HCA: Hermit Crab Association

For the last 10 minutes or so, one of my crabs has been stretching out of his shell.....almost all the way sometimes, and his little legs inside his shell are feeling around, is that normal? Do they sometimes just stretch out?

I got it on video encase it was something more.

Is he otherwise healthy?
If his little legs are moving around, he could be cleaning out his poop That's usually what mine do when they shovel it into the food bowl

Thats what i thought as well. Maybe post the video so we can watch.

It could also be a sign he's too hot or humidity is too high. If they're fine then it's likely he's just cleaning out his shell - which is what I'm thinking too.

Ok I will post the video....and give you the link when it's done....it always takes forever.

I didn't know that they did that to clean out their shell....good to know.
He might be hot, he's been laying by the heater ALL day.

OK, here is the video of Crabcakes stretching out of his shell. He was behind a net thing in the tat so it was hard to see him, but if you look closely you can see how far he comes out of the shell and his little shell legs doing stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFZRqVimdhQ

I would think he is cleaning out his shell (poop cleaning time!) He reminds me of how my guys act when cleaning out theirs. But I don't really recall mine running their leg along the edge of the shell like that behind their back........Wonder if he is modifying his shell? Did he just move into it by chance? That is my new obsession, learning about how they modify their shells lol

Thanks for looking Bridgitmac, he had this shell when I got him at the pet store.
Hasn't changed yet.
I had no idea what he was doing. I did keep seeing him put his little legs under his body and out the front as well.
It was all very strange

Oh yea, it's poopy scoopy time

Whew !!! Glad it's nothing to be concerned about.

Oh and don't mind my husband's giant belch in the background of the video....lol

Doesnt look alarming to me. My crabs do the same thing.

One of my crabs does that often and my kids think it's so gross They are so scared it's going to fall out of its shell since we had a new crab that streaked before (PPS). It's normal! I laughed so hard when I heard that burp. Sounds familiar :roll:

I will not deny it- a little surge of panic would take over me when I first saw it. I had been reading about naked crabs, streaking crabs, crab deaths, pps yaddayaddayadda- I was absolutly petrefied of the day I would witness a streaker, admitedly an entire naked crab is kinda freaky looking for someone who was ignorant about the entire anatomy except from pictures! After I figured out that they were dumping thier poo, my panic turned to "Mannnnn, I just cleaned up in there!!!!!" or "Nooooooo! Not in the shell shoooooooppp..."

Jennybecca wrote: "Mannnnn, I just cleaned up in there!!!!!" or "Nooooooo! Not in the shell shoooooooppp..."

What's most annoying to me is when they dump it on eachother, and it gets stuck to the shell.
Seriously? Who just sits there while someone dumps their poo on them?? :roll: And then I have to chase them around and scrape it off..

RockyGurly wrote: What's most annoying to me is when they dump it on eachother, and it gets stuck to the shell.
Seriously? Who just sits there while someone dumps their poo on them?? :roll: And then I have to chase them around and scrape it off..

I have never noticed this incredibly presumptuous behavior! However it is probably considered a surprise feast when they go about cleaning themselves!

"Hey, tank mate.... Yeah you! Uh, I think you got a lil somthin' on yur back side there, looks like Vinney's been cleaning house again. Let me get that... "

Omg. Who's got a crab named Vinny!?! I think I'd love the crab just for that name!