Interesting behaviour

Where we discuss the behavior of our hermit crabs, as in fights, pecking orders, shell swaps, etc. Please post all naked-crab posts in the Emergency forum.
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SojMad
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Interesting behaviour

Post by SojMad » Wed Jan 25, 2012 4:26 am

My two large C. perlatus has been doing great so far. One of them molted a few months ago, and the other one has dug down, resurfaced, and repeated that behaviour a couple of times. Probably because the one that has already molted has been digging like crazy and turned the crabitat upside down and surely has been very disturbing. :roll:
A little more than a week ago, I had to straighten everything up because they had even managed to empty the salt water dish in the substrate twice! :evil:

When everything was even and clean and not as wet anymore, the one that needed to molt "disappeared". Dug down, I assumed. Four or five days ago, the one that has already molted went behind a mangrove root and sat right behind it, next to the rear glass wall. A plastic plant covered him pretty much, but I could see his shell of course, he's big. Since then, he has just been sitting there, not moving a muscle. I've been worried, because he's the one that has been so crazy about digging, climbing and so on, so he's normally extremely active. I let him be though, since I rarely touch them unless I have to, because I don't want to cause any unnecessary stress. I have just been spraying the crabitat every day, and smelled it of course to make sure he was still alive.

A couple of days ago I panicked a bit, because I suddenly saw a LEG laying on the sand next to him. I opened the lid, removed the plastic plant, and lifted him up to take a look at him. I got very surprised (and so happy) to see all his legs in their right places. He was as pretty and beautiful as ever! However, he sat right next to and just above the OTHER straw who had been doing a surface molt! :shock: He had never dug himself down, he had just been digging a shallow little pit for himself before his molt. He had gotten his colour and everything, so I lifted him up a couple of inches to see that he was okay. His left outer leg tip is bent in the wrong angle, but that will hopefully become normal again after his next molt. He has probably been sitting wrong during his molt, so it got bent when he was still soft and vulnerable. He was also sitting on his exo legs and claws, so he's not done yet.
I put him back gently, put his friend back to his place beside and above him at his right side, put the plastic plant back up covering their place, sprayed a lot of water and closed the lid, and are now looking forward to seeing them both back soon. :)

The thing I thought was SO sweet and interesting was his friend, the crazy straw who has just been sitting there, all still and calm. He hasn't been drinking or eating at all during this time, he's just been sitting there, right next to his molting buddy.
Why, I wonder? Is it for protection? To help the molter by hiding him towards light, movement and possibly other hermit crabs or other enemies? (They are alone in their crabitat, but possibly an instinct..) To keep the humidity up at the molters place? To keep him company? Or because the NON-molting crab felt lonely? Something else?

What do you think? I found it so fascinating and cute. Anyone who says that hermit crabs doesn't care about company doesn't know what they're talking about. These two has been very close ever since I got them. They've been sitting close together even while they have been sleeping. ^^

Sooo.. Now I'm afraid that anything will happen to one of them, leaving the other one without his best friend. :|
C. brevimanus
C. rugosus
C. clypeatus
C. cavipes
C. violascens

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Rocky
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Re: Interesting behaviour

Post by Rocky » Wed Jan 25, 2012 6:16 am

I wonder if its protection over his friend, or first dibs on yummy molting crab meat and exo :anon:
But that is very cute otherwise! Crabs are definately social creatures. My hermies have developed best friends to, Draco and Pinky are stuck to eachother like glue. And Fred and George used to be close buddies, when Fred died, George sat in Fred's spot for almost a week :cry: it was heartbreaking.
Or his buddy might just have the 'yummy' molting smell that's attracting him, but since it's his buddy he doesn't want to eat him, just nibble some exo (like the leg you found)? I'm just throwing ideas out there :)
Pics? :clap: I always love seeing your crabbies!
If you do take pictures, can you snap a quick picture of your straws exo for me? I think I had my first straw molt a little while back, while moving them to the new tank I found a gimpled thingy that looked kind of like shredded remains of exo. But since this is my first time ever owning a straw, I really have no idea what to look for... :|
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SojMad
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Re: Interesting behaviour

