HCA: Hermit Crab Association®

[wodesorel]

I don't know what's going on. I haven't really seen Giggles in close to two weeks. He just got done molting and shouldn't be ready to molt again this soon. I knew something had to be wrong because when I got a bunch of extra shells a couple weeks ago he should have been the first one in to try everything on, but he'd never even looked at them!

He finally came out for a bit last night, and I was watching him get picked on by a bunch of different crabs!

Spike started the whole thing by just rolling and flipping around Giggles' shell like it was a beach ball. I thought it was a shell fight so I separated them to different sides of the tank and kept an eye on them.

A few moments later, Filbert walks over to Giggles and starts doing the same thing. I doubt he wanted the shell - Filbert is twice Gigs size.

I separate them, and over comes Echo to start the harassment. (She's a bit smaller than Gigs.)

I move them apart, and little Sierra who is half of Giggles size is trying to strong-arm him. It obviously didn't work, and he finally got away and hid in a cocohut, with her trailing close behind.

The rest of the evening was spent like this! Every time I looked in the tank poor Giggles had four crabs ganging up on him!

Today I moved Hannibal into the KK and now Giggles is by himself in a 10 gallon ISO. He's out and exploring, drinking, and generally enjoying himself.

What the heck is going on?! The ISO isn't ideal for a non-molting crab, so I don't want to keep him in there too long. But I also don't want him to get picked on! What could be causing the other crabs to go after him like this?
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Proud mama to 33 cats, 1 tubby hammie, 3 betta, 1 gourami, 3 clown pleco, and my 13 kuhli loaches!
26 PP (the ones with names) and 10 E (The Children of the Corn)

[suebee]

maybe he is still giving off a molting smell? Are they all PP's? Im finding out that violas will dig up molters to eat them. Ive heard that many that have violas will pull the violas to iso when other crabs are molting.
Maybe its a mating thing going on? I know that crabs give off different scents during mating time. Maybe the crabs bugging him are of the opposite sex? Let hope it that kind of play. In the wild during mating times lots of crabs get really beat up.
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Owner of 8 species I would only buy from ELHC or HCP email me at suebeebuzz@verizon.net for information on my 8/17/10 visit to ELHC
They wont remember what you said or what you did, only how you made them feel.

[wodesorel]

Nope, they are all PPs, so I don't think it's interspecies aggression. (the Es in the tank never got near him.) And Sierra and Echo are the only females, so I doubt it's a mating behavior.

I'm concerned there may be something wrong with Giggles that the other crabs could sense or smell. He spent all night wandering around the Iso getting into everything, and eating like crazy. But when I woke up this evening he had dug himself into the EE pit. If he's molting this soon I'm going to be really worried. He just finished his first molt with me right after Thanksgiving (end of November). It's barely been two months.

The other crabs seem much calmer since he's been removed from the main tank. There were even a bunch of shell changes during the day. It's really kinda odd.
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Proud mama to 33 cats, 1 tubby hammie, 3 betta, 1 gourami, 3 clown pleco, and my 13 kuhli loaches!
26 PP (the ones with names) and 10 E (The Children of the Corn)

[wodesorel]

I can't believe it, but he is actually molted. He buried down the day after I moved him to ISO and hasn't been up since. I hope it goes okay since he just finished a molt two months ago! Must have been why they were after him - he just must have smelled "weak".
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Proud mama to 33 cats, 1 tubby hammie, 3 betta, 1 gourami, 3 clown pleco, and my 13 kuhli loaches!
26 PP (the ones with names) and 10 E (The Children of the Corn)