All about Chirping/Clicking

[shanedaman112]

Threads about chirping:
http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 34&t=30607
http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 34&t=85376
http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 34&t=85988
http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 34&t=86615
http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 34&t=87408
http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 34&t=88574
http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 7&t=102074
http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 9&t=103874
http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 9&t=112665 - Has a video

Also, the website I first learned about proper hermit crab care on, hermit-crabs.com, has a little bit on the subject as well.
http://www.hermit-crabs.com/chirping.html

A great video of a crab chirping
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFfWVVSnKyg

Conclusive studies found that Blueberry hermit crabs Coenobita purpureus rub their uropods (the very tip of their body) against the inside of the shell rapidly to make the chirping sound. See Crustaceana Vol. 58, No. 2, pages 168-174

Here is a collective list of quotes from the hca. You'll notice not many of these quotes go beyond 2007. That's because I was searching for these by date, and after 2007 most of the important info was already provided.

•Chirping is a way to communicate

Guest - Dec 23 2005
when they chirp, they vibrate, as a way to comunicate. A lot of animals do that.

Kuza - Apr 25 2013
They talk when they are about to come up from a mass molt so they all know to come up at the same time.

•But it seems to usually be a sign of stress or agression.

soilentgringa - Dec 28 2015
Sometimes crabs just chirp, but usually it is a distress signal.

Guest - Nov 15 2004
My crabs will chirp, pinch and cause havoc when they're not enjoying the things I do.

starmaiden - Jul 10 2006
I heard some angry chirping coming from my 10 gallon tank with my 3 new guys in it. I realized they couldn't all fit inside the cocohut very easily and I decided they needed something bigger.

Jedediah - May 26 2005
the crab that wants the occupied shell is sitting on top of it, rocking it around and trying to pull the other crab out and often both crabs are chirping.

Guest - Aug 17 2006
He was chirping when I first took him out of his tank, which I gather means he didn't feel safe

Willow - Oct 31 2006
Chirping usually means something's wrong

Guest - Mar 16 2007
The chirping was VERY loud, I saw Will attacking

Hermit_of_Hermit_Crabs - Dec 11 2007
They usually tend to chirp when they are agitated. Mine chirp all the time and it is usually because someone is climbing on top of them.

Guest - Jan 30 2008
My PPs and Es only really make noise when they're fighting. Otherwise hearing them chirp is really rare.

Jackolope - May 24 2012
"Chirping" can be a sign of aggression and a prelude to a fight.

amart24 - Oct 6 2015
You don't want to dig up a crab unless you hear a lot of chirping this means you could have a trapped crab/ pocket caved OR a crab being attacked

Laurie LeAnn - Oct 25 2015
if you hear them chirping loudly this could mean that their tunnel has collapsed or a crab is attacking them under ground while molting.

•So it can be quite worrisome.

muddygrl - Jul 18 2003
then they started chirping... I got really worried.

Guest - Jan 5 2005
I got NO sleep last night--was up until 6:00 worrying about hermies and listening to them chirp.

•Sometimes the reason is unknown.

Guest - Jan 13 2006
sometimes in the middle of the day, with all 20 crabs underground the crabitat comes alive with chirping and grunting sounds, kinda makes a person wonder whats going on in the subatrate!

troppo - Jun 16 2006
I wonder why with one of my hermies who had a terrible molt last year,the 1/2 days before he died,he made a low chirping sound that lasted a few seconds at a time,and would repeat every 5 seconds and lasted for hours on end?

Guest - Jan 2 2007
She is "chirping", which is the sound crabs make. Sometimes they do it because they are looking for another crab or tankmate. Sometimes they do it for no reason. Often, they chirp in anger or aggression

Elle - Sep 19 2007
i know it often happens during shell fights, but my hermies are happy as crabs! yet i always seem to hear chirping

•Some crabs/species chirp more than others.

annopia - Dec 11 2007
I have had both crabs who only chirp when distressed, and others that tend to chatter away 24/7.

Jedediah - Jan 13 2006
PPs do chirp, but Es seem to be more vocal.

Hermie Lover - Aug 29 2007
they can really get going w/ that chirping sometimes!! Very amusing!
I hear it more from my Es though!

Lasuna - Aug 6 2012
all crabs chirp, though E's are the more vocal ones.

troppo - Oct 2 2006
Aussie crabs make a barely audible chirp,they are virtually silent so it's hard to tell if they're in trouble

troppo - Feb 20 2007
I've heard my Aussie crabs chirp as well although it's only a faint clicking noise.

