HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I've noticed, at about the same time every night, that somebody in the crab house is chirping. I thought at first it was because Lemon, one of my larger crabs, was bullying Speedy and Speedy was distressed. But every night, I find the 2 of them hanging out in one of the coco huts.

Should I be worried? Speedy has been up from his molt for weeks, has been bathed, etc. Lemon came up from her molt a few weeks ago, and she has had a bath too. She does seem more aggressive with the crabs that weren't one of the originals that were bought when she was bought.

Hmm chirping is a bad sign? I would like to second this question then

I dunno...for some reason I thought it was a sign of distress. I could be (and hopefully am!) completely wrong about this.

I'd rather think they're shootin' the breeze.

I dont know the answer but would like to see the answer and also wondering if its ok that they dont chirp?

I have yet to hear any "chirping" but have witnessed one of my big guys attack the 2 smaller guys, and also the 2 big guys got into one night and still didnt not hear anything...wondering if maybe i am deaf to the chirping noise?

This past week is the first time I've heard anyone chirp since I got them in September '11...at least that I've noticed and realized what it was.

It often is but not always!
Es chirp sometimes to communicate, I heard, and sometimes one crab (one of my own) will walk up to the food dish, start eating and chirping! Its like hes telling everyone else to back off
I think crabs communicate a bit through chirps

One of mine chirped when he was eating a while ago, and also when I got him some new climbing toys....he was living alone at the time. I thought he was expressing happiness:)

I could have sworn he also "hissed" at me one morning when I startled him accidentally.

I think it depends on the crab, maybe even the species, as to how much they chirp and why. I've only heard my PPs chirp if they are in trouble. My Es chirp if someone looks at them sideways! I don't think I've heard the straws chirp so far.

All 8 of mine are PPs.

The only time I've ever heard my PPs and Es chirp was when they were in danger or scared.

The weirdest case was one that would chirp like a cricket every time I walked past the tank for three weeks, and then it suddenly stopped and it's never happened again.

Hades is about the only crab of mine I hear chirp, except for the one time my small E decided to have a face off against one of my mediums. Poor little E ran for his life after the medium started chasing him Anyways, Hades chirps for a lot of reasons. His main thing is when I put raisins in the tank. He grabs them and runs from the food dish, chirping the whole way. One time I looked to see what was up, he shot back in his shell so fast he rolled backwards, but he never let go of the raisin. Hades also seems to chirp when he comes across other hermies that are around the same size as him. Thing is, he's had a history of being aggressive (killed poor Binky and started a fight he couldn't win that got two of his legs torn off) so I generally think chirping isn't what you want to be hearing.

Though, most of the time the chirping seems relatively harmless. None of them have ever been in any real danger when they start, but it doesn't ever come off as a good thing. At least in my tank.

I have had chirpping when there is danger, but also sometimes I think they are just communicating. I have 1 pp who chirps when he is all alone (doesn't happen often with my crew).

I have only day 1 time that any of my crabs showed any aggression that worried me, and they were chirpping then. But most of the time, they seem fine.

the few times I have heard it I can't say that it was friendly and definitely not happy.
once my blueberry was trying to rip the other blueberry out of its shell, so was loud i heard it the second i walked in the room. I have an E that will chirp at me when I open up the tank. I'm kinda thinking it may be a sign of dominance and used as a kind of threat as well as distress.

short chirps are nothing to worry about that may be the communication side of it. Its when they do steady chirps that are very loud is when they are in trouble. It would be cool if someone recorded diffrent chirps and played them back to see how they reacted.

I have heard a strange chirp a few times in my tank. It's always quick and very loud. I have no idea even where it is comming from or who is making the noise. I think I have two crabs down, and only one above ground.

Should I be worried?