HCA: Hermit Crab Association

My E, Peyton, is usually very chill. I've handled him before where he'd climb up my arm all happy as a clam with no problem. Recently, I've been very busy with work and my fiance is terrified of my crabs so he hasn't been held much recently. Just now, I picked him up and he started clicking before frantically running up my arm, spilling balls of water out of his shell along the way! I put him back in the tank and he's kind of brooding next to the pools right now but what's with the sudden personality change/weird behaviour?

Has Peyton molted recently? They can have a personality change after a molt.

Nope. :c And I tried picking him up again and he did it again! He's like a squid with ink.

Perhaps he is getting ready to molt and is feeling more vulnerable.

He could be. Honestly, I'm surprised he didn't go down at the same time as Hawthorne, my current molter. The pet store I bought them from wasn't exactly what you would call ideal - much too small tank with way too many crabs. If he IS gonna molt, hopefully he does it soon. The sooner he goes down, the sooner he'll come back up. Plus he's rather small so it wouldn't take all that long.