New crab coming far out of shell, but not leaving shell?

[kwolff94]

I just introduced a crab that had been alone for a while to my own lonely crab last night. They were getting along fine, but the new crab took a shell that my old crab tends to like (he switches around a lot)

They've been head to head for the last hour or so, I assumed figuring out the crabby hierarchy, as they weren't aggressive but my old crab was above the other. They were mostly feeler-fighting, no chirping, no grabbing, nothing to suggest they were fighting over the shell

But now the new crab keeps coming reeeeeally far out of his shell right in front of the older crab. He'll get maybe 4 or 5 of his small legs out of the shell, sit for a minute, then go back inside? He's been doing it over and over for maybe 10 minutes that I've noticed. What does this mean? I thought crabs wouldn't expose themselves in front of one another out of self preservation? And my old guy doesn't even seem to be doing anything to cause it. I'm so confused!

[singlemomwithcrab]

He is probably PUFFING up. I think all wild animals use whatever tricks they can to make themselves appear LARGER when dominance competitions are going on. If there isn't any true fighting, I think they are ok. If you are worried, i would drop a couple more Hides in. Old butter tubs work great. Just cut a hole out just large enough for the crab to barely fit in and they can kinda protect themselves that way by filling up the opening and not letting the other in.

[hermitcrabdc]

Whenever my largest PP changes shells, he pushes himself out of his shell, like you're describing your crab doing. At first it really shocked me but he's done it after almost every shell change he's made. He only does it for a day or two after shell changes no other time that I've been aware of. I figure it's just his way to seeing how he likes the shell. It doesn't sound to unusual to me

What singlemomwithcrab said also makes perfect sense, this is just from my personal experiences with my crabs

[wodesorel]

Out in the wild, hermits will trade shells if one is in a shell that is too small and the other is in a shell that is too big. It's an even, mutually accepted trade since it benefits both parties - better protection for too small shell guy, snd less weight to carry for too big shell guy. Could be that yours is trying to trigger the other to trade.