HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I have three E's one small and two large-ish mediums who are continuously doing what looks like boxing. They fang up on each other sometimes and are just generally rough. I know that it may be a deficiency of protein, but every source of it i've tried to give them is completely ignored. (tried eggs, chicken, ground beef)

so i understand that this isn't really rare or anything but i guess my real questions are a) should i intervene? and b) what are some other ideas for protein?

I call it the E double punch. They box with both claws, it's pretty awesome. And it's normal, they will also try to do this with the PP's but the PP will just use one claw and knock them hard enough to roll over twice, heh.

And I think it's just what they do, my conditions and diet couldn't possibly be better. I have 2 shell shops, 2 mosh pits and the whole land space on substrate of a 90 gallon, and they still do it. Sometimes they run 6-12 inches in a charge and double punch and the other crab will go flying.

the two bigger ones keep cornering the small one though, and i'm concerned because he is a very , very recent addition, and he is missing both walking legs on the large claw side

well that's a different case, they could be just placing the smaller one on the dominance scale or they see an easy fight for shell/food. They are wild animals so there will be this type of behavior and it's hard to figure out the trigger. I would intervene when it gets too rough, I do now.

I JUST witnessed this "1-2 punch" with my E's last night. I thought it was a fight, and by the time I got up to attempt at breaking that up (Sleepiness and large pinchers kind of slowed me down) they kind of just dug down their own ways. XD

Then I read this. And was like "Oh! Yup, that's exactly what they were doing. Except Brink is pretty strong and I think he knocked Thulian on his back, but Thulian left with only a bruised ego.

=)

Es can be really picky about the meats they'll eat. They don't seem to eat as much protein as the other species, but it's still important that they have access it to it on a regular basis so they can eat it when they want to.

My Es enjoy the Fluker's Turtle Medley Treat (dried freshwater shrimp, mealworms, and crickets). They also love freshly dead crickets and feeder roaches. They've eaten live mealworms and silkworms with excitement. They will sometimes eat fresh fish or no salt canned sardines, and sometimes fresh shrimp. They do seem to like insects more than anything.

Bee pollen is really high in protein (40%), and mine go nuts over it!

Wodesorel, where can you find bee pollen. Besides flowers, I mean can you buy it...?

Pepe4Life wrote:Wodesorel, where can you find bee pollen. Besides flowers, I mean can you buy it...?

Yep! Health food stores have it, as well as the hermit crab food places. (I got mine from Wolfnipplechips last year. I'm waiting for her new store to open cause I need more!!)

My local pet shop has just started offering it as a food addition for geckos, but they are wanting a lot for it.

Hmm, I see. Thanks. I'll need to check my nearest health food store.