hermit crabs raising chaos

[ded08221]

is there any step i can take to stop these hermits from causing chaos. every couple days lately i happen to see another dead hermit in the morning. i thought maybe it was something to do with levels, but everything was fine. then this morning i see a hermit running around in a shell of a small turbo i once had as of last night i guess. are they competing for each others shells? i could simply add some more hermit shells larger than the one's i have now. by the way, they are red-legged and blue legged hermits in a 55 with about 60 pounds of live rock. FO

 

[Anonymous]

more than likely what your seeing is what's left after they molt. When in dought, do a head count. As for the turbo, if you didn't see it alive last night, it was probably dead or dieing anyway.

I have over 15 hermits in a 29, with extra shells. They never kill my snails.

 

[psiico]

I have 11 in a 29, they don't bother my snails either. But I have about 25 empty shells in there.

 

[Anonymous]

8O

 

[Anonymous]

hermits will kill snails for a new home..if the snail is large enough, it will not bother it...and more than likely it is a exoskeleton youre seeing after the molting process... HTH

 

[Anonymous]

It's always a good idea to make a shell shopping mall. It's really fun to watch as well. I chucked like 10 shells of varying sizes into a spot near the front so I could observe. FUN!! I've noticed:

- The daily activities of who has what shell on. It's like the day's outfit. I can tell by the shape of shell or maybe the pattern of coraline algae on it, etc. Today this crab has the pink shell tomorrow someone else does and the next day maybe it's not used, just sitting in the shopping mall. They really do trade shells quite a bit.

- It's hard to watch them transfer, I guess evolution taught them to be quick. They line the shell openings up very close, face to face and you see the legs scrabbling around for a second or two and then BLOOP! the other shell is walking away slowly. LOL!

- Fights aplenty a la "I saw it first! ... the good thing is that when a crab is displaced and gets disoriented, he's at the shopping mall, usually standing on a new shell he can occupy until he calms down.

 

[psiico]

Here's a pic I got one night. I don't know what he was doing, all the empty shells are in a pile 12 - 14 inches from where he was in the pic. I've never seen a scarlet (but I only have 2) or blue leg out of a shell, but I see the left-handed guys switching all the time. The others do switch, just not when I'm looking. I watched a left-handed guy one day try on 6 in a row. He'd put one on and walk around for a bit, go back and change.