New crab, strange initiation to the crabitat?

Where we discuss the behavior of our hermit crabs, as in fights, pecking orders, shell swaps, etc. Please post all naked-crab posts in the Emergency forum.
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aslansgirl89
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New crab, strange initiation to the crabitat?

Post by aslansgirl89 » Tue Jul 07, 2020 6:23 pm

Ok so I have had my 2 male/female similar sized (medium) hermits for about 2.5 years now and today I got a new baby female who is a micro-small and my original crabs seem to be greeting her by grabbing her by the shell and turning her around and around like they want her shell even though it's WAY too small for both of them. Is this normal crab greeting behavior? Here's a size comparison for context as well as a picture of the behavior. The green ones are my originals in case you needed the explanation. Lol! ImageImageImage

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Last edited by aslansgirl89 on Tue Jul 07, 2020 6:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Wlfwo
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Re: New crab, strange initiation to the crabitat?

Post by Wlfwo » Tue Jul 07, 2020 11:03 pm

I assume you dipped the newby in the water before adding him/her? I've only added the one and he was an E, smaller than my PPs, he marched over to one, got right in his face and promptly got flipped to the other side of the tank, then he went to the shyer PP and that one hunkered down and the first PP went over and flipped him away again. Took a bit, but they are all buds now. Was about a week of getting flipped around before he quit being a pushy brat.

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aslansgirl89
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Re: New crab, strange initiation to the crabitat?

Post by aslansgirl89 » Wed Jul 08, 2020 9:15 am

Yes, she got a dip in the distilled water first. It appears that they have all made friends overnight though because I found them all cuddling together in the hide this morning!

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GotButterflies
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Re: New crab, strange initiation to the crabitat?

Post by GotButterflies » Wed Jul 08, 2020 9:30 am

They will always size each other up to establish the "pecking" order of the crabitat. :) As long as there is no chirping you are good! :)
Truly blessed to have incredible creatures, wonderful friends and my amazing family in my life!! I'm very thankful & grateful for all of them! www.thehealthyhermit.com

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