Destroying His Tank - Angry Hermie?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Aug 06, 2005 5:40 pm

My jumbo hermit crabs is in ISO due to bad behavior. He's lived alone for months but recently has taken up the past time of destroying his tank. The sand looks like a rolling landscape and his water dis is empty every time I look. His food destroyed into mulch (it looks weird!). Does anyone know what would cause this crazy behavior? He did molt about two months ago so I can't imaging he's at it again, even though this is similar to what he did last time!

Nicole · Post by **Nicole** » Sat Aug 06, 2005 6:03 pm

Why has he lived alone for months? How large is the tank he is in currently, and what size approximately is your jumbo?

Jedediah · Post by **Jedediah** » Sat Aug 06, 2005 8:28 pm

Destroying their tank is what crabs do. Of course it might be that the tank is too small, but a certain amount of destruction will happen even is huge tanks. And ISOing him won't help - he doesn't know that he has behaved badly in your eyes and won#t change his behaviour.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 4:19 am

Well, considering he caused the death of not only one but two crabs - there's no way he's going back with all my smaller crabs. He ripped the pincher off Gandalf when then caused him to molt without either pincher, then run around naked for a month when he eventually died. Not a pretty death. I also found him over Pippin, who's body had been pulled from the shell and I think he was being eaten alive. Ew.He lives in a 5 gallon tank with sand as a substrate. He's not THAT jumbo, his shell is around 2.5 or 3 inches wide and it's a little small for him but he won't change. It's one of the standard hermie shells, not a strange shape.

Nicole · Post by **Nicole** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 1:46 pm

Katherine, I have a crab that ripped a leg off of a postmolter and started to eat the leg, and also went after others although I was able to intervene. Since I began offering fresh shrimp exo once a week along with extra krill and dried baby shrimp, Snowman has been much more mellow and hasn't gone after a postmolter in quite a while. It's not a cure-all, but offering fish and shellfish can make aggression less common, and less brutal. ISOing won't really change behavior, and can make a crab pretty lonely. I would definitely try changing his diet and giving him extra sources of calcium as well, such as cuttlebone, crushed eggshells or Calci-Sand since he may be searching these nutrients out in his tankmates.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 4:49 pm

I had a pretty good result ISOing my aggressive hermie Duncan. ALthough Duncan never actually hurt any of my other crabs, if I hadn't been there to stop him, I think there would have been two more hermit crabs in hermit crabbie heaven. So I stuck him in ISO for about a month and a half. I would be very nervous about keeping a jumbo crab with other much smaller crabs. Have you thought about maybe investing in another jumbo crab, so that your current jumbo might be happier and have a friend? Perhaps with having a crabitat companion of similar size, he wouldn't feel like bullying? These are only suggestions, I just hope that everything works out for the best! I'm sorry to hear about all of this, I know from personal expereince it can be extremely frustrating and heart-breaking to see your hermies fighting or injured.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 3:38 am

Katherine, I'd echo Nicoles reply in that I would encourage you to offer shrimp or feeder fish or some other kind of meat to your agressive crabbie. I have hermies the size of yours (2 1/2 inch shell) living with hermies a fraction of their size (1 inch shells) and I've never had any agression between them. I do believe it is because they get to eat more than freezedried pellets and flakes. If you don't want to let him join the rest of the group, I would indeed try to get him a buddy of similar size so he won't suffer from lonliness. Keep us posted, OK?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 5:36 pm

My crabs Snickers and Twix use to go at it before. Snickers is the size of a golf ball and Twix is the size a quarter and he was new to the tank at the time. Snickers use to attack Twix, but never hurt him. I think it was a dominance thing. Later I offer powdered cuttle bone to their diet and he mellowed and now Twix and Snickers are fine (plus I think Snickers just got use to the fact that there were new crabs). And as for trashing the tank... I have a ten gallon tank and its always a mess so its just what crabs do.

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 1:12 am

I think if used constructively, time in ISO is what lethal crabs need. While it can be lonely, he's going to be lonely anyway if he consumes tank mates. It doesn't sound like he's social anyway.I ISO'd Sport for two reasons - to give me time to address dietary deficiencies, and because I feared that my remaining hermies would die from the stress of having him around. They forced themselves behind, under or ontop of anything they could climb and backed away with their claws held in defense when he headed their way.I increased Sport's diet to include silversides, shrimp and other proteins, fruit and veggies, and he had everything to himself, which, and call me crazy, I believe the lack of is what made him lethal. He dismembered crabs in hideys and in the food dish. I think he was in survival mode and protecting the resources. *I* socialized with him. I took him out, held him on my palm and talked to him. I let him explore outside the tank and made sure all his needs were met. When I felt the time was right, I deep cleaned the tank he was going in, gave them all a bath so they smelled the same, and put some items he used in ISO, like the hut and a food dish, into the new tank so he'd feel he belonged there. And it's been successful. He befriended Stripe who used to run from him and he's even a little shy sometimes. So take all the circumstances into consideration and you'll make the choice that's right for you, but don't do it for punishment. Use it to address issues.