HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Can crabs become stuck in their shell?! I saw this inside petco... I cant help but looking and once i saw him in distress i opened up the cage myself and picked him up...
He was kinda shaking i could see a Bunch of legs almost intertwined? And he looked like he was trying to push past them but was stuck? Idk just curious

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It could have been their grooming appendages. He may have been trying to push out a piece of poop.
He also may have been surface molting.

It was so sad [CRYING FACE]
He was making (now that you said poop) a staining noise. Not chirping. He was in his shell not out and he just looked like a tangled mess. You could tell he was trying to pull forward out of his shell then would pull back when he realized he wasn't going anywhere!!

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Was the crab in a painted shell?

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Mama Kelly
Yes he was in a painted shell...
I will never forget that day it was so sad, she quickly took him away and said they would check him when they bathed them that night!

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KayedeeLove<3 wrote:Mama Kelly
Yes he was in a painted shell...
I will never forget that day it was so sad, she quickly took him away and said they would check him when they bathed them that night!

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If the paint on the shell wasn't quite dry when the crab entered, it could very well be stuck and "glued" to the shell by the paint

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[DISAPPOINTED BUT RELIEVED FACE][DISAPPOINTED BUT RELIEVED FACE][DISAPPOINTED BUT RELIEVED FACE]

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I've seen a crab once in a kiosk that was glued into a shell buy paint. I sat there for an hour gently digging out the paint with a paper clip, i didn't buy him. The the young girl working their actually was worried for him and asked my help. I wish i knew what happened to him.

Its quite common for crabs in painted shell to become stuck; as the distributors often place the crabs in freshly painted (wet) shells. The shells dry around the crab... and the rest is pretty straight forward.
Below is an "article" of a crab stuck in a painted shell. Reading it was nail biting as the owner went into lengths of how she removed the shell with nail clippers.
Crab Street Journal: Say No to Painted shells All right reserved for the crab street journal.

Wow i had no idea or i would have helped him
I had no idea he just appeared tangled!

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