Interesting Indo interaction last night.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 6:04 pm

I couldn't sleep last night, so I grabbed a flashlight to "spy" on my crabs. I noticed Emmett checking out a shell, so I settled in to watch the action. Well, I wasn't the only one.

Jasper, a smaller Indo, was keeping an eye on Emmett and slowly creeping closer. Emmett had one eye on him while he continued investigating his shell. Jasper finally crept close enough to touch the shell and Emmett's feelers shot straight up in the air like a couple of exclaimation points.

Jasper slowly backed up until Emmett put his feelers down and continued checking out the shell. I found it fascinating that such a subtle gesture carried such meaning.

In the end Emmett plopped himself into the new shell, settled in for about 30 seconds and went back to his old one. I guess the new one wasn't quite what he was looking for.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Jan 28, 2006 10:40 pm

it was probably a warning... 'back off! this is MY shell!'

crabs are also vulnerable w/ out their shells, so maybe emmett didn't want another crab around while he made the switch. or maybe emmett just doesn't like the thought of a peeping tom in the tank!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 6:29 pm

It's likely that the other crab was hoping to get the old shell. That's what they do in nature. In nature one shell swap can trigger an entire chain reaction of shell swaps. They're not usually in the luxurious position of going back to the old shell (which is why they check shells so long)

Your crab warned the other crab, he obviously wasn't planning on giving up either shells until he made up his mind.