OCD shell chaning?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:31 am

Hi! I recently purchased a PP and "she" seems to be doing fine. She's in a 10 gallon habitat with 3 empty shells that vary in size (to give her a variety). On Wednesday night (she's definitely nocturnal!), she swapped her original shell for a shell that is a little smaller than the original. She wore it for a little while and then went back to the original. All yesterday, she remained in the original shell. This morning, when I got up and went down to check on her...she was still awake (which was a shocker since she's usually going back to sleep by 7 in the morning) and had switched back to the smaller shell. She was acting very interested in the original shell so I sat down on the floor and just watched her. Ten minutes into my vigil...she went back to the original shell! She seemed pretty satisfied so I did some housekeeping in her habitat and then left and went to get breakfast. When I came back...20 minutes later...she was back in the small shell! I think she's done for the day though because she's in her normal "sleeping" position. The small shell is definitely not the right size for her because she can't completely close up in it but she really seems to like it. When I bought her and the extra shells...the girl said she would probably change into the middle sized one and would definitely not use the smaller shell. Guess she was wrong!

Is this normal? Should I worry? Do crabs change shells often? I'm a definite newbie so I may be obsessing a little too much over this but I just want to make sure that all of her needs are being met!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:29 am

Some crabs just change alot, some don't..I have a few that change so much its hard to keep up with them, I have to look at photos from before to tell whos who sometimes

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:39 pm

I have 2 that do the same thing... Thank goodness they are different sizes so I can tell who is who...

But I never know what shell they will be wearing in the morning.
It's really interesting to watch them,.. They are so careful and work so hard...
My daughter was ok with the little ones, watching them change, but she saw one of my jumbos do it, and she thought it was sick to watch...

:roll:

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:20 pm

Thanks for the reassurance! I'm going tomorrow to get even more shells just to make sure she has enough variety. It's now almost 9:30 and she has changed her shell a total of 7 times so far! That crazy crabbie!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:35 pm

Got to love the fashion show though....
They seem to prance around the TAT as if to say Look at me!!!

Does this shell make me look fat???

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:00 am

Mine is a decent size and he/she came in a smaller shell then i like for it because it is not able to close all the way. I is frustrating. I have one shell in their for it that it can fit fine in but it doesn't seem to want to change. I also have some smaller shells in their for his up coming friends. and I will have to get a nice big shell for the jumbo i have my eye on.

irishgirl45 · Post by **irishgirl45** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 12:50 pm

I only had E's at first and I did see an occasional shell change but it was very seldom Now I have a lot of PP's and they are the shell divas every night they are looking for something new to put on. I have never seen so much action before
I just love when one get it in his head to find a new shell. So focused he is just sticking his head in the shell turning it over and over filling it up and emptying it out. I just laugh

Tetracolor · Post by **Tetracolor** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:35 pm

Even though I'm pretty much positive that it is all cool, but the original shell could have something wrong with. If your PP is in the smaller shell then look at the other shells for holes or rough edges inside that would cause "her" not to want them. I'm almost positive that your crab is just being crabby though.

evre1's-mom · Post by **evre1's-mom** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:29 pm

I have PP's and of my 5, all the 3 biggest love shell swapping. The smallest of the 3 even tried to attack the second biggest for a shell she had changed from. I moved her to ISO for a day, then back. The next morning she had the shell she had tried to fight for and no one was any worse off. Kinda scary, though when 2 of them take a liking to the same shell. She is now wearing a MUCH too large shell, but she loves it and the big boys are down molting, so I have no worries for now.
Also, my biggest, Herman, desperately wanted a shell that was too small. He wore it several times over about a week, then switched to a better fitting one. See pics on Flickr. Link is below.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:43 am

I just got a new PP this last weekend, and he is doing the exact same thing. When we first got him he switched shells instantly, and stayed in the new one a couple days. but yesterday he started switching shells, and up to the point i left for work he was still at it! He has tried out almost every shell in there!! I am going to re boil them tonight to make sure there is nothing in them that is bothering him.

Rhoney · Post by **Rhoney** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:29 pm

crabs can change shells for a variety of reasons

1. a shell fight and they lost

2. they just like to try on shells

3. varying environment. for example some crabs will change to a thinner shell if they are too humid/hot

4. preparing to molt. some crabs change to lighter shells so they can carry them better when they have less strength after a molt.

5. they don't like some aspects of a number of shells, possibly need more variety

regardless, crabs will always want to worry us

HCA: Hermit Crab Association

OCD shell chaning?

OCD shell chaning?

Update

I think they love to do it