HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I had a very lonely hermit for the last few years, I bought him in a pair but his brother died, and once I learned WHY (I didn't have the appropriate resources to care for multiple crabs) I didn't want to go out and get another crab until I had everything right. So Lazarus has been alone for 4 years. I introduced a new crab into my crabitat last night. Beetleguise was also a lonely hermie, but he was in very bad conditions (a very small fishBOWL with a handful of gravel and a sponge that was often dry. I felt so bad!). I was a little worried because he's in considerably bad shape compared to my Lazarus, although not as bad as I would expect after living months in such a terrible, confined space, he's only lost one segment on one leg and his small claw looks chipped (will that come back when he molts?).

I placed both crabs into the water dish and kept an eye on them. Beetleguise was very interested in his new home, and Lazarus was very interested in his new friend. B explored for a bit while Laz kept a watchful eye and after a little bit they made eye contact and it was the most interesting display I've ever seen. Both of them lifted their antennas up so high! and they had a feeler fight. They've been doing this a lot, getting to know one another, and I assume Lazarus is schooling him about who's in charge.

The only thing I'm a little worried about is Lazarus has this one shell he's partial to, and of course he left it right before I introduced Beetleguise. He ALWAYS goes back to this shell, he's changed a dozen times and always stays with the old shell and of course the first thing B did was go right into that shell. So I'm trying to keep an eye out to make sure they don't fight over it. If they do, should I intervene? Or should I wait and see if Beetleguise will leave the shell? I decided to separate them for a while last night while B was cleaning out the shell and getting comfortable because Lazarus wouldn't leave him alone.

But the good news for any lonely crab owners is they don't seem to have any problems getting acclimated to communal life even after a long time! So don't be nervous introducing new crabs to your old guys.

I'm glad they found you and each other.

Question: How many spare shells do you have and are they the right sizes? Hopefully if enough, the concern will be short lived.

Would it be prudent to take out Laz's favorite shell that he's not wearing for a while, boil and return in a week or so?


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aldebaron0626 wrote:Would it be prudent to take out Laz's favorite shell that he's not wearing for a while, boil and return in a week or so?


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Beetleguise is already in that shell, unfortunately, but so far they seem to be getting along fine. The shell Lazarus is in now fits him far better, anyway. I never understood why he kept going back to that shell because it wasn't quite large enough.

I just bought 3 packs of large shells from Florida Marine Research but I'm not a huge fan. There's 6 different shells in the crabitat right now, all different in size and shape that I hope can tide an unhappy crab over for the time being and I plan to order some from a suggested source soon.