HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I wouldn't say lobsters getting into a trap is them not learning, since they only get into the trap once and they are caught. Maybe you wouldn't catch the same lobster in the same trap twice if you let it go.

I do know crabs will have their own way of getting around, and they seem to have habits, so they must learn and they must remember things. I know they "warm" up to me after molting so just knowing they get used to me shows me they are learning I'm not a threat.

I do think they can remember stuff and learn to some degree. Crabs that used to scurry for their lives when I come up to the tank now will stay where they are, and in some cases, come towards me! I have a couple E's that will follow my fingers.

I think there once was a study on marine hermit crabs where they tested their memory using shells that they would send a weak electrical current through. They would associate that shell with pain and not choose that shell. Maybe I can dig that up somewhere...

You'd really have to setup a test for that. I know mine will bulldoze their way through a lot of stuff when they could simply go around the object, but NOOO they have to prod and pry and dig through the object.

I don't know, if you can call it smart, but hermits seem to have a good sense for their surrounding.

When I opened the connection between my two crabitats, nearly all of my PP realised the new hole in less than a day! I never thought, they wound realise it so soon. After the first PPs went back and forth between the tanks, the other species followed them. And now - about 7 month later - all crabs know exactly, the way.
I hope you can see the picture:

This connection is over a meter long and the hermits have to climb up a meter on both sides to reach it. Now most mites need a few minutes to get from one side (bottom) to the other side (bottom).

My pp's are samrt

I put in a shower caddy with a ramp/ladder sort of thing leading into i. The same day I put it in, my PP Jimbei climbed up into it. When I still had my 10 gallon tank, he figured out a way to climb up the climbing wall and hang upside down on the lid. Then I upgraded to a 20 gal. my thoughts were, 'Poor guy, he just figured out how to get on the lid,' but no. He used the climbing wall and got on the mesh lid.

I believe they have a good memory, especially if they keep on excercising the action.

I think they are kind of like hamsters... they are without the ability to be able to teach them anything, but they all have different personalities and quirks, and once they figure out how to do something once, they don't tend to forget it. (A hamster will always remember a way to get out of their cage, as will a hermit!)

I dont if you call determined as smart put Elaine cahnged shells and everyday I will find her old shell in a new place and this morn it was face down next to the log now its with the opening facing the side so I think that's smart but it might just be me...