Hermit Crabs Locked Up?

[Baigent87]

Are my crabs fighting or breeding?

 

[Isopod80]

Hard to say for certain but it's likely a fight over shells. If you don't have multiple sizes of empty shells in the tank this will often happen.

 

[Baigent87]

Hard to say for certain but it's likely a fight over shells. If you don't have multiple sizes of empty shells in the tank this will often happen.

dang! Thank you. I added a couple of shells 2 weeks ago but are likely to large for the 2 hermit crabs I have at the moment.

 

[Isopod80]

If you gently separate them to opposite sides of the tank it will buy you some time to get a few smaller shells if you can pick some up today. Drop them near the hermits. They usually go for them pretty quick if that's the problem.

 

[Baigent87]

Managed to separate them for now! My LFS gave me some shells which have been in my tank for a good few hours. 2 of my hermit crabs has done some investigating on 4 shells so far and has turned his nose up lol

Hoping my larger hermit crab will select a new shell and leave it to the other 1!

I’ll keep you posted!!! Really appreciate the advice!

 

[blaxsun]

 

[Baigent87]

If you gently separate them to opposite sides of the tank it will buy you some time to get a few smaller shells if you can pick some up today. Drop them near the hermits. They usually go for them pretty quick if that's the problem.

 

[Baigent87]

He did it His old shell is the the right of him.

 

[Isopod80]

Congrats bud, glad to hear it.

 

[Baigent87]

So ….. looks like we just have a tank bully on our hands! Lol. Brand new shell but still locking up! Tempted to just hand him over to my LFS. My tank is only 13.5 gallons so they’ll be bumping into each other pretty frequently.