Guest - Dec 11 2007
I think it just depends on your crab's personality. I only had two the first time I heard them chirp. And to this day it's mostly just Sebastian that does. The others only chirp when startled or frightened.

lucas_1957 - Dec 12 2007
my rugs never ever chirp.

•No one knows for sure how the sound is made.

Guest - Jan 12 2006
I think it's like the cat purr, it's something inside the body. Since nobody knows much about the insides of their bodies, we wouldn't know what's making the chirping noise...

Guest - Jan 18 2006
I doubt the crabs use either of their pinchers to make the chirping sound.

•brad873 may have found the answer. This thread is a good read http://hermitcrabassociation.com/phpBB/ ... 34&t=60292

brad873 - Apr 27-29, May 30, 2008
i think i may have found how crabs chirp. there are lots of ideas. one is that they rub legs together and such, but if that's true, how does it still work for a molted crab? i don't believe its internal plates that are rubbed together, but there mouth parts.

"there could be many explanations, but unless we can see a chirping crab close up, we may never know."

"his mouth parts WERE moving. i think i may have found how it is done at last"

(PS. From me, shane, the creator of the thread, I recently saw my guy strawberry clicking and I saw his mouth move 100% definitely. It was a click though, not a chirp like I've heard them do before )

•This is how people describe the sound.

Guest - Dec 23 2005
when they chirp, they vibrate

Guest - Dec 2 2004
I've noticed that when they chirp it sounds more like a croak, lol.

Guest - Jun 8 2006
I fell asleep to their chirping and it has to be the cutest sound ever!!

Guest - Aug 29 2007
Nash starts croacking again. At this point I am totally positive what I'm hearing.....CHIRPING!

Guest - Sep 7 2007
Mine "cluck" like a person sounds clucking their tongue and a couple of them whistle (?) or chirp like summer locusts.

Kaylynne - Apr 30 2008
chirping does sound like elastic bands together.

wodesorel - Nov 7 2010
Every so often at night I hear soft chirping coming from the tank, but I can never figure out who it is. It's very soft and repetitive, like rocking on a squeaky floor board.

wodesorel - Jul 18 2012
I've heard clicks, squeaking, cricket chirping, tree-frog blasts, and duck quacking all coming from hermits before. I've also heard more than one story of them "screaming" when they encountered a new tankmate.

Keg - Apr 25 2013
It sounds like:
"oink,oink,oink,oink,oink,oink,oink,oink."
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I compiled this kind of collective knowledge base because I think a lot of people don't really understand chirping. Hope it was worth the read
(tl;dr? Crabs chirp when they're angry )

[Emm33333]

Thanks for posting this! It's very interesting to hear about all this stuff. The only noises my crabs make a shells clanking agianst the glass and faint sounds of scratching. Lol

[LadyJinglyJones]

Ooh!
This seems like a good place to park a link to Jstor, where you can read a paper about seeing indos chirping via rubbing their uropods against their shells.

You have to create an account, but it is free to read once you do.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/20104538?se ... b_contents

[shanedaman112]

Ooh!
This seems like a good place to park a link to Jstor, where you can read a paper about seeing indos chirping via rubbing their uropods against their shells.

You have to create an account, but it is free to read once you do.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/20104538?se ... b_contents

Good Read but do notice they only had conclusive evidence on indos (edit: blueberries). So mouthparts theory is still possible :roll: I've read a few times that hermit crabs have been heard chirping out of their shell, but I never did see a citation for that. I mentioned in the main post that I observed my crab clicking his mouth parts, but it wasn't a chirp like I used to hear them make. It was a sharp click, like a stick snapping.
Edit: I realize now that they were studying coenobita purpureus, aka blueberry hermit crabs? And I guess I thought it was indos because you said so in your post.

[LadyJinglyJones]

Yes, quite so - I realized 3 hrs. After typing that, while sitting on the bus, that the species wasn't indos. :roll:
I'll have to learn to check myself one of these days.

Re: the study... I agree, and also their sample size was tres small (3 individuals... and they started with 3 species & over fifty crabs... I think crabbers have much higher rates of chirping!)

But since you'd taken the time to create this marvelous post, condensing years of forum info into one handy index, I thought it was worthwhile to add on the link to this study.

It's the only study about Coenobita sound production I've encountered so far - not to say there might not be others, but I haven't found them.

Anyhow, given the range of sounds, I think it's likely there are a couple of methods. And I wouldn't be surprised if even different populations within a species chirped or clucked for different reasons, like bird calls varying by location.