HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hi there! I'm back again! So lately, my little hermit crab is still buried and I havent had a sign of him! However my big hermit crab is on the surface.

My big hermit crab was real active, and now hes not so much anymore, hes been like this before where he just doesnt move! He didnt really make much movement for the longest time! Then in recent weeks / months, hes been active! As of right now, hes out and about, and its 5 am, but it takes some time for him to be and even then, I dont know If hes doing much.

However, hes been croaking ALOT! I dont know why, I csnt figure out what leading him to croak- is there something in there? Is he sick? Is it something to do with the lottle hermit crab?

Its worrying me that he hasnt been as active and the fact I keep hearing him croak. I can at least hear him by the food bowl though, so hes still a bit active, which is a little relieving..

Any idea what could be causing him to croak so much? Hes usually quiet. I tend to hear croaking from him time to time though.

UPDATE: the little hermit crab just resurfaced and the big one was already ontop of him, and there was croaking. I'm assuming that's aggression

I hadnt seen the little one in weeks and when he was oout and about the, the recent times when he was on the surface, the big one would always get ontop of him and have an antenna battle

They never did this to each other a couple months ago, so what's the big idea?

The chirping can be a sign of stress, or might not be.
When big crab is on top of smaller crab, what's he doing? Like just hanging out or is he rocking or grabbing the shell?
What are your tank conditions like? How many shells do you have?

curlysister wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 07, 2023 6:59 pm

The chirping can be a sign of stress, or might not be.
When big crab is on top of smaller crab, what's he doing? Like just hanging out or is he rocking or grabbing the shell?
What are your tank conditions like? How many shells do you have?

He was like hanging on him, and like getting in his face, I dont know if was rocking the little one's shell. He had done this before a while back and I had put him in a container filled with other shells and he switched

After what happend when I made this post, I switched out some shells incase that was the issue again.

The conditions are eco earth and play sand, some food, a net for them the climb on and other items for them to mess with and of course water! And a heating pad on the side of the tank and some moisture in the eco earth and play sand!

As of right now, they both seem to be, behaving perfectly and even sat on the net together, they seem to be behaving like they did before!

I just wish I knew why the big one would chirp randomly, so I can figure out what I need to do to help him if hes stressed

Also today, something silly happened and I took pictures of it!! The little one had climbed ontop of the big one when they were at the top of the net! He just chilled ontop of him, it was really baffling to see but no chirping, so I don think the big one minded and the little one got off him safely!

So maybe they're bother good now? Cuz they got along perfect before!

I wanna show the picture if the little one ontop of the big one, but idk how to do that- but it was really silly

Okay, glad to hear things are better!
You will need to use a file sharing site, or the Tapa Talk app to post a photo.