The Hermit Crab Mystory

[Rich-n-poor]

correct term is molting .... he grew that simple.
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[zip_case]

As I got up this morning getting ready for my engineering class, I decided to browse over my fish tank to find the corpse of a hermit crab and NO shell in sight. Immediately I was the hunt for both the missing shell on the killer. Then did a count the live hermit crabs and shocked to find that I still have 4 hermit, I started out with 4, how can this be? And that's the hermit mystory.

I all i have in my small temp holding tank now are as followed:
1 - 4 stripe damsel
4 - hermit
3 - live rocks.
1 - Mystorious corpse of shell-less hermit. (Did i mention i could not location the "lost/empty" shell.

 

[jethro]

I don't know the answer to your mystory but I do know the answer to your mystery. It is actually a "no brainer" if you read and learn about hermit crabs.

In hopes of not ruining the mystery I will not tell you the answer, but I will give you a clue. It is what hermit crabs do.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll ruin it with my guess...Similar with all crabs I believe. Sheds it's outer layer as it grows.

 

[zip_case]

I don't know if molting looks fleshy at the body and does it also molt it antena?

[ December 01, 2001: Message edited by: Zip_Case ]</p>

 

[kevjtomy]

I thought the same for my cleaner shrimp. Antena was molted as you stated, which was what threw me off. I did not realize that"everything" gets molted.

 

[tazdevil]

Yep, zip, they change the whole costume. Imagine it this way: your skin is made of plastic. Now, you start to grow, but, your skin doesn't expand to allow this. How can you grow-shed your skin, only to have a new skin growing underneath with hair and all (imagine how good some of the "old salts" on the board would look if this was true). When shrimps/crabs get ready to molt, they usually go into hiding, as, their new "skin" has to harden into a tough shell again. Hermits have to evacuate their home to do this, exposing their soft abdomen at the same time (they look pitiful outside of their shells).

 

[GMH320]

Everytime a hermit molts it is getting bigger...so it will eventually outgrow it's existing shell. You need to place some larger shells in the tank so the hermits can "re-locate" when necessary.