Relentless aggression, I need help!

[The Terminatrix77]

Hey everyone, I've been crabbing for about 9 years now and I have NEVER witnessed such aggression from a specific crab as I am witnessing tonight. In the past, they've gotten their normal irritation towards each other, but all day my hermit crab, Rick, has been chasing Watson around the tank. He's been following him around just to roll him over and try to grab at him. I changed their food, water and shells and Rick is heck bent on getting to Watson.

I'm at my wit's end with what to do. Has anyone ever experienced this before? What should I do?

Thanks!

[Laurie LeAnn]

The only times I have this happen with my crabs was 1. Needed more protein in diet , offer organic peanut butter, boiled hard eggs, boiled chicken, raw honey, cuttle bone 2. Shell envy..Not enough to switch in & out of. 3. Other crab has come up from molt an it smells yummy to him. You can take their water and put in ceramic bowl and bathe them both. This makes them smell the same. 4. Mating SEASON! Your crabs have come of age and you have a boy and a girl! This happened to me..I just iso m female for a month then put her back nd if he took after her i put her back in iso it lasted 1 1/2 months. Try separating them and trying these things..I had been crabbing since 2009 & I have bully boy crab and if he starts in then it is because of these reasons..good luck!

[The Terminatrix77]

Thank you very much for replying! He seems to have settled down for now. He shell shopped while I took Watson out for a bit. Hopefully he will start behaving I've never seen such a crabby crab haha Thanks again!

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[landlubber]

Is Rick possibly pre-molt? Formerly chill crabs can get testy pre-molt, and my guess based on what you said is that Rick wants Watson's shell, do you think so? If you think that is the case I would ISO Rick for his molt, because he's unlikely to just change his mind about that shell Watson has, or suddenly become more congenial before his molt.