Lone older crab

[Laltsherwood]

Hello,

I've had a hermit crab for about 17 years. He's been given proper food and an environment to allow him to stay healthy and active for all those years, but he has been living by himself for almost all of them. I recently found out that hermit crabs are social creatures, so I am considering getting another. But I am nervous to introduce another crab to him after he's been living alone for so long. Would you recommend getting another crab, or is it safer to just let him keep living alone? I don't want to risk his or another crab's life by trying to force anything. He's always been eating normally and loves to climb around, dig, and be active, so I always assumed he was happy enough.

I've had him since I was about 5 years old and love him so much, it's heartbreaking to find that he may have been feeling lonely all these years. Please let me know, thank you everyone.

[curlysister]

What used to be thought of as 'social' behavior has actually been shown to be resource sharing. So where there are more resources (food, shelter, shells, etc), there will be more crabs concentrated in those areas to share them.
If you want to get another crab, you could, and introduce them carefully. But your crab is doing just fine all by himself!

[Laltsherwood]

What used to be thought of as 'social' behavior has actually been shown to be resource sharing. So where there are more resources (food, shelter, shells, etc), there will be more crabs concentrated in those areas to share them.
If you want to get another crab, you could, and introduce them carefully. But your crab is doing just fine all by himself!

few - thank you so much! that's a relief to hear