have to break them up because I don’t want either of them getting hurt. Any ideas on how to handle this, other than separating them in different tanks? Thanks!
Also I feel bad for Loki because he just seems more scared than anything, like he thinks the new guy is gonna take his resources or something

Have you tried dipping them both in freshwater? Neutralizing their scents often helps.


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JoeHermits wrote:Have you tried dipping them both in freshwater? Neutralizing their scents often helps.


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Thanks for the tip, haven’t tried that yet! My new guy is in iso right now so I’ll definitely try that before I reintroduce him.

Like Joe mentioned dipping them helps the new crab from smelling like an outsider.

We have had a purple pincher, Triple H and an E, Gunshow not see eye to eye for nearly a year. They generally stay peaceful but every few months they have words (bat antennas) and with get into some wrestling matches! Just the other day Gunshow was grappled with HHH To break it up, xenocrab misted them and Gunshow retreated to his cave and HHH took off running too! They act just like professional wrestlers! One week they are friends, the next week they are out for blood on one another!

Motörcrab wrote:Like Joe mentioned dipping them helps the new crab from smelling like an outsider.

We have had a purple pincher, Triple H and an E, Gunshow not see eye to eye for nearly a year. They generally stay peaceful but every few months they have words (bat antennas) and with get into some wrestling matches! Just the other day Gunshow was grappled with HHH To break it up, xenocrab misted them and Gunshow retreated to his cave and HHH took off running too! They act just like professional wrestlers! One week they are friends, the next week they are out for blood on one another!

Triple H, lol. You just gave me the idea for my next crab...Undertaker!! Never thought of using wrestler names. Mankind, Kane...so many good ones!

Wanted to say to the OP too that I had great success with the dunking of all the crabs in the same pool. Good luck!


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