Post by SojMad » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:40 am

RockyGurly wrote:I wonder if its protection over his friend, or first dibs on yummy molting crab meat and exo :anon:
But that is very cute otherwise! Crabs are definately social creatures. My hermies have developed best friends to, Draco and Pinky are stuck to eachother like glue. And Fred and George used to be close buddies, when Fred died, George sat in Fred's spot for almost a week :cry: it was heartbreaking.
Or his buddy might just have the 'yummy' molting smell that's attracting him, but since it's his buddy he doesn't want to eat him, just nibble some exo (like the leg you found)? I'm just throwing ideas out there :)
Pics? :clap: I always love seeing your crabbies!
If you do take pictures, can you snap a quick picture of your straws exo for me? I think I had my first straw molt a little while back, while moving them to the new tank I found a gimpled thingy that looked kind of like shredded remains of exo. But since this is my first time ever owning a straw, I really have no idea what to look for... :|
No, no yummy crab meat. ^^ The molting crab has hardened and everything, and isn't damaged at all. He has just been sitting there next to him. :) I don't know if he actually has taken the leg, or if it just happened to lay right there, because they sit very close to each other and he wasn't eating at it or anything. :)
Aaww, that's so sad with poor George. :(
I don't want to take any pictures now, since the molter is sitting and eating the rest of his exo, but when everything is finished I'll take some pics. :P
Exo looks just like it does when it's on the crab. After a pretty long while, the exo will lose some colour, but it still looks like hermit crab skin. ;) Leg and claw exo are just as hard as when the crab has it on them, so you should be able to tell if it actually was exo or not. Can't you see on the hermit crab if it has molted or not? I mean leg tips and such?

Here's a couple of pictures of a leg exo from the straw that's just molted:
Image

Image

Image
C. brevimanus
C. rugosus
C. clypeatus
C. cavipes
C. violascens

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Rocky
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Re: Interesting behaviour

Post by Rocky » Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:11 am

Thanks :) Since hes an exotic crab, I wasnt sure if he'd have red exo, white, pink, who knows :shock: I'm glad to know it just looks normal :P

Aww, they are some very cute buddies then :) Maybe hes waiting for his molting buddy to come out of his pit and play? :lol:
We're not asked to do great things, we're asked to do all things with great care.
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mrscrabmadness
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Re: Interesting behaviour

Post by mrscrabmadness » Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:36 am

your lucky, my crab would of ripped his buddy apart and said no hard feelings but you smell marvelous, yum yum yum

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SojMad
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Re: Interesting behaviour

Post by SojMad » Sat Jan 28, 2012 7:30 pm

RockyGurly wrote:Thanks :) Since hes an exotic crab, I wasnt sure if he'd have red exo, white, pink, who knows :shock: I'm glad to know it just looks normal :P

Aww, they are some very cute buddies then :) Maybe hes waiting for his molting buddy to come out of his pit and play? :lol:
Ah, okay, well as you said, it looks just like normal. :P
Yes, they certainly seem to be buddies, absolutely. :D The molter has been climbing a bit, and I took some pics of them earlier today. I'll post them in the Picture-section later. :)
mrscrabmadness wrote:your lucky, my crab would of ripped his buddy apart and said no hard feelings but you smell marvelous, yum yum yum
Yeah, that's kind of what I would have expected, but it didn't happen between these, so.. I'm happy my straws care more about keeping their friends than having a good meal. :P
C. brevimanus
C. rugosus
C. clypeatus
C. cavipes
C. violascens

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SojMad
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Re: Interesting behaviour

Post by SojMad » Sat Jan 28, 2012 7:30 pm

This is how the straw leg look like. :?

Image

Image

Image

Image
C. brevimanus
C. rugosus
C. clypeatus
C. cavipes
C. violascens

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wolfnipplechips
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Re: Interesting behaviour

Post by wolfnipplechips » Sat Jan 28, 2012 7:43 pm

One of my E's had that exact same molting issue.
Image
He re-molted very soon after to fix it.
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Re: Interesting behaviour

Post by SojMad » Sat Jan 28, 2012 7:59 pm

Okay, thanks! I hope my straw survives his next molt. :)
C. brevimanus
C. rugosus
C. clypeatus
C. cavipes
C. violascens

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